Most reviews mention grinding your own beans. Would Illy fine ground beans work in this machine? Not sure I want to add an extra step in the mornings.
509726
We use the finely ground beans and my husband loves it - and is all about not making extra steps in the morning. When I buy the beans I ask for them to finely ground and keep it sealed upon every use and it tastes delicious ! Enjoy.
509727
Yes, that does work just fine. I also use Lavazza Rosso and it makes splendid coffee. Hope this helps.
509728
We use pre-ground Cafe Bustelo express and it works just fine. We've used Illy in the past, too, but my Cuban husband prefers his Cuban brand.
1546880
I am having the same problem. I just used the singel brew several times. We buy specialty coffee beans at costco & grind them daily since we love gormet coffee. I used 2 scoopes of beans (normally 5 scoops for a full pot) brewed it & it was see thru dirt colored water! WTF? So I ground up 3 heaping scoops & tried again, darker water with tons of grounds in it! Seriously? What could a preson possibly get wrong with putting in a cup of water, grounds & pushing a button (basically)? I dont get it...Maybe its just defective. I guess I hate the single brew in this machine now. Kinda sucks. BUMMER!
1799462
This machine accepts only ground coffee. You can grind your own or buy pre-ground coffee. I highly suggest grinding your own as it will be much fresher.
747129
No...don't use whole beans. Use regular ground coffee. I use Dukin Donuts original blend. Follow directions that come with pot. Makes the best coffee I have ever had.
277375
You may not be grinding your beans fine enough. Grind them fine, and use a tamper to tamp the grounds in tightly (a tamper presses the grounds into the grounds container).
216391
Not as fine as espresso. But pretty fine. If you're getting it ground by someone or grinding it yourself there should be a French press setting.
329063
I use a fine grind like you'd get when you buy ground coffee from the store. Hope this helps.
2185117
We use regular drip coffee. But if you ground up your beans, I am sure you could use them too. We just haven't ground any beans to put in the pot, yet.
643605
After trying a couple of different coffee blends that did not seem to work and the coffee was extremely weak I found somewhere that you could try a finer grind. I have a tiny electric coffee grinder so I took the coffee that I already had and ground it some more and it worked! I think the answer is to grind the already ground coffee finer. In fact, my coffee is now very strong.
264874
It's primarily for beans, but there is a button that shuts off the grinding cycle. You will have to put the grounds into the basket yourself.
1188621
I assumed it was for whole beans but now that you ask, I guess ground would work. But ground coffee is best kept in the freezer in my opinion. That's what I do anyways if that helps.
385102
If you use whole beans and grind them a little coarse, that's the best option. However, I've used pre-ground beans and its worked fine, you just have to beware the extra-bitter magic dust that settles out into the last sip. This is probably true of any press though
2017041
Hi--- You have to be careful and know what you want to use it for. If you plan on brewing it or otherwise using it in a conventional coffeemaker, make sure it says 'granules' or 'drip-grind' or something similar, indicating that it is uniformly ground-up like regular coffee would be. I got a couple of bags from other companies, but they were little rough chunks of roasted chicory root, which are definitely difficult to grind-down. So, it was smart of you to inquire. Good-luck, John
1611585
You would think I would know the answer because I have used the grind and brew model every day for years and years. I don't think I have ever tried to brew with the grinder out of the machine. I clean the grinder and return it to the machine after every use, so if I decide to brew from ground beans - the "clean grinder" just remains in the machine. It brews perfectly whether you turn the grinder on to "grind and brew;" or if you turn the grinder off and put ground beans in the gold basket.
497124
I've been running Starbucks French Roast through mine nearly every day with no problems so far. Keep in mind that fresh beans will tend to dry out slightly in the "airtight" bean hopper, so that may work in your favor when grinding really oily beans.
1484463
NO, NOT REGULAR GROUND COFFEE, You will need to use "ESPRESSO" Which is SUPER FINE GROUND UP COFFEE.
481852
Yes, it does.......... sure, there will be some "dust" as all coffee that's ground does, but not much. If you're finding course and dust split evenly, then you might be over filling the cup causing the beans at the bottom to grind more finely. Try grinding half as much beans at a time.