Coffee brewer drips just in the middle.

by Anna
(PA)

Water coming through from the Bonavita brew head.

QUESTION:

We bought the highly recommended Bonavita drip coffee maker, but the coffee is sub-par. Others have also remarked on this. We've tried different grinds, amounts, coffees, water. We are still detecting!

We notice in your review you say it distributes the water evenly over the grounds, but we've noticed one deep hole in the center of the grounds. This is despite the fact that there are many small holes for the water to come out.

Is this a malfunction, or does your Bonavita leave the grounds with a deep pit in the center also? Any suggestions?


ANSWER:

Anna, hi

You got me doing some detecting on a Sunday morning!

As you know, I use the Bonavita drip brewer every day. I love it. But, after hearing of your experience I thought I had better check out what happens when the water drips through.

As you can see in the photo above, on my brewer the distribution seems fairly even. BTW – it’s amazingly hard to catch this with a photo! The steam gets in the way, and it’s hard to capture the water drips just as they leave the holes!

I can’t say it’s perfectly even. I think more water drips through close to the center. But then again, that’s where the greatest depth of coffee grinds is, if you think about the conical shape of the filter basket.

And, as I have said elsewhere, we love the coffee from this brewer.

Not sure what’s happening with your machine, especially if it’s fairly new. You might want to try cleaning that area under the brew head where the holes are. I saw on mine that there is some splash-back from the coffee as it brews, so it’s possible that some of the holes on your brewer have become clogged. Give them a poke with a paper clip and see if that helps.

Best wishes,

Nick

P.S. For anyone reading this who isn’t familiar with this brewer, you can read my review of the Bonavita drip brewer here.

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