Cuisinart DGB-800 Fully Automatic Burr Grind & Brew, 12-Cup Glass, Silver

We had the Krups KM785 for about five years before it stopped brewing reliably. Once we couldn’t get it to run when we wanted it to I started looking for something else.

There are some negative reviews for this DGB-800 but all I can do is review it in comparison to the Krups. It is easier to setup, grinds faster and more quietly, brews in a similar time, and makes more and stronger coffee.

I have not had any problem keeping it clean, I wonder if other people are using filters inside the gold filter? You aren’t supposed to do that. One or the other, not both.

Are there things I’d like to see different? The water filling flap is narrow, not too narrow, but they could have come up with a better geometry to make it easier to fill without spilling. The coffee reservoir is very wide and shallow, I’d prefer it taller and not covering most of the top of the machine. A regular shape would be nice too, then I could make a two pound extension like I did for the Krups. I don’t like having to refill the bean reservoir every few times I make coffee, the beans are no worse off in the machine than in the bag.

Definitely an upgrade.

My girlfriend (now ex) at the time always complained her coffee wasn’t as good as the coffee I make at my home so I did some research and decided on this maker.

When I set up in her home for her it was real easy to use and really comprehensive to understand the instructions. I personally like to grind my own beans and the fact this does that for you and puts it in the removable/reusable filter. That was great.

It brews fast, and smells great when I used my beans. I enjoyed the taste of the coffee very much. Once you go from paper filters to reusable filters you realize you can’t go back. Paper filters always have a paper taste to your coffee.

I can’t say much about the cleaning other than doing the basic which is run a pot of water through the machine before first use. But judging how my ex kept her old coffee maker clean… I doubt she will keep it clean herself. But I am not stranger to cleaning these things.

If you feel your coffee maker is slowly getting worse and worse. Remove the filter in the water tank, add descaler to the the water per what the descaler instructions say. Brew a pot, dump. Clean the pot out, add clean cool water, brew a second pot of water. Dump that out. Then brew a third pot of water and dump that out like step two.

To clean the reusable filter, please don’t put it in a dishwasher. This can damage it. Take a small pot of water and bring it to a boil. then lower the heat to a simmer. In your sink while waiting for your pot of water to come to temperature use cool water and a soft brush or tooth brush to make sure you remove all the stuck on grinds. Once it is, add the basket to the simmering warm water and turn off the heat. Let it soak till it cools down. Remove the basket and rinse with water brushing with a tooth brush again. This will remove the micro particles from the brewing process. Let it air dry in an open space. Then once dry you can use it again. I suggest for serious coffee makers do this after every use. But for the average coffee user once a week is fine.

Antes de comprarla leí las reseñas, en la.mayoria se quejaban de la jarra y no.le hice mucho caso. Sí es un problema!!! La jarra parece que no viene sellada y cada vez que se sirve el café, éste se derrama bastante. Definitivamente es necesario MEJORAR el empaque de la jarra.
Increíble que por ese precio no le pongan atención a ese pequeño detalle que en una cafetera de 300 pesos no sucede.
Calcula los granos de café que se requieren para la cantidad de tazas que se van a hacer pero no hace lo mismo con el agua. Así es de que hay que poner la cantidad exacta de agua porque si te pasas, muele el café necesario utilizando toda el agua del depósito y corres el riesgo de que te quede como coloquialmente se dice “agua de calcetín” .

EDIT December 12 2022

I saw the “sitting water” situation mentioned in another review. Feels like they designed it that way on purpose, don’t know for sure. The grooves in that area would seem to indicate that they were wanting the condensation to roll back down but the sealed nature of it doesn’t make it work. Perhaps having the grind hopper to the side rather than on top would have been more logical.

There’s leakage from the plastic “neck” of the carafe. This didn’t happen with the older model; so I suspect the materials they used are not the best for hot water (chemistry; certain materials expand/contract with temperature shifts and become brittle at points). This has gotten worse with every pour. I might test some sealant. For now I have to use a napkin right under the pour spout.

