A Few of My Favorite Things: Zutto Coffee Maker

The Zutto cometh, and now the Zutto breweth.

With a measly 83% addiction to coffee, I had to improve my score. 83% is a B grade, bordering on a B minus and you know No Ka Oi alumni, a B minus is like failing! Can’t have that! So to up my score, I went looking for a new coffee maker.

I was shopping for a smaller coffee maker since our Mr. Coffee 12-cup coffee maker is ginormous, and the last time I made 12 cups of coffee was, well, never. So while looking on Amazon for reviews of small coffee makers, I stumbled across the Zutto made by Zojirushi. This is the same company that makes those fancy fuzzy logic rice cookers. So I figured if they can make rice taste better then they can make coffee taste better.

The Zutto EC-DAC50 is a 5-cup coffee maker that does a great job with the joe. The flavor of the coffee is balanced and consistent every time. With my Mr. Coffee, there would be good days and there would be bad days of taste. I’m sure the cone type filter (#2 size by the way) has a lot to do with extracting the most flavor from the grounds. Or it could be the longer brewing times. The Zutto is slower making the coffee but not by much. The full five cups takes about 8 minutes of brewing time. Or maybe the better taste is from the built-in carbon water filter. I’m not exactly sure but the coffee does taste better, and that’s all that really counts.

The water tank of the Zutto is removable, and I didn’t see the big deal initially. But now I get it. It’s way easier to clean out the removable tank instead of relying on a rinse of vinegar to clean out the water scum.

In the Amazon reviews, there were complaints that the Zutto made warm, not hot coffee. The coffee is hot enough for me, and I’d say freshly brewed Zutto would scald my tongue.

The main downside of the Zutto is the cost. A typical 4-5 cup coffee maker costs around $20. The Zutto is $65, three times as much. But then again, reviews of other small coffee makers were all over the place. The Zutto reviews were usually 4 or 5 stars.

And the Zutto makes a great gift for coffee drinkers who don’t down gallons a day.

Buy the Zojirushi EC-DAC50 Zutto 5-Cup Drip Coffeemaker.

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