Coffee is one of my four main food groups, so I am always pleased to try a new twist on coffee brewing. The Mr. Coffee Power Serve is a carafe-less coffee brewing system with a convenient, delayed brewing feature, a pause and serve feature, and cup-at-a-time dispensing.

You notice immediately upon unpacking that there is no carafe! The coffee is brewed directly into a reservoir, and you dispense your coffee directly into your cup or mug by pressing it against a pedal in the front. You can brew up to 12 cups at a time, and it takes 10 minutes to brew a full 12 cups.

The reservoir is designed to be used as a pitcher from which to pour the fresh water, but since it is a square shape, I found it to be a little awkward. I use a water pitcher instead. One very nice feature is that there are clearly marked “steps” in the back of the machine where you pour the water that makes it easy to add exactly the right amount. This is a big improvement over the hard-to-read marks on the side of most brewers.

There is a digital clock on the front that allows you to prepare your coffee maker before you go to bed, set a morning brew time, and wake up to freshly brewed coffee. Additionally, there is a brew now button, which lights up while the coffee is brewing. A loud beep that signals when the brewing cycle is done. On the front and on both sides of this coffee maker, there are clear panels which let you see how much coffee is left in the reservoir.

The brewing basket comes out easily for cleaning and for adding your filter and coffee. It uses round, basket-type filters rather than the cone shaped ones, but sadly there are none included in the box so be sure and buy some if you order this Mr. Coffee.

The dispenser is motorized so your cup is quickly filled when you press your mug to the pedal. You can also dispense a cup of coffee before the brewing cycle is done for those days when you just can’t wait. There is a small, detachable drip plate on the bottom of the machine so if you spill a little, it doesn’t end up dripping under your coffee maker.

The coffee reservoir sits atop a warming plate, which is supposed to keep the coffee at optimum serving temperature after brewing. I personally don’t like my coffee to stay on a warming plate since I think it takes on a bitter taste, so I push the brewing button again when the brewing cycle is finished and that turns off the warming plate.

One negative for me is that the coffee reservoir is black and smoke colored plastic. Since that is where the coffee sits, it needs to be cleaned regularly just like a coffee carafe. However, it is not as easily done because of the square shape, and the dark color makes it hard to see if it’s clean. I found a soft bristled brush that seems to work OK for this, but it’s not as easy as cleaning a glass carafe.

The coffee is good. It seems to bring the water up to correct brewing temperature, so you end up with a nice cup of drip-brewed coffee.

I think that for people who have trouble with breaking their coffee carafes, or perhaps for people who have active young children, this is a novel take on a drip coffee maker.

I have gone through every Brewstation model made by Hamilton Beach and every one of them was JUNK! they all started leaking within three months, the last one started leaking after a week! I even had Hamilton Beach replace two of them only to find them leaking again, I will never buy another brewstation! I have had the Mr Coffee version for a week and so far it’s far superior to the Brewstation, the build quality is twice that of the Brewstation, every part fits together nicely as opposed to the Brewstation which seemed cheap. The Mr Coffee seemed to be made of better quality materials and looks much nicer as well. The Mr Coffee dispenser uses a small compressor to pressurize the coffee tank, when you press the lever you can hear the compressor and the coffee starts flowing. This method of dispensing coffee will prevent coffee from leaking all over my counter top from a leaking valve like in the Brewstation.
The only thing I don’t like about the Mr Coffee is it only stays on for two hours, not a big deal, I simply hit the button and turn it back on. It would be nice if it gave a four hour option. I use my pull out faucet to fill the upper tank, this prevents me from having to use the lower tank to fill the upper tank. The coffee tank is very easy to clean, it rinses out very easily, the Brewstation tank was covered inside with ridges, bumps, all sorts of obstacles to clean around, the Mr Coffee tank is smooth inside and the plastic used rinses MUCH cleaner than the Brewstation tank. My Brewstation tank would quickly get a build up of goo after just one use, so far the Mr Coffee tank has none of that coffee residue build up.
I am very happy with this machine and will never buy another Brewstation again, not unless they make some serious improvements in their design. The Mr Coffee dispenser is a VAST improvement over the leaky Brewstation coffee maker, it’s less expensive as well! The coffee stays a perfect temperature and tastes great as well.
I would easily recommend the MrCoffee machine over the leaky old Brewstations!

This coffee maker is a must have. Keeps
coffee good and hot, does not drip and much
easier to clean than a regular maker.

We originally had a Hamilton Beach Brew Station which broke down within a year. Worked great for a few months and slowly degraded. Although the Mr Coffee is a little noisy when it pumps the coffee, it brews quicker and hotter than the H.B. Quite satisfied so far.