I rarely leave reviews, but I wanted to pass on my take on the 9-cup Oxo in case my research and early experience with the machine helps others. I’ve only used it twice so far, but my early experience is as hoped. I’m a coffee geek, buying good beans online, grinding them in a nice Baratza grinder, heating water properly in a kettle with a temp gauge, and using a Chemex pour-over brewing method or a Bodum French Press. After using this manual method for years for my wife and me (and friends), I decided to see if there were auto drip machines that might emulate my coffee while making the process easier. Even though I’ve learned a lot about coffee over the years, I was surprised at how confusing this purchase was. Initially, I settled on either a Technivorm Moccamaster (a coffee geek favorite) or a Zojirushi (a less obvious choice). However, I finally acknowledged to myself that the Moccamaster defeated my goal of much greater simplicity-it’s fairly complicated for an auto brewer and it’s not programmable-and the Zojirushi wasn’t up to my standards for coffee making but was the same price as the Oxo (I bought the machine at 20% off on Cyber Monday). Ultimately I went with the Oxo after reading reviews in Consumer Reports, the NYTs, specialty coffee sites and Amazon. The Amazon reviews were the only ones I found less uniform, but I ultimately wrote those off to individual differences in expectations and knowledge, which I sometimes find on Amazon. The NYTs ranked this machine number 1, Consumer Reports ranked the reliability of Oxo and customer satisfaction high, and the machine was one of a handful of drip machines certified as meeting its recognizd brewing standards. To cut to the chase, I used the machine for the first time today, and my wife and I felt the coffee was very similar or the same as my manual brew. Last night, I ground my beans (something I’d never do with a manual brew), placed them in the Oxo along with our filtered water I use, and programmed the machine to brew at 730 am. The process went off without a hitch this morning, with freshly brewed coffee waiting for us with much less work. The coffee was so good that I made second cups for us, grinding the beans right there with a slightly coarser grind than the strictly medium one Oxo suggests, and around five to six minutes later we had an even slightly better cup than the first (I believe this slight improvement was due to the coarser grimd level rather than the fresher grind). I realize this is a very early take, but I personally expect my experience will stay the same so long as the machine’s long-term reliability is as Consumer Reports predicts. I should add that this machine is sleek looking and extremely easy to use. It gives you the control and brewing method you need, without the bells and whistles you see on many other machines, which I personally believe are unnecessary and only complicating the process. I hope my research, which took longer than I expected, and this review helps some others wade through the confusion of buying a more serious progammable drip coffer maker.