We've spent a lot of time using and now understanding the Zojirushi Fresh brew, and to tell you the truth I'm very happy with its performance. Like any consumer product it has its issues, but for the most part it's a great coffee maker. On top of it all it's one of the few coffee makers I've ever bought that brews eight cups of coffee at the perfect brewing temperature - just at boiling -throughout the process.

So here's the scoop. Zojirushi has made all sorts of kitchen products for years to include rice cookers and tea brewers. They have lots of experience making high-quality kitchen electronics, and with this product it shows. The Zojirushi is a filter-cone setup that adds automated hot water delivery to the mix, meaning that you get consistent brew temperature throughout the process. This activates the flavor in the beans better than an inconsistent temperature will. The machine also brews into a stainless steel carafe that stays warm, keeping all the water warm that you're brewing into. This is important for coffee flavor, in my opinion. It also has an accurate water gauge. That means when you're always going to get your water/coffee mix right. This is super important for a good cup of coffee because you want the right water to coffee mix or else you get stuff that's too weak or too strong.

The Zojirushi has its issues too, but they're not too bad. Like many different autodrip coffee brewers the feeder tube that goes from the heating element to the head that pours the water goes right through the reservoir. Just make sure that the water in the reservoir is room temperature, otherwise the heat exchange that happens can make cold water come through the shower head, and you will get icky coffee. Other than that issues, everything is really great on this machine, and I recommend it to anyone interested in receiving a quality engineering work of coffee-brewing excellence.