I’m picky about my coffee. Here’s why, for my money, Capresso’s CoffeeTEAM PRO maker/grinder brews the best cup.

I’m a really picky person when it comes to coffee.  I like it strong but not too strong (a robust medium roast). I like it with a dash of milk (preferably whole or 2%). And most of all, I like it freshly ground. 

I’ve tried many a machine in my quest for the perfect cup. Here’s why and how the Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO Plus Coffee Maker/Grinder — which, as the name implies, pulverizes beans into powder and then brews a pot — pushes all my buttons.

Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO Plus

$239.00 from The Cook's Warehouse $208.79 from Mart Explore $269.00 from Cooks on Main

The Glories of Grind-and-Brew Coffee Makers

I got hooked on freshly ground coffee in my formative teenage years. One day, my mother came home with a new toy: an electric grinder from Krups. Small in size, but big in sound. The first time she used it, the ensuing racket sent the dog fleeing in terror, and my dad bolting out of his study down the hall, yelling, “What the hell was that?” Despite daily use over the next decade, neither of them ever really got used to it.

Flash forward some 20 years: I’m making coffee essentially the way Mommy did — grinding the beans, pouring them into a drip pot, cleaning up the spills along the way — for a new boyfriend. “Why do all that? Why not use a coffee maker?” he asked. “Freshly ground coffee is so much better,” I protested. “They have machines that do that, too,” he replied. And he gave me one for Christmas, which helped me decide he was The One (but that’s another story).

Over time, I refined my tastes in coffee and in grind-and-brew coffee makers. I wanted one with a big (at least 7-oz.) storage container for the beans, enough for several days’ worth of brewing. And one with a burr grinder, as opposed to a blade grinder: The burrs grind more evenly with less heat, which means better flavor, and it lets you adjust the grain size (different types of beans demand different sizes, for the smoothest taste). I also wanted to be able to program the machine to turn on and start the java jive at a certain time.

Turns out, the Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO meets all my requirements.

How the Capresso Coffee Maker Works

Making coffee with the Capresso isn’t all that different from making coffee with any drip machine. Here are the basic steps:

• 1. Fill the basket with beans (no need to measure; the machine chooses the right amount).

• 2. Set the grind indicator to coarse, medium, or fine. (You don’t have to do this each time; the setting will stay in place until you change it again.)

• 3. Put a fresh paper filter or the supplied permanent mesh filter into the filter basket.

• 4. Pour the water in the water container to the desired level.

• 5. Push the Cups button to indicate how many cups you want (this tells the machine how many beans to grind).

• 6. Press the Brew button.

That’s all there is to it. You’ll hear a whirring noise as the grinder does its thing. Then the drip, drip, drip of the hot liquid pouring down. It’ll take about five minutes to brew, depending on how big a pot you make.

What We Like About the Capresso Coffee Maker

The Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO is especially easy to program and use: Even without the extensive manual, you could figure out how to work it, given its nice mix of digital displays and tactile buttons. And there’s no mess, no fuss — none of the inevitable spilling that occurs when you transfer coffee grains from a separate grinder to a coffee machine.

It also has lots of options and a variety of settings. You can adjust the grind setting, depending on the type of bean you have (a more precise designation than the strength setting, as some machines call it). Some features are fairly standard, like “auto-brew”: the alarm-clock-like function that starts the machine at a certain time. Others are unique. There’s a special button for oily beans, for example. You can make as few as two cups (four cups is the minimum for many large machines). Also, the conical burr grinder (which is loud, but not as noisy as others I’ve heard) actually grinds twice — once to pulverize the beans, and then again to clear out any remaining beans or shards.

That last function may be the key to the Capresso’s greatest strength: its dependability. After a year of daily — sometimes twice daily — use, it still works great, with nary a glitch. That’s huge.

For all their advantages, grind-and-brew coffee makers can be temperamental creatures, due to all their moving parts. Those equipped with burr grinders are notoriously fragile. In fact, that’s how I happened to try the Capresso. For years, I’d been a loyal Cuisinart customer; I eventually graduated to its newest, self-cleaning burr grinder model, which broke down early and often. Cuisinart would promptly send me a new one (apparently “self-cleaning” also means “no-repairing”), but after going through three machines in five months, I’d had enough.

What We Don’t Love About the Capresso Coffee Maker

Much as I enjoy it, I do have some quibbles with the Capresso.

Despite its sleek look, there are design flaws. The coffee bean container has an opaque lid, so you can’t see at a glance how many beans remain in there. After brewing, steam condenses into water on top of the filter holder, and it takes ages to dry unless you open the arm to air it out. It can also be hard to insert the coffee pot into the machine when the filter holder is locked into place.

Most grind-and-brew coffee makers require regular cleaning. But the Capresso’s process seems particularly convoluted, involving the removal of several parts, the simultaneous punching of buttons (for the special “grind & clean cycle”), and the brushing of a hard-to-see underside. In fact, the cleaning instructions — annoyingly scattered in several sections in the manual — suggest actually unplugging the machine and turning it on its side at one point.

On the plus side, all of it is easier to do than to read about. And, though the manual recommends cleaning once a week, I’ve been able to get by with once a month (and we use the machine every day).

Finally, the Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO will cost you, retailing at $239–$269. Though that’s not out of line with comparable grind-and-brew models from Cuisinart, Kenmore, and Melitta, it’s double the price of a regular coffee maker, and as much as $100 more than machines with a blade grinder.

Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO Plus

$239.00 from The Cook's Warehouse $208.79 from Mart Explore $269.00 from Cooks on Main

Good to the Last Drip

When it comes to cooking, nothing beats fresh ingredients — and that includes coffee-making. With a grind-and-brew coffeemaker, you have all the elements in one tidy place and a single device that does all the work for you.

The Capresso CoffeeTEAM PRO is an investment and, like any machine, it has its quirks. But it has fewer of them than many grind-and-brew coffee makers. And its advantages are unmistakable. This machine does everything to create a truly flavorful, freshest cup o’ joe, except roast the beans. And who knows? Maybe the next generation will even find a way to do that.