Kmart Anko Coffee To Go Maker

It's a coffee maker only it is NOT a coffee machine – This is NOT a coffee machine but a coffee maker, I knew that when I bought it and for $10 on sale I'm not complaining because it also came with a stainless travel mug, all pics will be below. This little unit sits quite nicely in my small kitchen, I am happy with it however their are a few little flaws with this item, but it still works fine. Number 1....The water reservoir is not transparent so you can't see from the outside how much water is in the unit or if it is overfull and because it is black in colour it's even difficult to see the max water level inside the top reservoir unless you get a torch so you can make sure you didn't overfill it, it's fiddly needing to measure out the water so it doesn't overfill. If it had a see thru water tank you could eyeball it each time, like my previous pod machine.

Number 2.....That stainless travel mug gets hot once it's filled with coffee, it really needs a sleeve around the travel mug and it's also smooth stainless so it could slip out of hand while driving if you have NO sleeve around the mug.

Number 3.....It's a bit dodgy for the measuring of the water if you want to add milk to your coffee, the full 450 ml is too much and leaves no room for milk, that's in the stainless mug it came with, so then you have to guess how much water to use so it leaves room for milk, and that process becomes tricky, no matter what cup or mug you use, so I basically worked out 350 ml water for the travel mug it came with and then top up with milk, However 350 ml water after running through the filter and ground coffee I still didn't end up with the full 350ml of coffee before milk because the coffee grounds soaked up some of it, so another thing I did was actually fill the cup/mug I am using with the water to the level I could see would leave me room for milk and then I poured that into the reservoir and it still came out slightly short of what I was wanting.

Number 4....After you make your first cup/mug of coffee it needs to be turned off and has to sit for at least 5 minutes to cool down before using it again, that really isn't an issue if your making one mug only and then walking out the door to go to work or shopping, but when your using this at home with no plans to go out for the day, then that 5 minute sitting time to cool down becomes a process of watching the clock to see that 5 minutes ticking down until you can make your second cup, Not a big deal but still, for someone who has 2 cups of coffee in quick succession lol.

Number 5.....The travel mug just fits snugly under the drip filter part of the unit, it's so snug you can't even see how full your travel mug is, so if your measurements of water are more than required it will overflow and you won't see it until it's actually overflowing, I was very tempted to put a little extra water in tank because my coffee kept coming out short of what I was wanting, but then when I saw how high the mug sits I knew straight away if it did overflow I wouldn't know until it was actually overflowing and the little water trap at the bottom is not very deep.

These are little tweaks etc that will get ironed out the more I use it, but it certainly isn't straight forward, not everyone likes drinking black coffee and I feel this is aimed at those drinkers, so tweaking is necessary to get that full cup of milky coffee.

My happy points with this unit.

* Is quick to turn out your coffee and I couldn't believe how hot the coffee was out of this little unit, it makes a hotter coffee than my old pod machine.

* It's super compact and sits nicely on the kitchen counter.

* Easy to clean the coffee filter just empty the coffee grounds out and rinse under the tap and it's ready for your second cup.

* You can also use this unit for dispensing hot water only, bear in mind it will only ever be 450ml or less, I used freeze dried instant coffee straight into my cup and just popped the cup under the filter area and voila a hot cup of coffee using only instant coffee and the hot water dispensed from the unit, but again it still was not to the amount I would like and still leave room for milk. You may ask me why don't I just boil the kettle if I'm going to use instant coffee....Well this is much quicker than boiling the kettle.

I do recommend this item, because the little issues of this unit can be overcome with practice and regular use, once you have mastered the water to get that full cup of coffee and still have room for milk to where you want and not feel like your just short changed yourself on the full cup of coffee lol then it's a great little item.