fperkins.com – Frank Perkins

Just noticed the Miele CVA 4075 model which can have a plumbed-in water connection. Don’t you hate it when they improve products?

Our system is still working great and we have had zero problems. We’re up to 518 cups. The only issue I have had is that someone, who shall rename anonymous, was not emptying the grinds when the water was refilled and there was a slight overflow problem.

---

We recently redesigned our kitchen and thought a coffee center would be a cool addition. There really isn’t a lot of choice in wall mount units so it was either the Miele system that used coffee beans or pods. I didn’t like the idea of pods since they are more expensive and would have to keep ordering them. The CVA 615 system uses regular coffee beans.

For all images, click for larger image

We had our Miele installed in the middle of the wall by our pantry. We also had a custom draw built to go under the unit to hold coffee cups, tea bags, sugar, etc. The idea was a coffee station. We still have to go over to fridge for milk though.

To be honest, I’m not a coffee aficionado. I probably couldn’t taste the difference between a hot cup of fresh coffee from 7-11 vs. Starbucks. Ironically, I mainly like to drink tea that I steep myself. A lot of the tea I use recommends steeping at 212 degrees F. From doing a test, it looks like the max temperature the hot water is about 160 degrees F.

The water definitely comes out hot, but not boiling. I made tea quite a few times and really didn’t notice the lower temperature so it works fine for me. If I had to, I guess I could microwave it for another 30 seconds, but that kind of defeats the purpose. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to adjust how hot the water comes out.

For coffee, there are a few temperature adjustments. To be specific, there are 5. At the “medium” setting, the coffee comes out at around 175 degrees F. I couldn’t imagine any hotter than that, but coffee gurus would know more than I as it affects the crema.

There a few other adjustments that can be made via the dial interface. Here is a short movie cycling through them: Dial Interface Movie ~6MB

Inside the Miele are three main components: The waste bin, coffee bean holder and water jug.

The waste bin is used to capture the used grounds. Each cup of coffee is ground, brewed and then discarded in the bin. I try to empty every few days otherwise mold will grow. The coffee bean holder simply pulls out and lifts up. It would be nice if there were two bins for decaf and regular, but they’ll probably come out with that in the next model now that I already plopped down the 2k on the unit . The Water jug holds the… well the water. There is no direct line attachment for the water like you can have on your fridge. Miele claims that you should be using filtered water and not tap, but I think that’s just an excuse. It’s not really a problem as it can hold at least 8 cups. However Miele recommends that water is changed daily. It actually will display “Fresh Water?” when activated to remind you. I checked the water after 3-4 days of not being used and it looks crystal clear to me. Regardless, I normally change it every few days just in case.

There are two slide lever adjustments inside to adjust the coarseness of the coffee grinds and the amount of coffee or strenth of the coffee to brew.

Obviously, the easiest and most fun part is brewing the coffee. You have three selections: espresso, regular coffee and long coffee. The “long coffee” setting is what we use for normal coffee. I guess American’s like their coffee watered down? One of the things I was perplexed about is how you can brew a cup of coffee from the same beans you use for espresso. After reading a bunch of articles on coffegeek, I discovered that you use the same bean. There are no “espresso beans”, just use the beans you like and it will do either.

To make a cup, you simply place your mug under the spout, press the button and the machine will do the work. You can also brew two cups at a time if so desired. Here is a movie capturing the entire process: Miele Making a Cup of Coffee ~25MB

A nice feature is the Energy Savings Mode. You have the option of adjusting when the machine powers down so that it’s not constantly wasting energy keeping its element hot. I have ours set to power down after 15 minutes. Warming up takes a few minutes.

As you can see, the coffee comes up with a nice froth or crema on top. I think it tastes great and that seems to be the consensus of everyone else that tried it. Of course, once you see it working, it’s hard to believe the coffee wouldn’t taste great. I’m really happy with the unit so far and hope it gives me many years of trouble free coffee.

I don’t know of any other reviews of this unit on the web so if you have specific questions, leave a comment and Ill try to answer.