Battle of the Coffee Brews: Cuisinart Grind & Brew Thermal Coffeemaker Versus Bunn GR10 Home Coffee Maker

I guess I've always been something of a coffee snob. That probably comes from drinking really bad coffee for years and years until finally being introduced to really great coffee. I was one of those; 3AM in the middle of the week scribbling away at a notepad with nothing but an empty cup of coffee that constantly needed refilling in my suburban home growing up. Diner coffee, all in all, I have found, is better than average; but the diner's I was going to, chain restaurants, Denny's, Friendly's, and the cheap diners in my hometown had pretty poor coffee. Watery, not much flavor, no body, taste of stink, all in all, pretty poor.

I didn't drink coffee at home often but when I did it was with my dad. His BUNN auto drip home coffee maker was consistently average. He also used fewer scoops of grind than he was supposed to. Or maybe it was more; I don't really remember. What I do remember was that whether it was the strength of his brew or the quality of his brewer, his coffee never topped out above average, in my estimation.

And, Yes! I was one of those. One of the billions of children who were sucked into the world of Howard Schulze before we realized what 20 hours a week and free health insurance actually meant. Starbucks partner number 1018506; this was where my snobbery took full shape; this was where I'd developed my tongue for coffee. You see, I worked at this place a long time ago, when the suburbanized world at large was still learning about mocha's and lattes; not that they hadn't existed before, but not nearly in the same volume as when after Starbucks came to town. All of that was horridly interesting and while I could appreciate the revolution that was going on, I didn't really care all that much; for me it was still about the coffee. I was a purist. So it was the subtle variation in coffee flavor which most piqued my interest about my java job; the panoply of tastes and sensations to tickle my palate.

However, even this blissful experience was not from where I would have my first excellent cup of coffee.