Premium Smart WiFi Coffee Maker with Voice Control - 10-Cup SCA Certified Drip Coffee Machine with Glass Carafe | Barista-Quality Brew for Home & Office | Matte Black Design | Perfect for Smart Kitchens & Morning Routines

So after reading some reviews here I was hesitant to buy this machine due to some reviews saying how messy it was. We'll let's just get this out of the way. I have yet to see a mess from this machine and have posted photos showing how good the coffee bed actually looks. In the photo, that is 69g of fresh roasted beans ground right before brewing using a Fellow Ode grinder. Not even close to a mess!Now getting into the actual review. My have to haves for this machine were a timer for auto brewing for the weekdays, SCA approved and a thermal carafe. I have owned other SCA approved machines in the past like the Breville Precision Brewer, the Bonivita 8 cup and the latest was an SCA approved Ninja Machine. If the Ratio 6 had a timer that would have been in the running this time around. Unfortunately it does not and this machine checked all my boxes so I decided to give a it a try and so glad I did!Without touching on all it's options yet, the one thing the machine needed to do in order to make it a keeper was make a great cup of coffee! If it couldn't do that, then it wouldn't matter how high tech this thing was and all the fancy stuff it could do, it was going back. Well I am happy to say, this machine makes one delicious cup of coffee! My first reaction to my first brewed sip was WOW, this cup is smooth! It was super smooth, sweet and delicious! An 8 cup pot finished brewing in just about 5 minutes which is pretty fast.The thermal carafe definitely kept the coffee hot for an hour after brewing and was even drinkable 2 hours later. Some reviews mentioned they were upset there was no hot plate. No thermal carafe machine comes with a hot plate! That is the reason for going with the thermal carafe. So your coffee doesn't cook and continue to change in flavor. If you want a hot plate, you need to buy the glass carafe. That goes for any coffee machine. If you want your coffee to stay the hottest in the thermal carafe, run hot water in the carafe so when you brew your coffee, you won't be brewing into a cold carafe which will cool the coffee down quicker. Also, the more coffee left in the carafe the longer it will stay hotter for. If you only have one cup left in the carafe, it will cool down quicker then if you have say 4 cups sitting in there.The machine allows you to choose the gold standard setting which sets everything to the SCA approved cup of coffee and no settings can be changed when set to this but for those who like to tinker, the machine also allows you to set the exact temperature of the water from 185° to 205°. You can also change the brew strength between 3 settings, light, medium and bold. I am not sure what this setting actually adjusts as it's separate from the temperature setting. I haven't brewed on anything besides the gold setting so far but I am definitely going to test the other stuff out but the Gold Setting brews a great cup.The wifi option is such a bonus on this thing! It makes setting everything up super easy. Being able to set a schedule for weekdays means I don't need to program the machine every night. If something changes, can just go into the app and change what I need. Have grinds and water in the machine but don't want to brew yet, can just start the brew from my phone when I am ready. It's great. Also hooked up to Google Home with no problem. Like I said though, if the machine didn't brew a great cup of coffee none of this other stuff would have mattered!Bottom line, yes the machine is expensive but if you are reading this review around the time it's posted, it's $100 off right now putting it much closer in price and even better then some of it's competitors! And it make a great cup of Joe!I typically don't write too many reviews but felt this product could use some additional perspectives, especially given its rich price tag and being relatively new to the market.Right off the bat, this is the best looking drip machine out there. Obviously there are more important things than looks but it's hard not to appreciate the slick design and relatively small footprint. The matte black finish is understated and the gold accents add a bit of high-end flare. The white model also looked great. You'll get compliments on this, it's seriously nice.Okay-on to the more important stuff. Function! The buttons on the machine have a nice feel and the knob rotates in a satisfying/tactile way. I'm not sure if this is useful for many people but the system will allow you to fill the reservoir and brew just a few cups at a time so in theory you could fill it in the beginning of the work week and brew two cups a day without having to add water. It's neat but you obviously still have to remove/add coffee each day so you're still having to interact with the machine. It's definitely a pro but just not a huge one.Speaking further about the water reservoir, it's not removable which is pretty inconvenient since you always have to transport the water to it. This is especially problematic if your machine is under a low cabinet or something. It's not a deal breaker but frankly all coffee machines should have removable water