- 8-cup black thermal coffeemaker
- Programmable clock or timer with sneak-a-cup feature
- Includes removable filter basket with cone shaped filters
- Features auto-shut off
- Auto-Off
Product Description
The black TCM450B brews 8 cups of coffee, turns itself off and keeps the coffee at the perfect service temperature in a thermal carafe to prevent the bitterness than can develop with a traditional "hot plate" coffeemaker. For convenience the clock / timer allows you to program your coffee the night before. Forget to program it? The sneak-a-cup feature allows you to pour your first cup while the coffee is still brewing. The removable filter basket uses cone sha... More >>
Black & Decker TCM450B 8-Cup Thermal Coffeemaker, Black
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Have you ever noticed how many reviews mention Cooks’ Illustrated magazine? Those people do a good job of testing, and their opinions tend to be reliable. When it comes to coffee makers, they tend to put down almost all the products on the market, for good reason. Almost all the products on the market use aluminum in their heaters, and aluminum takes longer to heat up than more expensive copper. As a result, when you turn on this, or most other coffee makers, they start by pouring cold water onto the grounds. Your morning coffee is tepid and weak. That may explain why so many people are willing to pay Starbuck’s prices.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many choices on the market. C.I.s top rated coffee maker costs $250 — more than most people are prepared to spend. Vacuum pots do the job well, but there don’t seem to be any electric vacuum pots available (Black & Decker and Bodum have discontinued them) and stovetop pots lack the convenience of electric throw the switch and go to the bathroom coffee makers.
That said, you can get a passable cup of coffee from this, and most machines if you do two things. The most important is: always make a full pot. Yes, the machine has the little spring gadget that lets you take a cup before brewing is complete, but don’t use it. Because the heater takes a while to reach proper brewing temperature, that first cup will always be cooler than desireable. Making a full pot gives the heater time to get up to proper temperature.
Always rinse the carafe with hot water just before brewing. That way, the carafe won’t draw heat from the coffee.
These techniques still won’t give you really first rate coffee, but for most people, it’s quite adequate. If you’re not satisfied, don’t bother with the mass market drip machines, since the aluminum core is common to all these machines. You can either do more work, or spend more money — it’s that simple. A stovetop vacuum pot will make excellent coffee, but you have to pay attention and adjust the heat. Similarly, a French Press has long been the gold standard for good coffee, but that takes work too. For the convenience of an electric drip pot that meets coffee-lover standards, you’ll have to pay the price. Since Cooks’ Illustrated only reviewed on high-end drip coffee maker, take a look at [...] — those people may take their coffee a bit too seriously, but their advice is sound.
Rating: 3 / 5
We bought this to replace the tcm 413, it is fine. We enjoy the thermal carafe and automatic timer.
Rating: 4 / 5
I had a TCM450B for over a year and it makes great consistent coffee.
Recently my girlfriend dropped a heavy metal knife into the carafe and broke the internal glass.
This is the only coffee maker I have ever owned that compelled me to buy a replacement of the same type. I ordered another TCM450B and I’m back to making great coffee. Unless you are a complete klutz, I find nothing extraordinary difficult about this coffee maker. The thermal carafe in PLAINLY marked on where to rotate the lid to when pouring a cup of coffee, which it does without any spills. Other glass carafes I have had did not pour as easily as this one. The plastic is the same as any other coffee maker I have used in the past. The thermal carafe keeps the coffee warm for hours. I have no complaints at all about this coffeemaker.
I can say with confidence, I would buy this coffee maker again because I did!
Rating: 5 / 5
I’m sorry but I will never buy from amazon.com again because the item I bought has many problems, and I pay more than if I were to buy it in the stores:
Black & Decker thermal coffeemaker is leaking. I’d rather to buy it in the stores so that If I have problem with the products, I can return it as soon as possible.
Rating: 1 / 5
This is the coffee maker that Darth Vader uses to brew up a pot of coffee before he oppressing the Rebellion. It looks great. The only draw back is that the coffee is not as piping hot as I might like. This is easily fixed by priming the thermal pitcher with hot water. So aside from this coffee maker being part and parcel to an evil Sith overlord, its great.
Rating: 4 / 5