Zojirushi EC-BD15BAFresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker - Coffee Machine | Coffee Maker Reviews

By 

Doug Cadmus “Coffee Aficionado” (Waterbury, Vermont) –

  

I’ve spent several weeks week getting to know the Zojirushi Fresh Brew… and for the most part, I’m quite pleased. It has some foibles [which I'll get to in a moment] but on the whole it’s a very capable coffee brewer. More, it’s one of the very few home models I know that can brew 8 cups of just-roasted coffee at a proper 2 tablespoons per cup ratio without fuss, and – this is important! – maintain proper brewing temperatures throughout the entire brew cycle.

The details…

Zoji has been making vacuum pots and the like for nearly 100 years, and they’ve been making an assortment of rice-cookers, tea brewers and hot water dispensers for decades. While this is, I believe, their first home coffee brewer, they’ve got more than a little experience in kitchen electrics. They’ve put that experience to good use.

If you’ve ever brewed up a thermos full of coffee using a big Melitta filter cone then this setup will look pretty familiar. For all intents and purposes, the Fresh Brew simply adds an automated hot water delivery system to the mix… with a few improvements.

Improvement number one: not only does this system brew into an all-stainless thermal carafe [no hot plate here, thankyouverymuch] but it also insulates the brew basket. What good is it, after all, to heat up all that water if it’s just going to get cold while you’re brewing? This is huge! This is important! This is… well, I’m excited about it, okay?

Improvement number two: the Fresh Brew features an accurate gauge of water volume. When it reads that you’ve got 8 cups of water in the brewer’s reservoir, it means it. Mind you, we’re talking 6 oz. cups of water — that’s the way the coffee world measures a cup [unless you're Bodum and then it's 4 oz.].

Improvement number three: the Fresh Brew is patient. The biggest pain about the manual pour-over method is that you’ve got to wait to add more water, especially if the coffee is really fresh. Fresh coffee blooms with its charge of CO2! Faced with a full basket of coffee that was literally fresh from the roaster the Zoji didn’t overflow, nor did it heave grounds into the water dispensing shower-head. More, the grounds were thoroughly saturated; no dry spots.

So where’s the foibles?

Like a great many autodrip brewers the feeder tube that comes from the Zoji’s heating element to the shower-head takes a straight path right through the water reservoir. For most brewers this is a game-over situation… the heating element simply can’t overcome the heat exchange that occurs en route to the brew-head. On the Zoji, the heating element *does* get hot enough… provided that the water you’ve placed in the reservoir is not *too* cold.

Example A: In the office using the “unchilled” spigot on the water cooler, I draw off 48 ounces of water for the reservoir and brew a pot. Throughout the brew cycle water temperatures in the brew basket range between 195 and 200 degrees F. The result is a lovely pot of Ethiopian Yrgacheffe that is sweet, floral and lemony.

Example B: At home I draw off 48 ounces of water from the water filter in-line with the refridgerator. The temperature of the water in the reservoir is about 40 degrees F. and the resulting temperature in the brew basket never tops 185 degrees F. The result is an icky pot of the very same Yrgacheffe that is bitter, murky and flat.

The moral: mind your initial water temperature and you’ll do just fine.

All in all, the Zojirushi Fresh Brew is capable of making 8 cups of coffee that’s on a par with manual pourover methods. Better, really, as it insulates the brew-basket to better maintain water temperatures.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (28)

By 

Timothy B. Duggan “tbduggan” (Concord, MA USA) –

  

I really wanted this machine to work – nice design, good features, good price.

The first one I got had the little carafe cap broken. Not a big deal, I emailed the company and they promised to send me another one. About a week later, the unit simply stopped brewing. I called the support line for troubleshooting and they told me to send the unit back for replacement.

I sent it back and Amazon shipped another one out promptly. Everything was fine the first day, but when I picked up the carafe the next day, the bottom came right off in my hand exposing the innards of the seal mechanism for the thermos. The spot welds all along the rim hadn’t taken and the carafe literally came apart in my hands.

Again I called the company asking if this was normal. Again they told me to return it and “give them one more chance”. So I tried to – like I say, I really wanted this machine to work.

Unfortunately the response I got from Amazon was:

“As it seems that the problem with this item is more widespread
than we originally thought, we are not able to send another
replacement.”

Probably just as well, after going through 2 units in under 2 weeks, the chances of the third one lasting anywhere near as long as I’d want it to are about nil.

So you can roll the dice and perhaps get yourself a good one – I did it twice and unfortunately got 2 lemons in a row.

Buyer beware.

(I never did get the replacement cap from the first one. When I called about that, the rep I spoke to told me that they get so many calls that it’s impossible for them to follow up on each one to make sure it was resolved. I can see why they’re overwhelmed with support calls and it’s even more disturbing that customer service lets things slip through the cracks like this…)

(about a month later)
I replaced this with a Braun KF600… the choice is obvious having had both machines: the Braun is simply a better designed and better constructed machine for about the same price. Save yourself the hassle and buy it instead. It takes up less counter space, has a gold cone filter instead of the ill-fitting #4 paper filters, there’s no twist cap on the carafe to fight with…
To be fair, it doesn’t have a timer. Not a big deal for me.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (2)

We purchased this machine last month, after much research, to replace a 6 year-old Cuisinart basic model. We were looking for a well-made thermal carafe machine at a reasonable price. We found it!

We can’t find enough good things to say about it! Of course it is very stylish looking and it fits nicely on our counter under our standard size cabinets. Yes, you have to move it out to fill the water chamber and basket, but big deal! I can do that!

It is extermely easy to program with just enough controls to make sense.

It makes good hot coffee that stays nice and hot for a good while. While it may not keep it scorching hot like a model with a hot plate, which also continues to cook and burn your coffee, it is definitely hot enough! We made some coffee one morning and didn’t finish it. We purposely left it in the pot while we were gone and upon returning home at 5 pm, the coffee was still amazingly warm. It was not hot enough to want to drink it, but we were amazed at the heat it had retained.

We think this model is extermely easy to clean and doesn’t have lots of parts that look as though they might break. Not only does the basket where you place your filter and grounds come out, but so does the container which holds the basket. It lifts up and you can rinse it out. The slots that hold this container also have holes in the bottom so junk doesn’t collect. The lid on the carafe works easily and the secondary lid is nice too.

We also think this machine makes the coffee extremely quickly!

We have seen absolutely no leakage problems or overflow troubles. And for sure this model can use the standard #4 cone filters. I called the maker before purchasing it to make sure. It sticks up a hair over the edge of the basket, but it has made no difference and has caused no problems.

Overall, this is a great buy so far! We went back and forth on which model to buy and finally decided on this one. We love it!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comments (6)