reservoirs, especially at this price point. On the plus side, the reservoir has a wide mouth which makes pouring into it pretty easy.The machine does let you control some things such as the brew strength and the temperature. There is a "Gold" option which brews your coffee according to SCA recommended settings and the good news is that it tastes great and eliminates the need for further tinkering. However, if you're someone who likes to tinker, you'll find that you're unable to control things such as bloom time and it feels like you should be able to, particularly in the non-Gold brewing modes. The machine does let you control temperature from 185-205, which is nice, but haven't really noticed a real world difference and I don't feel like any of my cups were actually that hot. It's possible that if you're just brewing a few cups the system doesn't have enough time to reach the target temperature for enough of the brew, may need further testing.This temperature issue is exacerbated by the insulated carafe which does just an okay job at keeping your coffee warm. This is an area that you can't help but feel should be better on such an expensive machine. This purchase replaced a significantly less expensive Mr. Coffee machine with a thermal carafe which was definitely better at maintaining the temperature.The carafe otherwise is sleek and relatively light which makes it easy to pour. It might be too easy to pour as all you have to do is tilt the carafe and your coffee flows freely, there's no button to press like in most carafes which I suspect could be contributing to heat loss as there isn't a seal. This design also makes it slightly more susceptible to spills and accidents.I'd like to address the brew basket. The included mesh filter seems to raise the coffee too high in the basket which leads to the brew bubbling up to the top and actually making contact with the top of the brew basket and the holes where the water comes from. This feels like a pretty significant flaw as it results in the user needing to clean the top of the brew basket each time. I've gotten around this by removing the filter and using paper cone filters that sit deeper in the basket. I imagine that higher volume of coffee, fresher coffee, and lighter roasts may exacerbate this problem due to the extra rise from blooming. Something to definitely pay attention to and consider.This machine does come with 'smart' capabilities and a companion app for control. It was initially tricky to set up due to missing options in the app, but I eventually got it setup on my wifi and haven't had to set it up again even though I've unplugged the machine a few times. Each time you fire up the app, the app takes about 10-15 seconds to actually make the connection to the device (not an exaggeration, I timed it) but apart from that it works how you would expect. You can set your schedule, which brew strength you want, how many cups you want brewed, and tell it to make coffee right away if you want. Of course, to get any of this to work, it assumes you've done your prep; filling the water, grinding your coffee, putting it in the basket, etc.I'd say the main benefit is being able to easily create a schedule using the app UI instead of tinkering with the machine. You could in theory ask it to brew at 6am during the week and have a separate schedule to brew at 9am on the weekends which would be difficult to do without the app. This seems to work just fine and the interface itself is easy to navigate, just wish it had more options for brew control and connected faster. You can also connect the machine to Alexa but it feels more like a novelty than actually useful.All in all, it's a great machine but has a number of questionable design decisions that may be hard to overlook for some buyers, especially given the price point. I suspect the temperatures issue might be the biggest issue for most people which is a real shame because the coffee it produces is so good.With that said, I hope they continue with this line and address these shortcomings in future models (and release a companion burr coffee grinder!)Looks amazing and easy to use. Coffee tastes great but 2 issues:- Despite modifying the temperature the coffee is rarely that hot. Pot also doesn't keep the coffee hot so I am always microwaving my coffee and i mean within minutes of brewing- Read this on other reviews but the pot leaks coffee when you're pouring which is annoyingOtherwise, still like it especially the way it looks. The app is always amazing.This coffee maker is perfect for coffee-loving homes. It's very simple to use and makes a fast batch (in just under 5 minutes for the whole pot). It's also a very sleek and modern design that fits well in my kitchen. My family loves gourmet coffee, but we don't always have time to create pour-over brews--especially at volume. This was the perfect solution for us because it provides the quality of flavor that a traditional pour-over "bloom" offers, while also giving the convenience of an automatic brew machine. Definitely worth the investment for us!I absolutely love the look of this coffee maker, and the taste of the coffee is great! It’s easy to setup the auto brew. I love the thermos pot! It keeps my coffee warmer than my old glass type. The coffee brewed is strong and smooth!! I love it.