The Black and Decker SmartBrew

I've been moving around a lot lately, and I'm a bear if I don't have at least a semblance of my coffee bar.  By that, I at least need a working coffee maker, fresh coffee that is preferably whole bean, a grinder to grind it right before I brew, and a mug to pour it into.  Without these essentials, I have to buy coffee by the cup.  And while living as a transient, I needed to make important but very temporary decisions.I don't like to cheap out on my coffee purchases, since each one is reflected in the cup, but then I remembered my very own advice on value in a coffee maker.  The one coffee maker that MakeGoodCoffee.com reviewed that had perhaps the greatest value in that it was very inexpensive but broke into our Top Five Coffee Makers: the Black and Decker SmartBrew.[ad#Google Adsense - use me]When we reviewed the world of Coffee Makers to come up with our top five recommendations, each of them were priced about the same, somewhere between $100-150.  The Black and Decker SmartBrew was an interesting black swan, one of the "cheaper" looking models that broke the top five with a price around $30-40.  While it didn't come with the bells and whistles of the other machines, it still makes a very excellent coffee, and $30 for a brewer that can do that is pretty amazing.  What's more, many of the bells and whistles associated with the top machines either don't actually make better coffee or do so only marginally.I can't lie to you, coffee lovers...I went to Wal-Mart to buy my coffee maker and spent $30 on the Black and Decker SmartBrew.  But, I'm happy to tell you that it has not steered me wrong and for that price, it is making me great coffee.  For those of you who aren't willing to spend three digits for a coffee maker, or need only a temporary solution that still makes great coffee, consider this coffee maker.As an inside joke to those of you that already have one, the rest of you will enjoy the Darth Vader effect when you open the lid - I say no more.  Follow me on Twitter to see the pictures :).Check out:- Our Coffee Maker Report Card criteria- The Black and Decker SmartBrew review- MakeGoodCoffee.com's Coffee Maker Report Card