Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker

I have now owned this for two years. When I bought it there were plenty of negative reviews. For me this machine has been perfect. The coffee genuinely tastes great compared to my former drip machines. It's easy to use, it's sleek and doesn't stick out on the counter. It also drips 10 cups faster than any previous version I have owned. We brew every day and it has had no issues, no peeling of any trim etc. I would love to be able to have the option to keep the coffee hot for 4 hours. I assume 2 hours is the limit to keep it from tasting burned, but I'd like to be able to keep it warm longer. Perhaps that would be accomplished in the carafe version. Thought I'd review this now after so much use. Good machine.

I love this coffee maker. It works with a voice command to Alexa (most of the time) It makes great coffee. It is very attractive. I love it so much I have bought three in the last 3 years. The first one went completely dead after a year. The second one fell apart after 11 months when the plastic ring that holds up the basket cracked in half. When I bought the second one I got smart (I thought) and bought the extended warranty which has been a whole other disappointment. I have to decide if it is worth buying a new one every year for the voice to brew technology. Fingers crossed that another more reliable manufacturer offers an App or voice activated pot. Amazing that a company with such an outstanding customer service department doesn't make a better product. May 19 2026--- I bought a Matter plug and an on/off coffee maker because this last Cafe after less that 4 months of use had the cheap copper paint peeling off and shedding into the coffee. It is disturbing to find paint chips in your cup. Scratch my last comment about great customer service. They don't get back to you or do what they say they will. I sent the coffeemaker back to them after going through the rigamarole to prove the paint was indeed chipping off and in 3 weeks have had no response from them about what they are doing to replace the coffee maker. Getting a stupid coffee maker and a smart plug is much cheaper, works better and with HomeKit. Maybe GE used to bring good things to us but they don't anymore.

I'm thoroughly impressed with the Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker! Here's why it's become my go-to for brewing a superior cup of coffee: 1. Consistent Flavor: The Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker excels at extracting rich, flavorful coffee every time. Whether I'm using store-bought grounds or grinding my own beans, the result is consistently delicious. 2. Precise Brewing: This coffee maker allows for precise control over brewing variables such as temperature and brewing time. It ensures that every cup is brewed to perfection, unlocking the full potential of my favorite coffee beans. 3. Customizable Settings: I appreciate the customizable settings that cater to my specific preferences. Whether I prefer a bold, strong brew or a smoother, milder cup, I can easily adjust the strength and intensity to suit my taste. 4. Sleek Aesthetics: Not only does it brew exceptional coffee, but it also looks great on my countertop. The sleek design and modern aesthetics add a touch of elegance to my kitchen. Overall, the Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker has exceeded my expectations in terms of performance, convenience, and aesthetics. It consistently delivers a superior cup of coffee that satisfies my taste buds every time. I highly recommend it to any coffee enthusiast looking to elevate their brewing experience.

