The more I pay for something, the less work I want it to involve.
Sadly, Ive been unable to train any animal Ive parented to make this happen.
The Miele, I had hoped, could do precisely that, using the smart app.
In action it proved to be less than accurate, but the smart app isn’t a total loss.
A beautiful machine
Lets start with what there is to like.
The Miele 6360 is a giant of a coffee maker, with an impressive 10x17" footprint.
That might not seem huge, but it was deeper than my coffee bar.
From the outside, it looks simple and well-built, with beautiful rounded edges and clean details.
Wherever you put it, it looks amazing.
it’s possible for you to load up whole beans or ground beans into two different hoppers.
you’re able to also use a provided elongated siphon on a carton of milk if you prefer.
The siphon attaches to the main hub of the machine via some flexible silicone tubing.
Atop the machine, a rubberized heating pad keeps your chosen mug or cup warm for you.
An off-center spigot dispenses hot water for tea.
The water reservoir hugs the side of the machine and will hold 60 ounces of water.
The face of the machine is dotted with buttons that feature icons rather than labels.
To achieve that, Miele allows you to fine-tune almost every aspect of the coffee production behind the scenes.
A conical burr grinder made of stainless steel is infinitely tunable, but there are five presets.
Milk foam is steamed twice before it hits your cup, to make it frothier.
I doled out drinks to any neighbors who popped by; I obtained chocolate syrup and cocoa powder.
I bought paper cups with lids.
Instead, these are the buttons for eight common drinks.
Presumably, you memorize what these icons represent.
What is wild to me is that there isn’t a menu of all the possible drinks.
All drinks are dispensed in tiny espresso-size versions.
The machine will remember and dispense this new amount any time in the future someone asks for that drink.
Hope all your mugs are the same size!
It would make so much more sense to indicate drink size each time.
The most maddening aspect of the machine is the lack of an obvious cancel button.
More on that to come.
What the app does let you do is set a favorite drink per profile.
But I had to be at the machine, to add a cup after the rinsing had ended.
I really enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the experience.
An annoyingly clean machine
Anytime you do anything with the Miele, it will rinse itself.
Turn it on, it rinses.
Turn it off, it rinses.
Each time a loud beeping sound rings throughout the house.
I also had to refill the water reservoir at least once a day.
What would a coffee enthusiast or family do?
If I pressed the right series of buttons, each time: perfection.
The lack of clarity with the interface meant that I avoided experimenting with other drinks.
