Whether the Alexa-enabled model is worth its $65 markup over Hamilton Beach’s basic programmable coffee maker is debatable. Moreover, you still need to go through the trouble of filling up your coffee maker each day and pressing the Ready to Brew button before you can control it remotely. You can also use Alexa Routines so it automatically brews your coffee at a specific time each day. The added convenience of Alexa comes with a significant markup. While the standard 12-cup Hamilton Beach programmable coffee maker costs just $24.99, the Alexa-enabled model we reviewed will set you back $89.99. It only works with Alexa, not Google Assistant, so you can’t control it with “Hey Google” voice commands (the same goes for Apple’s Siri).
First off, The Scoop is an attractive, sturdy, and sleek machine with a smaller footprint than the typical Keurig brewer; the two are shown side by side on my desk on the right. The Scoop retails for around $60, whereas most Keurig brewers retail for over $100. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Fill the reservoir with fresh water and run a full brew cycle with just water.
With all that is going on, this machine can still brew 12 cups of coffee and its designed to use a minimum amount of counter space. On the other side, the single-serve machine is just as enticing as it’s conjoined breville espresso maker fraternal twin. The machine comes with two types of filters, one totally reusable for your favorite grounds and a second to fit K-cups. When not in use, the non-dominant filter can be stashed in the cup rest.
When you click on links to buy products we may earn money to support our work. Learn how we create the most in-depth and scientific tech reviews on our About page. The Hamilton Beach 2-Way held its own for the most part when facing our strenuous consistency tests. To test the differences in acidity, temperature, and the time it took for the 2-Way to brew — we made five pots of coffee back and measured each metric repeatedly to find the deviation. The Hamilton Beach 2-Way brewer offers a variety of brew features. The Hamilton Beach Scoop 2-Way is a great option for single-cup and full-batch brewing.
It offers two brew strength options and has a simple display panel with a clock and five buttons including Manual On/Off, Brew Strength, Wi-Fi, Time, and Ready to Brew. For safety, the machine has an auto shutoff feature that automatically powers it off after two hours. The Cuisinart DCC-1200 reliably brewed decent coffee, but the final product was not as good as the Ninja’s. It does have some of the most useful hamilton coffee maker customizable features of the cheap coffee makers we tested, including user control of the hot plate’s holding temperature. The small-batch option is easy to use, but programming it on this machine is not as intuitive as it is on the Ninja. Of the models we tested, the DCC-1200 had one of the longest warranties , but it has the hardest water tank to fill, with measurements that are nearly impossible to read.
I completely understand wanting to make only one cup of coffee, but there are so many ways to make a truly excellent cup the manual way; my favorite ways are with an Aeropress or Clever Coffee Dripper. My complaint is primarily with machines like the Keurig brewers or Nespresso machines that sell you wildly overpriced, stale, questionably-sourced coffee in hideously wasteful little packages. Nespresso hasn’t really caught on in the U.S. as it has in Europe, but everyone and his brother here seems to have a Keurig brewer. Thus, insofar as I have talked about them at all, I have tried to encourage alternatives to K-Cups that use fresh coffee purchased by the consumer. Hamilton Beach drip coffee makers have the option for fast brewing, automatic pause, a water window, and two-hour automatic shut off. The controls are on the front of the coffee maker along with the brand and model name.
However, when it came to brewing time and temperature, the 2-Way excelled. This brewer took around seven minutes to brew and lagged only seconds behind between each pot. It also maintained a fairly consistent temperature with a difference of just 1.17 degrees Fahrenheit. The Hamilton Beach 2-Way Coffee Maker is not a stunning looking piece of equipment.
It’s recommended that you perform this routine cleaning once per month. The only downside to this is if you like the 12-cup option—the FlexBrew Thermal only makes 10 cups of coffee per go. To be transparent, the FlexBrew from Hamilton Beach isn’t the only one of its kind.