UPDATE: DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THIS. THREE days receiving this and putting it in the auto broom mode I woke up to an empty carafe. Thought maybe it lost Wi-Fi signal so I tried to do a manual brew. When I would press the button it would ask how many cups I would say three cups and hit brew again and it would pump out less than one cup of coffee/water. I tried this three times. Each time resulting in the same thing. I called Amazon support and they basically had no answer other than cleaning the output of the water. I could hear the pumpkick on for maybe 15 seconds or 10 seconds and then would cut out then it might pump for another 5 seconds after that and then cut out. So for the price point of this machine I was very upset. This is a G.E. company so they should have much better quality than this. But come on ! 3 days of use of only one time of three cups per day? Absolutely ridiculous that it failed so quickly. The unit has a clean design. The water reservoir is too small. The mesh coffee grounds basket is a pain to remove the used grounds and get clean. Instructions say items are NOT dishwasher safe. The face has 3 buttons to do various programming. The problem being, they aren't back lit. So when it's on the counter and you are looking down at the machine, it's nearly impossible to read the words. The auto brew works well. It's a way to program the machine to turn on at your chosen time, amount of cups and strength of brew. This is where they failed. You download the app which is somewhat easy to use but there are no clear instructions either with the app or with the machine. Without the app, you push the brew button and it comes on. You push it again and begins to brew. My question the first time using the app was, do I need to push the button once so that the blue light around the brew button is lit so it can communicate with the app? (by the way, pairing with the app and devices was a breeze) Does it automatically power up? When using the Autobrew in the app it says, brewer is Off. So it makes you think, how is it going to brew in the morning even though I have the app programmed? Since I was unsure I called customer support. 45 minutes of a call to not get an answer of which was the correct way to run it. First the first rep was just a general rep. Nice but this was beyond her knowledge. She said, I will transfer you to out Smart Electronics team. They didn't know. They transfered me to a third guy. He didn't know. All 3 said they were aware and have complained that their own owner's manual was terrible yet the company has not made any changes. I also asked, how do I turn off the autobrew programming on the unit if I set the app to a different time so it doesn't accidentally run twice? No answer. This is actually a GE company so you would think they would do better with customer support knowledge and with owner's manual content. I ended up running the first Autobrew directly off of the machine. It worked great. I accidentally found out, DON'T leave the glass carafe on the hot plate after you pour your coffee. It stays hot enough while cooling down that it burns the liquid coffee to the bottom of the carafe. Apparently this isn't true with the outrageously more expensive insulated carafe that will only keep the coffee warm an additional 2 hours. So to setup the next day, to eliminate the AutoBrew programming in the actual unit, I unplugged it to clear it of programming. Then I set it up with enough water (there is no way to empty the reservoir if you needed to) added my coffee grounds and made sure the glass carafe was placed under the outlet correctly. The instructions say if it's not, the coffee will overflow the grounds basket. I then entered the app, made sure my programming was correct. At the top it says brewer off. At the bottom of the next page for autobrew, you do all the progamming and at the bottom it's misleading. It has a button that says, Start Brewing. Which to me meant it would brew immediately. Nope, that allows the autobrew program to run. Well that's stupid designing. The last thing I'll say is, there is supposedly an ideal temp to brew coffee beans at. So if you want a piping hot cup of coffee, this won't do it. Maximum temperature allowed is 205 F which is warm but not piping hot. At that temp...it doesn't take long for a standard cup of coffee to cool right off to luke warm. For this price point and if you choose the Thermal Carafe being nearly an extra $50 bucks for the upgrade....it's a miss for me...I would think twice if I was in the market again.

When I bought this a wee but over a year ago for my birthday present to me, I thought I’d wait a year to see how it truly worked before writing a review. The packaging/boxing was beautiful. The coffee maker and carafe are truly the most attractive I’d seen. For the money, expensive to me, the features it provides are well worth it. We use the maker twice a day and always go for the “Gold” setting which truly does make the perfect cup of coffee. You have options for temperature, strength, cups, etc. I’ve been very pleased with the taste and ease of function. It does have a Bluetooth app to start your coffee from an app but honestly, you can just set the delay brew and do the same. You still have to add water and coffee either way. So I don’t really know why you’d need a Bluetooth app for it. I don’t own a dishwasher and always hand wash my dishes. It’s just two of us so no big deal. Having said that, I’m disappointed in the Rose Gold finish. It’s chipping away. I almost went with the silver Stainless Steel carafe and I wish I had but, it was my birthday present and I decided to go with something a bit more “luxe”, a bit different. Bad choice as you can see from the photos. The carafe is always hand washed and air dried. Maybe it was defective but, seems like it should’ve had a better sealant or something to retain the beautiful rose gold finish. I’m disappointed with the ascetics but not the taste. I just moved it somewhere out of sight. Sad. I’ll probably go with a different maker when this one goes out. I had read people said that it drips after brewing and you’ve taken the coffee filter out to clean and have to admit it does. Now I see what they meant. An empty machine will gather drips in the hot plate after use. We do open the water container and the coffee filter area after use and keep it open with chopsticks to avoid any mold gathering and so it can dry out properly. Other than that it’s been a good coffee maker. If the GE Cafe Series engineers could spend a bit less on the packaging and more investment into the paint on the handle and drip problem, they’d have a true winner!

