Bunn STX Specialty 10-Cup Home Coffee Brewer with Thermal Carafe

I was one of the first customers of this STX brewer. Full disclosure: Bunn awarded me this Bunn as a result of me winning their video contest earlier this summer. I have used Bunn brewers for about 10 years. This particular thermal model is solidly built compared to their last model which was all plastic, and would kind of bend at the slightest pressure if any were given on the top of the machine. Not so with this one. The quality can even be seen in the grounds basket - not your usual thin plastic basket. This one is very sturdy thick plastic, surrounded by stainless steel. The coffee produced is the usual Bunn quality - great. I've used this brewer every day and it consistently gives me the same quality pot of coffee. An even better value when purchased via stores like Amazon where the price is better than what can be had in your regular retail stores.

Coffee is my beverage of choice. Drink it constantly. I'm not a compulsive gourmand, but over the years I've gained enough knowledge to be sophisticated and demanding of a decent drink.

Coffee pots have a simple mission, really. To properly heat and immerse the grounds in water so that what goes into the carafe is hot and flavorful. There are a lot of other nuances about the beans, the grind, the water; but that's not the pot's problem. In our self imposed spaz world of multitask, no-time-to-do-anything-intelligently, insanity we need clocks and timers on everything to ensure we can snatch at a premade cup of joe on our way to the car.

The Bunn home system answer to these issues is that they promise a 3 minute brewed pot, on demand, of nice hot coffee. Who needs timers. It's that quick.

Welllll.

You have to understand that Bunn's are preload immersion heaters. When you first unbox the pot, before you ever turn the pot on, you will need to fill the coffee maker with water ( good idea to keep an old carafe around to measure your water input 'cause Bunn's don't have water levels to see how much water is in the tank ). Once you've filled the reservoir you can turn the pot on. Then you have to wait 15 minutes to preheat the reservoir. I don't know how you feel about having a constant running appliance on your table top while no ones home. I unplug all my kitchen appliances when I'm not using them. So if you want home brew with an unplugged Bunn you have to do the preload ritual every time you plug it back in.

As to making the coffee. The STX is a 10 cup carafe styled maker. Some of the complaints made by others demonstrate their unfamiliarity with the concept. Under high heat coffee deteriorates in 15 minutes ( remember the ole lead pencil flavored burned coffee? yum yum. ) For better tasting and relatively sustained heat it is best that you make smaller batches and use a carafe. You sacrafice the convenience of not having to make more for the happiness of good brew. ( Another trick anybody who ever used a thermos should know is that you should preheat the thermos by putting warm tap water in it for a minute before brewing. Putting hot coffee in a cold thermos is duhh. )

Coffee of your choice goes into the hopper. The box comes with 20 Bunn paper filters for starts. Place your empty warmed, and sealed thermos carafe under the hopper. Open the water port on the top of the Bunn. Use an old coffee pot carafe to put the desired amount of fresh cold water into the top of the pot. There is a ground in the pot that will not allow brewing to occur until you close the water port on top of the Bunn. Remember you have a preheated reservoir. As soon as you close the port water smacks your grounds and the carafe starts to fill.

Is it worth it? Are you getting that much better of a cup of coffee the Bunn way? I can't answer that for you. I just got the pot yesterday and I've had two pots out of it so far. You can certainly infer that this isn't the Holy Grail of coffee pots. ( But what is. )

If you play by the pre-immersion rules you can get a really fast pot of coffee. It does a pretty good job of keeping your coffee reasonably hot. I have yet to find a home system that got you a cup that stayed hot to the last swig: the Bunn came close, but no cigar.

How does the coffee taste? It's very good. But the Bunn filters are very heavy and they tend to homogeonize the begeeppers out of what you're drinking. By that I mean the output has a very bright flavor and nose that is very pleasing to the front of your mouth. But some of the back of the palate strong notes get stripped away from the coffee. I'm going to have to go get a reuseable basket and see what sort of results that will allow.

I'll probably update this later with some matured impressions.

This is an excellent system. But it's one in a busy field.

Addendum:

It's been a few days since I've started using the Bunn. I did get a gold reusable basket filter, and as far as I'm concerned it is a large improvement over the Bunn paper filter. The Bunn method does tend to make a very smooth cup of coffee; but the basket filter let a little more sediment into the cup and gives you some back of the palate flavoring.

Also I tend to use a heaping tablespoon of grounds per cup. Too much for the Bunn. Three cups on this system with my usual mix and Im getting a wicked buzz from coffee I haven't experienced in decades (lol). For 8 cups 6 tablespoons is plenty.

I'm sticking with the 4 stars. This is a well thought out system. But the output is an acquired taste. I'm not swept off my feet by the Bunn.

We had a Bunn previous to this purchase but the original started to leak after 10 years. The original Bunn made good coffee but the coffee in the pot would cool after a few minutes. The new BUNN stays hot for about an hour and it too makes great coffee. We found the BUNN coffee maker to be well worth the money compared to buying a standard electric coffee pot.

