Café Select Dual Brew – Introducing the most practical way to brew coffee

Whether you are equipping your vacation cabin, your RV, downsizing your kitchen or maybe just starting a kitchen for the first time, you’ll want to take a look at this space-saving coffee station. For years, we had two appliances on our countertop.  One for single cup brewing and one for 10 or 12 cup carafes. In an RV, you just don’t have the luxury of space for two brewers.

Café Select Dual Brew Coffeemaker with Travel Mug

At the 2016 International Home + Housewares Show, this Café Select Dual Brew caught my eye immediately.  There, in one compact unit, sat a standard 12-cup carafe AND a whopping 20 oz. travel mug.  I really did a double take.  Button selections allow you to brew single cups of 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 or 20 ounces with single button simplicity. Any standard K-cup will fit, including most refillable cups.

First of all, a 20 oz. travel mug was huge.  I’ve tried many coffeemakers before that brewed single-serve K-cups, but none that would fill a 20 oz. mug.  Just from a brewing standpoint, there just isn’t enough coffee in a K-cup to brew a good tasting 20 oz. of anything.  BLACK + DECKER’s solution then, is to give you a replaceable insert for your 16 oz. or 20 oz. brews, with a fine mesh, reusable mini brew basket that slips right in place of the K-cup holder.  You can now select any of your favorite ground coffees you like and it simply rinses out when done.

The large 60-oz. removable reservoir lifts out easily with a self-storing handle and makes either a full carafe of coffee or up to three 20-oz. mugs before refilling.

That 20-oz travel mug is amazing with its heat retention. I’ve put coffee in and eight hours later it is still hot – I don’t mean warm, I mean hot.  That’s unheard of. A simple push down, pop up lid seals the mug or allows you to sip from the lid. Very simple to use one-handed while driving, and despite its huge size, it feels good to hold and fits all your standard car cup holders.

When brewing a full carafe, the Dual Brew uses Melitta #4 coffee filters, which now come with scale markings on the inside. Instead of having to measure tablespoon by tablespoon, I simply pour the grounds right from the bag or canister into the cone-shaped filter until it reaches the line representing the amount of coffee I want to brew. So simple and so quick.

If for whatever reason you don’t want to brew a full pot of coffee, merely fill the reservoir to whatever level you want to brew, from minimum 4 cups up to maximum 12 cups. Whatever water is in the reservoir is what will end up being used.  You can also select from two buttons for brew strength – Regular or Robusto.  Pouring is perfect as well – no dripping from their “Perfect Pour” carafe.

Can’t wait for that first cup? You don’t have to with the “Sneak-a-Cup” feature.  It halts the flow of coffee long enough for you to pour a cup and then replace the carafe. After two hours, your warming tray will auto-shut off.

It’s about that two-hour point when my timer goes off and I place any remaining coffee in the 20 oz. travel mug, even if I’m spending the day working at home. If acts like a thermal carafe and I can then pour two more mugs of hot coffee whenever I’m in the mood later.

Whatever your situation, if you alternately brew pots and single cups of coffee, you’ll seriously want to consider this uniquely useful brewer.  Find out more about the BLACK + DECKER Café Select Dual Brew Coffeemaker with Travel Mug here.