I've had one of the original
Braun Tassimo that were originally introduced in 2005 or so. Despite a few minor annoyances, this is a great single serve coffee machine. With 40+ different drinks available plus the ability to froth and steam milk for a Latte or Cappuccino this is a cool gadget. All of this in 60 seconds or so with no clean up. While this is no substitute for roasting and grinding your own beans, this unit makes a pretty good cup of coffee. Did I mention it only takes about 60 seconds?
Recently, the unit was redesigned by
Bosch. Pretty cool that a coffee machine undergoes a design change after only a few years on the market. Anyways..I HAD to have a new one after enjoying the old one so much. So I bought one and here's my mini-review.
It's quite a bit more compact and leaner than the outgoing model. The counter footprint is much smaller. The overall style is also much cleaner...less bulbous. I like! The water reservoir in the back is also square this time around (old one was a cylinder) and has a nice grab handle so it's easy to carry once full. Mine does NOT have a water filter, since I have filtered water in the kitchen anyways. And besides it's $50 more for the version with a filter..and the filters themselves cost around $10 USD. So I skipped the filtered version. Also tucked in the back behind the water reservoir is a neat pocket for storing the Cleaning/Descaling T-Disc. Nice touch.
At the front of the machine, the cup holder is different. It has a nice thumb slide for ratcheting up the cup height. And better still, the cup riser removes completely so you can get tall travel mugs in there. This is great since it was not possible with the last model. The same single button control is there from the old one, but now has different colour LEDs around it to tell you the status. Again...just a sleeker, cleaner design. Modern.
Brewing...is MUCH faster than the old one, and the old one was pretty quick. The old one would pre-heat the water then brew. The new one is instant. It must have a clever compact version of a tankless water heater in it. And quieter too! The old one was a bit loud...one of the things I didn't like. It kinda chugga-chugga-chugged as it brewed. Not REALLY loud..but louder than a coffee machine should be. This has been addressed with this new version. It's really quiet. You can just barely hear the pump on start-up, and after that you really only hear the coffee pouring into your glass. Unless you are frothing milk...then you hear a quiet "whoosh". Also gone is the little pool of water that used to collect in the over-flow at the bottom of the cup holder (if you own a Braun Tassimo, you know what I'm talking about). It's bone dry now....another one of my complaints that has been addressed completely!
Overall I'm really VERY pleased with the new version. It is better in every single regard. If it's as reliable as my old Braun (never a malfunction in the many hundreds of cups of coffee) then they will really have outdone themselves.
Bosch really put alot of thought into this re-design and it shows. It's nice to see the replacement is superior to the outgoing model.
