Product Description

Café Valencia - 2 TRAVELER CUP COFFEE MAKER It brews directly into either one or two stainless steel travel mugs with non-slip grips. An additional knob will let you decide if you want two cups at once or just one (left or right, your choice). The coffee filters are detachable for convenient ease of wash. Once your coffee is ready, it will shut off automatically. The stainless steel thermal travel mugs will fit most vehicle cup holders and they are safe to the touch, so there is no need for handles. They are ergonomically designed for easy handling. Take on the morning ride with style. Grab the travel mug filled with fresh good tasting coffee and then hit the road with that great positive attitude. So, boost your day, boost your ride, boost your life and boost the flavor and aroma of your coffee with our Café Valencia 2 Traveler cup Coffee Maker. Features: Detachable coffee filters Stainless steel coffee cups are safe to the touch with hot coffee, no handle necessary Specifications: Measure(L×W×H): 9.72×6.61×13.66(inches) Related Voltage: 120V Related Input: 700W Related Frequency: 60Hz Capacity: 860cc (2 Vacuum cup, each cup 430ml(14.5 oz)) Net Weight: 3.75 lbs Special Characteristics: Youll enjoy your ride even more knowing that your coffee was just brewed with the cleanest water possible. A very high percentage of your coffee is water (98%), and if the water is free of impurities, chlorine, chloramines and who knows what else, then your coffee is as good as it gets. That is exactly what our activated carbon filtration system does. It eliminates, filtrates, gets rid of all of that bad stuff that can get in your coffee.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44668 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Cafe Valencia
• Model: CH-4300

Features

• Two stainless steel cups coffee maker
• Auto shut-off automatically after brewing
• Two 12-oz. thermal stainless steel travel coffee cups
• Coffee maker brews two cups of coffee at the same time
• Additional knob let to choose; make two cups of coffee at the same time or one cup of coffee with free choice of coffee cup (right or left coffee cup)

Customer Reviews

Works very well but a tad expensive
Firs off, in the interests of fairness, I bought this coffee maker on WOOT from about half what Amazon currently is selling it for. That means that it's been a better value to me overall than if might be if I'd paid full price.

I love this coffee maker. It's easy to use, brews a good cup (or two!) of coffee, and doesn't take up much counter space. Since my wife and I are both caffeine addicts, we brew a fair amount of coffee, but rarely need the capacity of our full 12 cup brewer. This allows she or I to brew a cup for ourselves with a minimum of fuss.

The filters used are the reusable metal-mesh variety. They work very well. I've been using this brewer for over 6-months and have never found any coffee grounds in my coffee.

The stainless steel mugs are better quality than what you'd normally get from an inexpensive stainless mug. The lids seal tightly and are functional. The base of the mug is NOT slip resistant (rubberized) which would have been nice of them to include. It's understandable why they didn't however, since the mugs need to be slid into the coffee brewer and they sit in place fairly firmly--a rubberized bottom might have made that a hassle.

My only real complaint with the brewer is the control dial to choose the left, right, or both mugs. The instructions state to 'turn until you near a click' when either selecting the L or R mug. However, the dial only clicks when turned to the right side, and never does on the left. However, it does brew just fine to either L or R mug.

Another minor complaint is that the lid of the brewer doesn't fasten closed, even when you've selected one or both of the mugs. This isn't a problem from a brewing standpoint, but after using many coffee makers over the years, it's been my experience that brewers that don't lock the lid shut (and have a plastic lid) will warp over time as the plastic is heated and reheated several hundred times.

The coffee this brewer makes is of course dependent on your beans and water quality, but if given fresh ground beans and pure water it will brew an EXCELLENT cup of coffee, just as good as my Cuisinart DCC-1200. It might not be as good as the ridiculously priced single cup CLOVER that Starbucks sells, but if you want a fantastic cup of joe from a relatively inexpensive brewer, this Cafe Valencia model isn't bad.

Overall I'm very pleased with this brewer (especially since I got mine for much cheaper than the retail price) and woudl recommend it to someone who wants a 1-2 cup coffee brewer.

************************UPDATE 11-21-2009****************************

The plastic liners of the stainless steel mugs have gotten loose inside their housings (one actually can be pulled right out). I'm guessing the constant heating\cooling cycle plays havoc with most adhesives. I was able to easily fix this issue using some Gorilla Glue, which is not affected by temperature. However, be advised that this issue may come up for you. Thankfully, it's easily remedied with a little glue.

Good for a bit, broke quickly
Pro:
Reusable filters
1 or 2 cups
Each side has own filter
Quick

Con:
Will only use included mugs for output
Water filter hard to replace
Hard to clean
Expensive

The low down is this - it worked for what I needed, a single cup of coffee in the morning before work.
I kept the left side for coffee, the right side for tea - for that purpose it worked great.
However, the only reason I'm doing this review is because I was searching for a replacement, as it just broke on me.
I've only had it for a few months - I'd say go with something a bit more hefty unless this is exactly what you're looking for.

Not Recommended
[...]

Unpackaged the maker and craving a cup of coffee, I cleaned the cups and the filters, installed the carbon filter*, and filled reservoir for 2 x 12 oz cups (full capacity) to run the machine twice as recommended for all new coffee makers. First clear run worked fine, and I was feeling satisfied with my purchase. I decided to skip a second 'clear' run and go ahead with the grinds. Set up machine, flipped the switch on top, and at the base... Nothing. Unplugged and let sit for 30 minutes. Tried again... not a perk could be heard. The indicator light was on but the machine ceased to brew. I never even got a taste. I could have had a bit of bad luck and received a defective machine (was sold as new, not refurb BTW).

Even if I could find a way to get a replacement I wouldn't go for this one again, DOA aside, the unit is flimsy, there are no safety measures to keep yourself from being scolded if the water percs while the lid is ajar. From what I could tell there was no auto shutoff of the heating element - little scary. Finally, the pieces - all - of them don't really sit well with each other, the mugs are clunky and difficult to position without fidgeting with it, the lid on the reservoir/filter compartment has no latch or mechanism to secure it closed. Many of the plastic parts are slightly warped and don't quite fit nicely.

Overall I would say skip this machine, it is a Chinese, OEM branded, $[...] coffee maker with a brand name meant to sound sophisticated, elegant, quality, etc. Not so. The manufacturer is unheard of and there is no particular place to purchase replacement parts or request repair.

*Water quality, which the manufacturer plays up a bit much, touting its 'filtration system' is merely another marketing gimmick to help this poorly made unit sell. The filtration as it is, a small carbon pellet that is standard with many if not most machines today - it wont make your water or coffee taste any better.