Black & Decker Cafe Noir - Avoid This Coffee in the Morning

The Black & Decker Cafe Noir is the devil, I say. Oh, on the surface it looks right friendly. The box tells you about all these neato features like setting it ahead of time so it's already brewed when you wake up.... what it doesn't tell you is that it will also soak your counter in the process and put lots of lovely grounds into the pot. Let me explain...

I was looking for a coffee pot, being one of those folks who cannot think coherently until her third cup of coffee in the morning. I didn't want to spend a fortune at the time and had read a good review of this one so when I saw the Black & Decker Cafe Noir sitting on the shelf at Rite-Aid for a mere $19.99, I grabbed one.

The Black & Decker Cafe Noir looks rather nice. It's white with a bit of a lovely curve to it so it fit right in with my kitchen. Setting the clock was easy as could be. In fact, a bit too easy. There is no initial button to hold down while you set the hour and minutes. What this means is that if you accidently touch that little hour button while moving the machine then you have inadvertantly reset the time. Annoying, that. Very annoying.

After making sure the time is still sitting there being right, you can hold down the program button and set it for whatever time you wish it to start brewing. Easy enough. That part does work very well.

The Black & Decker Cafe Noir uses size 2 cone filters, by the way, so do be sure to pick up a box of those when you pick up the machine if you still insist on buying one of the dratted contraptions after reading this review... let's get to the really evil part, shall we?

As usual, you put the filter into the holder, then pour your water into the back. As not-so-usual you have to be sure to twist and lock the filter basket into place. You would tend to think that's all there is to it, but it isn't. You see, the silly lock-able basket has a mind of it's own and delights in coming UNlocked at will. When this happens, the basket fills with water and spills over the sides onto and into everydamnthing within reach. This is quite infuriating... especially first thing in the morning.