Bonavita Exceptional Brew 8 cup coffee maker with thermal carafe

The need for this product is obvious: a reasonably priced, reasonably sized drip coffemaker that can actually heat water up to the temperature required for making good coffee. I’m not sure why this is such a big hurdle for mainstream manufacturers, but thankfully Bonavita came to the rescue. This unit is dead simple, brews quickly and makes great drip coffee. That said, there are a bunch of “Version 1.0” design issues that take aways from the pleasure of using the Bonavita. I’ll detail them here in the hopes that when it comes time to release an updated version, they’ll pay a bit more attention to details: - The filter sits right on top of the carafe, and must be removed quickly after brewing so you can put the insulated top on the carafe. On the one hand it’s simple and elegant, on the other hand it’s a cheesy cop-out. - The carafe can only pour very slowly. With the insulated top on, only a thin trickle of coffee comes out. With the insulated top off, any fast pouring sloshes on either site of the shallow spout onto the counter. If you use the carafe to fill the reservoir and don’t pour very slowly, water splashes all over. - The carafe lid retains liquid. First time I used it, the valve on the carafe lid retained a tsp or so of wash water that was then dumped into my fresh carafe of coffee. Need to hold the valve open by hand and really shake it out when washing. - The stainless steel does not have a no-fingerprints coating, so you have to frequently wipe everything down to keep it looking clean.