I REALLY like this coffee maker but I wish I could give it a rating of 4.5 because a 5 implies it's perfect and well, there are a couple of things I would change if given the chance.

First, and most importantly,it makes great coffee! It's piping hot when I pour my first cup and it tastes worlds better than the coffee I was getting from my 1 year old Mr. Coffee. The unit looks and feels solid and the set up is easy. In about 15 minutes or so we were ready to brew our first pot.

It's fast, the second you close the lid it, the stream of coffee starts and the pot is done in 3-4 minutes. The thermal carafe keeps the coffee much warmer than my old glass carafe ever did, although it isn't perfect.

Ok- Speaking of imperfections, here's the few things I would improve if I could:

I'm used to setting up my coffee pot the night before and having it ready when I wake up, this unit does not have that feature. It brews fast, so I didn't think it would be a big deal however I now have to get up and in my "morning fog" prepare the coffee and "warm up" the carafe...This in reality probably adds as much time to the process as it takes to brew the whole pot. Most of the time is spent warming the carafe (waiting for the water to get hot out of the tap seems to take forever in my place at 5am) so I might try experimenting with setting up as much as possible the night before and then just warming up the carafe or seeing how long it stays warm if I don't pre-warm it. Anyway, a delay feature would be added if I were Queen.

I would also make the mouth of the carafe just a tiny bit wider so your hand could slip in and out for cleaning. Also, while the carafe pours like a dream (no dribbles like Mr. Coffee left for me to clean up evey morning) a tighter seal would make the coffee stay hotter longer. This is a minor detail in my personal use, since I have a cup or 2 and I'm out the door.

Lastly, MADE IN CHINA. Just seeing this on a product now raises questions about it's safety. I would feel so much better about the product if I saw "MADE IN USA" instead.

I'm thrilled with my new coffee pot, and as long as the unit proves reliable, this will be a purchase I won't regret. I've quit stopping off for a "good" cup of coffee on my way to work, and just taking my own.

I have had a Bunn for many years but this is my first one with a Thermal Carafe. The glass decanter with a burner keeps the coffee hot but it tastes burned after 15 minutes especially if its low. The decanter works great and keeps it hot for several hours without the burned taste. It also allows me to carry the carafe to my desk for convenience.

Having used Bunn coffee makers for years, this one is a clear winner.

Bunn is right, you don't need a warming plate. The thermal carafe keeps coffee HOT! 2 hrs later coffee is still steaming hot.

Highly recommended.

This coffee maker is great. It is so fast and easy and makes very smooth coffee. It does NOT leak when poured as some might say. They have not put the top on correctly. It is so easy to clean and we love it. I just wish the coffee stayed REAL hot but I think that is way to much to ask@

Finally, after trying three other so-called premium coffeemakers I got smart and bought the Bunn STX. I really thought the cone type filter systems were the only way to go but every one I tried had a drawback. Overflowed, spilled coffee down the side of the carafe when pouring,etc. The Bunn just works right and produces a great cup of coffee. One suggestion, rather than use the carafe to fill the machine with cold water then filling it with hot water to preheat it, just go to the Bunn homepage and order the plastic pitcher use for the cold water. Well worth it and saves time.

We've had the Bunn STX coffee maker for a couple of months now. It replaced out 10 year old Bunn BT-10 that develop a leak.
Pluses:
Design. It's gorgeous! Looks like something Jonathan Ivee of Apple would design. Form follows function here (always a good thing) but form is fantastic!
Good hot coffee fast. Less than 5 minutes for a carafe full of perfect coffee. Can't beat that.
Customer service. As good as it gets.
Minuses:
The carafe. You cannot pour out all the coffee in the carafe without taking the lid off. Towards the end of the carafe, coffee will start to come out of the hole in the lid. And the rubber seal in the top of the lid was not well thought out. It comes out easily. I washed the lid in the dishwasher (top rack) and it must've come out. I didn't notice it till later. I emailed Bunn customer service and they sent me two of them for free. I love their customer service. With the old BT-10, the deliming tool was a steel spring-type contraption. Ours got rusty and Bunn customer service sent us a new one free of charge.
So, would I buy it again? Yes. I only wish the carafe was more like our old BT-10.

Have owned at least 3 other Bunns, this is by far the best one to date.

Stays hot/warm for about 3 hrs. Doesn't leave that mud taste like the ones with the warmer. I used to not be able to drink the coffee after being warmed for 30 minutes, certainly don't have this problem now.

Coffee actually tastes better than with my other Bunns. This coffee maker takes a little longer than b/4, but only by maybe a minute.

The only con I have with this unit is, you can't "see" how much is left in the carafe. This should be expected, by being a carafe, but if you're used to looking through a glass pot, takes a little to get used to.