Black & Decker TCM830 10-Cup Thermal Stainless-Steel Coffeemaker
by Black & Decker
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List Price: Our Price: $54.99 You Save: $15.00 (21%) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Black & Decker TCM830 10-Cup Thermal Stainless-Steel Coffeemaker
Customer Review: Great Coffee Maker
Summary: 5 Stars
It arrived in a timely manner and is a good looking and easy to use coffee maker.Customer Review: Makes good coffee, thermal carafe keeps coffee hot.
Summary: 4 Stars
I been using this TCM830 coffee maker since early September and I'm happy with it. It brews a full pot of coffee to my liking in nine to ten minutes and keeps it hot for two or three hours with little fuss. The ten cup machine holds 50 onces of coffee, ten "regulation" 5 ounce cups, or just over six 8 ounce mugs to most of us.
I like the lift-out brew basket and the removable water reservoir. I fill the water reservoir in the sink and drop it into the coffee maker without having to pour any water and possibly spilling onto the coffee maker. There is a D shaped overflow hole in the reservoir to prevent over filling the reservoir, it's right next to the reservoir handle. Water can drip from this hole if you tilt the reservoir or slosh the water as you carry it. If you carry the reservoir with your left hand and cover the D hole with your left index finger there's no drips.
The cone shaped brew basket uses a #4 cone filter. I also tried using the old style 8 to 12 cup flat bottomed filters by forming them to fit the brew basket and they work fine too. I use two rounded 1/8 cup measures of coffee to make a ten cup pot to my liking.
The thermal carafe if basically an oversized stainless steel thermos bottle, with a handle and a pour spout. The metal bottom and metal sides stay cold, the plastic top gets slightly warm, that's where most of the heat from the coffee is lost. Coffee can be poured from the carafe by turning the lid about 1/2 turn until the arrow on the lid lines up with the spout. There's a spring loaded "poppet" valve in the carafe lid that lets the coffee drip into the carafe during brewing. This valve closes when the carafe is removed from the machine to seal the carafe and reduce the heat loss. The coffee stays hot longer if the carafe is removed as soon as the brewing is finished. The opening in the top of the carafe is about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, so a bottle brush is needed to clean the carafe.
The carafe lid screws into the carafe and seals it like a thermos bottle stopper. The lid can be tricky to start in its threads. There is only one spot when lid drops squarely into its threads and it's easy to tighten the lid every time from that spot. The spot is where the pour arrow on the lid is pointing about 1/3 turn to the right (clockwise) from the spout. I marked this spot with a silver magic marker line at 4 o'clock from the spout, and haven't had any problems inserting the lid since then. I'm surprized Black and Decker doesn't mark this spot to begin with.
The carafe is a little tricky to put into the machine until you get used to it. There is some drag on the carafe as it goes into place. The poppet valve on the carafe's lid drags against and pushes up on a second "no drip" poppet valve on the bottom of the brew basket to open both valves for brewing. The carafe is easier to insert when you use two hands, one to hold the carafe and one to keep the machine from sliding. It also helps if your put the water in the machine to give it more weight before you put the carafe in. It's also easier to insert the carafe if you depress the poppet on the carafe lid with your index finger as you start it into the machine. The carafe drops slightly over a raised boss to hold it in the correct place under the brew basket. Another Amazon.com reviewer said the carafe is easiest to insert and to verify it's in the right position with the handle straight out over the digital display, that helps for me too.
You can extend the time that the coffee stays hot in the carafe by pre-heating the inside of the carafe with hot water, the same as you would with a thermos bottle. Since most of the coffee's heat is lost through the plastic top of the carafe, I've found that if I lay a wide flat one cup plastic measuring cup upside down over the top of the carafe, like the cup on the top of a thermos bottle, and lay a hand towel over that I double the length of time the coffee stays hot as I gradually drink it, out to mid-afternoon.
Overall this is a good coffee maker with some great features: thermal carafe; removable water reservoir and lift-out brew basket, and some quirks: tricky carafe lid and carafe drags when inserting it into the machine. The quirks are no problem for me once I learned how to deal with them. I bought this coffee maker a Lowes hardware for about $50 and I'm happy with it. A good metal thermal carafe alone can cost around half the price of this coffee maker.