I tested different brew strengths with the options – while it did work, I wasn’t a fan of the taste I ended up with. So my suspicion is that this setting really only works well with “bland” coffees – you know, the Folgers of the world. I’m using Java Planet, one of their darker roasts, and the flavor was absolutely not to my liking.

I tested the grounds basket. Might be fine with pre-ground coarse coffee, but you’re guaranteed to get sludge if you use this grinder.

There’s a sensor telling you when to empty the grinds basket, the problem is the readout message isn’t intuitive, just saying “empty”. All they had to do was say “dump grinds”. Also, why do a readout with a beep for this, but not for the water reservoir?

But some good:

The sealed filter cup is excellent. There was an issue with one brew where for whatever reason the filter didn’t “settle” into the cup, so things overflowed. I was able to stop the brew action (that brew was ruined though) and the cup itself was still completely sealed from bottom leaking so I could dump it out and load anew. The second brew was fine; basically the filter just hadn’t settled in to allow the grounds to bottom out.

The glass carafe keeps things perfectly hot until I’m done with it. Much better experience than the older model.

EDIT November 29th 2022

One feedback point. The unit does not give you a warning if the water reservoir is empty when you go to brew. A small thing but important.

I also determined that the ratio for 12-oz cups is basically half of what you choose. So if you choose a 4-cup, you’ll get 2 full cups at the most, 6-cup will get you 3 full cups, etc. That should help people properly measure whatever.

I’ve used up the rest of the Dunkin beans, so now I’m back to my regular brand which is a darker roast. This is where I’ll play with different strength settings to see how it influences the flavor (the coffee in question is from Java Planet and has generally been perfectly smooth with the previous model. This model seems to be more “bold” generally, so I’ll try a few different settings to see what that experience is.)

—-ORIGINAL REVIEW—–
I owned the DGB-650 for many years. Loved it so much that I actually set it up in hotels where I was temporarily staying rather than use their coffee. But it started having problems and it was time for an upgrade.

This unit, although I just got it, already has some significant improvements.

– Being able to simply store beans in the top hopper is good if you mostly brew the same coffee every day (until you run out). For me, it allowed me to just dump the remainder of some beans I had in a sealed container waiting for another brand to run out.

I can see it being a pain if you’re the kind who likes something different every now and then. The other models that make you fill in each brew are probably better suited for you.

– The carafe is significantly improved even though it’s not metal. I think the metal carafe is frankly overrated; the glass carafe keeps coffee even hotter than the metal one did. One thing to note though: it pours REALLY easily. The 650 didn’t, so I’ve already had a situation of slightly spill/overpour because I wasn’t ready for how easy it comes out. This isn’t a bad thing, just letting you know to pour slowly. Also, the top is much easier to remove. If I had to call out one thing, and it’s not the carafe’s fault just physics, it’s the condensation.

– It’s strongly recommended you use paper filters rather than the basket they give you unless you don’t care about leftover grounds in your coffee (Ugh…). The ones they give you are garbage though; look for Melita or other similar brands here on Amazon, bamboo filter types, Kroger has them too. You’ll know them because they’re cone shaped with a flat bottom and (often) brown. I recommend size 4 for this unit – they will seem oversized, but that’s on purpose. I’ve used these for years.

When this unit sprays the grounds down into the basket, they will make a TERRIBLE mess inside. If your filter is just sitting in the cup, grounds will get down underneath it and make their way into the coffee. What you want is a filter that completely envelops the cup and has extra hanging over the edge, so that everything gets caught.

So far – and it’s early – my only negative is that I’m not sold on the # of cups that it’s giving. 4 is the lowest number I believe, and you’re not getting 4 cups of a regular mug. Maybe 4 cups of a really tiny mug. 3 cups at the most based on what I see is the most logical mug size out there, which is 12oz.