Is the flavor good? Sure, but I can't enjoy it because every time I use this coffee maker I am filled with rage. A really simple function of the coffee maker is to be able to turn off the heating element. There's not a simple on/off switch like every other coffee maker. You have to hold down one of four buttons whose main function is something else. You have to hold the button while it counts down for 3 seconds. But not the whole three, it will click before that, then it's off. The other problem is that 80% of the time. The heat is still on! But you don't realize that because the little "heat" sign goes off for a moment. You think you've accomplished this simple task that is made bafflingly difficult in this machine. But you haven't. It will pop back on a second after you'd walked away, burning the leftover coffee to the bottom of your pot. Am I holding down the wrong button? Sometimes! But I don't know that, because the heat sign goes OFF and because the correct button is not labeled with it's MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION. Also, most pots have a little light and a dedicated button - helping you remember that you need to, you know, turn it off. This one says "heat" or something in the same white as the clock & the wi-fi indicator. It's hard to notice and I often forget it. It brews quickly, so that's something. But even once it's chimed 3 times, the coffee continues to drip into the pot. So your coffee is "ready" but unless you want a mess burned all over the heat plate - you're going to have to wait for another couple minutes while it continues to drip. It's beautiful, I loved seeing it on the counter until the very sight of it filled me with rage & loathing. But it's REALLY hard to keep clean. The coffee splatters everywhere. Slight drips continue long, long after the pot is done brewing, so I'm rinsing off the pot & wiping down other elements 3-4 times after every brew just to keep it from looking 4 years old in the first week. I will eventually stop doing this & it will look like garbage, but right now the fact that it has a pretty design is the only thing I feel good about. You also have extra steps when brewing. The number 4 filters have to be FOLDED each time. Then you've got to wet the stupid things down. If you don't (because of course I forgot once already) then the coffee backs up into the shower head. And that massive scoop it comes with is a lot bigger than most coffee scoops, so you're going through more coffee in this process and it tastes... fine. There's not a mind-blowing difference between this and my 7 year old, $20 Mr. Coffee machine. I wanted to love this machine. Epicurious and various other blogs told me it was great. It's got the fancy coffee people seal of approval. It's beautiful. I spent much more than I normally would. But I hate it. And all I can hope is that I quickly learn to live with all it's little quirks and over complicated processes - but I won't buy another when this one dies.

I used a Bunn coffeemaker for years but got tired if replacing it after the inevitable leak. This coffee maker is easy to use and brews my freshly grinder beans perfectly. My only complaint is that I can't remove the water reservoir for cleaning. Oh..and we broke the carafe and discovered the replacement cost $75. We purchased a generic carafe that works fine.

Looks nice but absolute junk. The digital clock in the front stopped working, so you have no idea what time it is, the temp setting, or how many cups of coffee you want to brew. Now, just over 2 years old it will not brew the correct amount coffee. So for how much you spend for the coffee machine it is absolutely not worth it. I can't stress enough, don't buy this coffee maker. I contacted customer service "Kim Email/Chat specialist Bodewell GE Appliances, a Haier company", who was absolutely useless. They won't help you out whatsoever if there is a problem after the 1 year warranty. The told me to spend another 300.00 on a new one. Why would I buy another 300.00 piece of junk, with crappy customer service. Sincerely, Jason C. Wright

Me encantó, haces un buen café y puedes programarlo por medio de una app para tener listo tu café a la hr que quieras. Se ve muy bonita en mi barra de la cocina y super moderna, sí vale la pena!!