Customer Review: The Art of Brewing
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently bought this machine at Lowe's and I like almost everything about it. It is a 10 cup machine, compared to my old 4 cup, has a stainless steel thermal caraffe that keeps the coffee warm and tasty, has a removable reservoir that you can fill at the sink, and makes wonderfully brewed coffee, better than the Mr. Coffee that I was replacing.
Some people complain about the coffee not remaining hot, but if you rinse the caraffe with hot water before you brew, as is suggested in the instructions, then the coffee is hot enough to make your cup hot after you pour it in the first two hours, and continues to be warm enough to drink for hours on end. If you prefer your coffee to be sitting on an element and to be piping hot, don't get this unit, because it doesn't have an element. To me, that is actually better than having one, because the element on some of the machines I've had can really degrade the flavor of the coffee by overheating it.
Another thing to watch out for when you purchase the machine is that removing and inserting the caraffe from the machine is a two handed operation, because the parts really interfere with each other. This is unlike the Mr. Coffee model I had that would slide right in and out with one hand.
Also, the caraffe pours rather slowly, which I find annoying when it says in the instructions that you're not supposed to remove it while it's brewing for over 30 seconds or it will overflow.
And speaking about overflow, If you don't insert the caraffe the right way, it will overflow onto the counter until you figure out how to make it not do that.
So, I'm giving it only 4 stars, because it's like a lot of things from Black and Decker--it's very nice, but has a few design flaws that are often annoying. (it's the same way with my B&D long slot toaster that doesn't toast dark enough toast)
Customer Review: We REALLY like it!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
First and foremost... shopping for a coffee maker has to be one of the most tedious chores imaginable!!! I shopped off and on for an eternity before I stumbled across this one. Each time I would spend hours scrolling thru Amazon's selection, and it always seemed like everyone hated every model for any number of reasons. And each time I ultimately felt like my head was going to explode, so I would stop shopping altogether and then repeat the process a couple of months later, and repeat, and repeat...
I really wanted a removable reservoir and a reasonably good carafe. Those 2 features dramatically limit the selection process. My Krups had crapped out, and had been limping along for over a year. I pulled the trigger on this, finally, and have been very pleased, so far. The carafe keeps very warm for an acceptable amount of time. The pull-out filter basket is very convenient, and at least seems as though it should hold up well. But most of all... the removable reservoir works great and is vastly more convenient than the traditional alternative! And as far as I'm concerned... it actually makes good coffee, too!!!
If you fancy yourself as a gourmet coffee snob, then you probably want a fancier and more expensive device. If you think the price of this device is a bit too steep... good luck with the cheaper ones! (been there done that) If, however, you require hot coffee in the morning as a prerequisite to even getting your shoes tied or your car started... and you really like the concept of no-water-poured-all-over-the-counter-convenience... and prefer that it not take an eternity to brew a pretty darn good pot of coffee... then this may be perfect for YOU!
(I will admit, though... the Black & Decker brand name did/does not excite me in the least. But so far so good!)
Customer Review: TCM830 Reviewed - The Almost Perfect Coffee Maker
Summary: 4 Stars
I recently bought the B&D TCM830. It was exactly what I had been looking for in a coffee maker. Previously I had a Mr. Coffee and it could never be cleaned satisfactorily, retaining old coffee residue and grime in the coffee basket area. So an important feature was to find one that the coffee assembly could be removed to be cleaned. I also became tired of breaking carafes so the stainless steel thermal pot was welcomed, plus the fact that it can and does keep coffee warm longer than I am interested in drinking the stuff. I was concerned about the fact (as others had mentioned) that the tower seemed a bit wobbley and allowed the water / coffee valve over the carafe to easily misalign. (Although it does not seem to cause any leaks or issues.) The other item I worried about is the valve between the removable water tank and where it seats on the coffee maker. As someone else said "it's seems like a leak ready to happen", but once again it has never caused a issue. And as others had mentioned, I too found that overflow hole at the 10 cup level that always spilled water on the way back from the faucet,(highly annoying). Overall, I am very satisfied with this coffee maker and if B&D had paid a little more attention to those 2 things this would be "The Ultimate Coffee Maker". It's priced very reasonable and as a matter of fact I was surprised at how reasonable it was ($49 @ Lowe's). I would have bought a Bunn but they did not have a model that had all the features of this Black & Decker. I give it 4+ stars and would recommend it.