It’s not been all that long since I’ve really got into coffee. In fact, it was about this time last year, while on a trip to Italy, I was handed espresso, after espresso, after espresso and after that, I was hooked and haven’t looked back. Well, Melitta got in touch, they have a new coffee machine on the market, one of those drip filter machines you always see in the American diners. “Would you like another cup of cawwfee”, sorry, bad American accent. Anyway, let’s unbox it and see if it makes a decent cuppa.
The Look V Therm Timer is a filter coffee machine. It comes in two different colours, black and white, and it currently retails for £119.99 here in the UK. As you guessed from the title, it has a built-in timer for those early morning wake-ups, plus it has a number of other features, including a 3 in 1 calc protection, aroma selector, removable swing filter and removable water tank.
In the box you get the coffee machine, some instructions and a packet of Melitta filters. It’s mainly made from plastic but the provided pot is stainless steel and insulated. The unit as a whole is lightweight, easy to move around and not too large, so it won’t take up too much space on your kitchen counter. To the top of the machine is a rotary knob for the aroma selector, plus a removable lid to gain access to the water tank. The water tank is detachable so you can place it under your tap to fill up. The water tank has handy little indicators on them, in large or small cups, so you can accurately put enough water in for how many cups of coffee you want. It will make enough for 15 small cups.
Below that is the filter door, open it up and that’s where you place your paper filter in. The paper filter sits within a removable plastic filter, so it’s easy to remove the leftover coffee grounds. Below that, the coffee pot, which is large enough to hold upto 15 small cups of coffee and includes a removable lid for easy cleaning. There is a button on the handle, which needs to be pushed into to open the spout, allowing you to pour. Without pressing the button, the coffee won’t come out.
To the right are a small clock display and a few buttons, including power on/off, calc, and timer. Calc, the not so obvious button, will illuminate when the machine needs to be descaled to keep performance tip-top. The machine is preset to a high level of water hardness, which is do have in my area but this can be decreased if you have softer water. This will in essence reduce how often you need to descale the machine.
It’s a very easy coffee machine to use and takes seconds to get going. When you first power it up, the clock will flash and you will need to input the time via the two buttons below it. Once thats done, you can start brewing. The machine will brew as much coffee as there is in the water tank. So if you want 6 cups of coffee, put six cups of water in the tank. A small cup is roughly 85ml, large 125ml but you’ll get to learn how much your own cups can take over time.
Once the water is in, it’s time to open the filter section and insert one of the provided paper filters. You’re meant to use one filter each time you brew, but fear not, it’s not expensive to get filters. Melitta offer a pack of 40 filters for just £1.50. Once the filter is in, pour your ground coffee into it. How much coffee? That depends on how strong you want it and how many cups. Melitta recommends 6grams of ground coffee per large cup, on medium aroma, so you can do the math and try different amounts until you get your preferred strength. You can purchase ground coffee in bags (NOT instant!) or you could grind your own beans with something like the Melitta Calibra grinder. Nice plug Nick.
Water, filter, coffee, check. Now time to set the aroma selector, this lets you select how strong you want your coffee to be, either mild or strong. Make sure the pot is in place and press the power button. The machine will start to filter the water through the coffee, into the pot and will turn itself off once complete. You can then drink your coffee however you wish.
Now, the taste of the coffee really depends on the type of bean etc so I can’t comment on that but I can say the machine brewed a great cuppa for me. Coffee extraction looked good, the coffee was strong and you can see the leftover grounds have been reduced of their flavor. The coffee came out lovely and hot, not quite boiling but hot enough that I needed to leave it to cool for a minute or two before enjoying it. After a few uses, I made a pot of 10 cups and left the coffee in there all day. After a couple of hours, it was still very hot and after a working day, it was still warm enough to enjoy. Changing the aroma setting, I didn’t really notice that much of a difference but did love the smells coming out the top of the machine.
The machine includes a timer function. So set it up in the evening and it will turn itself on at the desired time, so you wake up to the smell of coffee in the morning (must be plugged in and on at the mains though). You just need to hold down the timer button and the time will go back to 00:00, set the time you want it to turn on, release the timer button, the current time will display again and the timer is set. The timer function worked as expected, it turned on and made the coffee at the set time.
I wouldn’t say filter coffee would be my first go to, but I can appreciate what Melitta has done here. It’s a convenient grab n go way to get your coffee intake in the morning. After adding a splash of milk, I thoroughly enjoyed a number of cups with the LOOK V Therm Timer Coffee Machine. To find out more or to purchase, head over to the official Melitta website.
