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How long are you willing to wait for your coffee to brew? It’s true that many models of coffee makers allow you to pull out the carafe and pour your coffee while the machine is still brewing, but it’s also a fact that you end up with a stronger, more bitter cup of coffee when the process is only partially complete. The Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker provides a fresh pot of coffee almost instantly—a mere three minutes’ brewing time for the whole pot!—so I don’t have to choose between a fifteen-minute wait and a bitter cup of early coffee.
Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker product features:
The key to the design of the Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker is its hot water holding tank, keeps the water at 200ºF (the perfect temperature for brewing), and its secondary reserve tank, which holds sufficient water for nearly three full pots of coffee. With hot water always ready to go, there’s no warm-up time, and the machine can produce immediately. I’ve learned that it’s important to keep the holding tank from getting empty, especially given the evaporation factor with the constantly hot water in it, but there’s nothing tricky about doing so, since I can pour fresh water into the reserve tank at any point without affecting the temperature in the front-line hot water tank. I also learned (the hard way, unfortunately) that it’s important to turn the machine off when I leave town. I suppose I’m fortunate it didn’t create a fire hazard, but I was still kicking myself when I realized the holding tank’s water had evaporated in my absence and the heating element had burned out. To my delight, though, Bunn replaced my coffee maker immediately—and I have been using my current machine for well over a decade!
If the price of the Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker is causing you to hesitate, its longevity might help you reconsider. Although it’s certainly not as cheap as some of the dorm-room models you might pick up at Wal-Mart, it’s still not an outrageous price by any means—particularly if you’re so fortunate as to keep on using it for year after year. It does come with a warranty (and Bunn is well-known for prompt resolution of customer complaints, as well as replacements sometimes even when the warranty has expired) so you should be able to count on this baby for years to come.
I have occasionally used the Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker simply for its hot water, making tea, instant soups, or mixing cocoa or other hot powdered drinks. I used to have an “instant hot water” faucet as part of my kitchen sink, but now my coffee machine provides all the conveniences I used to gain from the faucet—minus the burn risks posed for people who didn’t realize the “extra” faucet could scald them.
The unit looks a little unwieldy on my counter; with its large body and water tanks, the main body of the machine seems to dwarf the carafe. At ten cups, the carafe itself isn’t small, so it’s purely a matter of perspective—and I don’t mean to say the machine is unsightly, merely that it’s large. Standing about sixteen inches tall, this isn’t one that tucks under a low cupboard. In my kitchen that’s no problem—the Bunn GRB Velocity Brew coffee maker has had its designated niche for years, beneath one of the higher cabinets with sufficient clearance below. My wife calls it our “coffee shrine”—and I certainly wouldn’t dispute the designation.
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Carla Black says
I have a GRB Velocity made by Bunn have had it 4 years now. But recently it has started to spray water out of the sprayer to fast and the filter cup gets way too full of water too fast and has been causing major overflow issues. I clean the coffee maker and sprayer spotless every other month and delime the unit. It still looks brand new like the day I bought it. I use Bunn coffee filters and a half a scoop less of coffee than what it calls for. I’m at a loss to get this to stop….anyone have any answers?