Melitta 46894 10-Cup Thermal Coffee Maker

Melitta has been one of the name players in the coffeemaker industry for more than a century, ever since a Dresden housewife cut out a piece of blotter paper, fitted it into a cone and used it to make coffee. In 1908, Melitta Bentz applied for a patent for the very first paper coffee filters, and started a whole new industry.

Melitta has been making coffee makers for decades. Their products range from coffee kettles to single serve coffee machines, and an entire line of automatic drip coffee makers. The Melitta 46894 10-cup Thermal Coffeemaker is an automatic drip coffee maker with compact, modern good looks, adjustable flavor settings and many of the features coffee drinkers want most.

Melitta 46984 10-Cup Thermal Coffee Maker

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The Basics

The Melitta 46894 10-cup Thermal Coffeemaker is an automatic drip coffee maker that brews into the included thermal carafe, which really, truly, does keep the coffee HOT, not just lukewarm, for up to 4 hours. This coffee maker lives up to the Melitta brand’s reputation for high quality and good, serviceable design.

It offers a couple of nice functions, including the option for Robust coffee – a setting that pre-soaks the coffee grounds to allow them to bloom for fuller, bolder coffee flavor.

Features:

Brew four to ten cups of coffee in 10 minutes or less
Thermal stainless steel carafe keeps coffee hot for hours
Bold and Robust setting to make bolder, stronger coffee
Programmable coffee maker will brew when you tell it to and shut off automatically
Brew pause feature so you can sneak a cup before the pot is finished brewing
Durable stainless steel
Cone filters for better coffee extraction
Brews at 195 F. for optimum coffee extraction
Easy fill water reservoir

Specs:

10 x 9.25 x 14.5″
120v, 1025W
Uses #4 cone coffee filters

A Closer Look:

The Melitta 46894 coffee maker is a departure from the current trend toward rounded, awkward looking coffee makers that will look dated within a few months. The black and silver machine is designed to emphasize the cone design of the filter, with soft angles and comfortable, ergonomically sensible handles and proportions. At 14 1/2 inches tall, it may be a little tall to fit under cabinets, and the lack of a removable reservoir makes it impractical to put it under a cabinet anyway. The water reservoir is easy to fill, but the measurement window only starts at about six cups, which makes it difficult to estimate the amount of water you’ve poured into it until you’ve reached six cups. If you’re only making four cups, you’ll have to guesstimate.

The controls are simple, very user friendly, and located near the top of the machine where they’re not in as much danger of being shorted out by water spills. There are four buttons: one on/off button, one button to set the brew strength (regular, bold and robust settings are available), and three to program the machine for automatic coffee making.

The aluminum coffee carafe is insulated all the way to the top, all the better to keep the coffee at the right temperature for drinking. The Melitta is designed to brew at 195 F. and drips directly into the carafe with very little chance to lose heat between drip and pot. The machine has an integrated hot plate that heats only to warm the carafe and turns off automatically when the brew is done. A number of people who reviewed the Melitta complained about low coffee temperature – we didn’t find that problem, especially if we preheated the carafe with hot water from the tap before brewing into it.

We really love the brew strength settings, which do make a difference in the flavor of the coffee. This is getting to be more popular on automatic drip coffee makers, but it’s still fairly unusual to find on a mid-priced coffee maker – and you almost never find a choice of three strengths. The Melitta 46984 10-cup Thermal Coffee Maker offers a choice of regular, bold and robust coffee brew strength, so you can set it the way you like it.

Pros:

Three brew strength settings let you brew it the way you like it
Thermal carafe really keeps coffee hot
Programmable coffee maker to make coffee when you want it
Pause and serve feature lets you sneak a cup while the coffee brews
Brews coffee at the right temperature and keeps it hot

Cons:

Blue LED clock light is brighter than expected
Difficult to read water tank measurements
No removable water reservoir

In a Nutshell:

The Melitta 46894 10-Cup Thermal Coffee Maker offers some nice features for a mid-priced drip coffee maker. The coffee maker is designed to brew coffee at optimal temperature, and the stainless steel thermal carafe keeps coffee hot until you’re ready to drink it. The best feature of this nifty little machine, in our opinion, is the brew strength selector, which lets you choose from three brew strength settings, so you can enjoy your coffee the way you really like it.