Mr. Coffee Frappe Single-Serve Iced and Hot Coffee Maker/Blender – Black

Wonderful coffee maker! I had a more expensive ninja one before this and this one meets my iced coffee/frappe needs way more. I could not be happier. It is so great, very convenient and easy to use.

The only thing I didn’t like is i put the cups in the dishwasher. And one of them bubbles up on the rim and now i can’t put the Lead on it. Even though it said it was machine safe.

So it’s not really fair to say “this unit brews and blends delicious coffee drinks” because we all know the quality and taste of the final product is almost wholly dependent on the ingredients we use–the grounds, the syrup, even the water and ice, can all impact the tastiness of the final product. Instead, I’ll focus on what it’s like to *use* the Mr. Coffee 3-in-1 to achieve what we set out to do. In that respect–does the 3-in-1 make it easy, maybe even fun, to make a single serving of hot coffee, iced coffee, or a frappe–absolutely!
Kudos to Mr. Coffee for making everything at the “For Dummies” level so you don’t need the instructions nearby just to operate the machine. Handy labels and measuring levels are printed everywhere: on the tumbler, on the blender jar, on the measuring scoop, on the inside lid of the blender cover, on the graduated “steps” that mark water levels inside the reservoir…even the peel-away “Let’s Brew” sticker on the lid is a useful and simple guide to each of the three coffee scenarios this appliance supports. I especially appreciated the little usability touches like the steamy mug versus snowflake icons in the bottom of the measuring scoops so you always know which side to use whether you want to make hot coffee or iced/frappe–the respective hot or cold measuring scoops are also labeled with the name of the button you need to press on the coffee maker in case you forgot! 🙂
Everything else you need to get started is included in the box: two pre-marked tumblers (indicating ice and water fill levels) with screw-on lids for extra security (!!!), 2 reusable straws, a reusable metal basket-style coffee filter, even a small recipe book for those you searching for something different. Once fully assembled, the entire appliance is only about the size of a normal large-ish coffee maker, perfect if you’re a bit limited on counter space but still want the flexibility of brewing and mixing different types of coffee drinks.
Hot coffee is the easiest and progresses just as you would expect. Start by filling the mug or cup you want to use with water and dump it into the reservoir; there are clearly marked stair-step water-level indicators (6 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz, and 16 oz) around the inside of the reservoir to indicate how many small scoops of coffee grounds (again, marked by the “steamy mug” icon in the bottom of the scoop) to place into the reusable basket. Set your mug back on the tray beneath the coffee spout, turn on the unit and hit the “HOT BREW” button. Wait about 3-4 minutes and you’re done. There is a little bit of splatter with shorter mugs, but at least with our unit, there wasn’t anything that extended out beyond the removable drip tray.
Iced coffee is almost equally as simple…and equally as pedestrian…there really isn’t anything here that any other coffee maker couldn’t do over a tumbler of your own full of ice cubes. But still, the process is mercifully simple, transparent, and even a little enjoyable. Run your tap or filtered water into the included tumbler up to the “Water” mark on printed the outside, then dump the water into the reservoir. Fill the tumbler with ice up to the “Ice” mark (see what they did there?) and place it under the spout. Fill the “snowflake” side of the scoop with coffee grounds and add the grounds to the filter basket under the lid. Close the lid, hit the power button and press the “COLD BREW” button. Wait about 30 seconds for the hot coffee to start dribbling out and about 3 more minutes until the tumbler is full. In our experience, the brew time was long enough to completely cool the coffee down to “iced-coffee temperature” while creating enough space in the tumbler (from the melted ice) to add in additional flavorings, creamers, or syrups.
Okay, so nothing new under the sun so far, but this unit also brings a lilliputian-sized blender to the fight that provides quick and easy frappes as well as regular and iced coffee drinks. Again, Mr. Coffee reassuringly holds your hand the entire time; even providing a few numbered mixing/measuring instructions right on the outside of the blending jar. Then you’re off to the races:
– Add water to the pitcher up to the water line and dump it into the reservoir
– Again, use the “snowflake” scoop to measure out (2 scoops this time) of coffee grounds and place them into the filter basket
– Add milk to the pitcher up to the “Milk” line and fill the rest of the pitcher with ice up to the “Ice” line
– Set the pitcher on the tray under the coffee spout and press the “COLD BREW” button
– Once the coffee stops flowing, fill the clear lid measuring insert with syrup/flavoring (pre-marked for 1, 2, and 3 tablespoons), dump the syrup into the pitcher and lock the lid insert into place
– Set the blender jar on the base, twist to lock it into place, turn on the power and press “BLEND”
– The blending program automatically pulses and stops to grind up the ice and blend the ingredients in the pitcher; there is also a manual “PULSE” button in case you need to take matters into your own hands
– Once you’re done, pour the pitcher’s contents out into one of the Mr. Coffee tumblers, or one of your own, and enjoy
I do wish there was a display or beep to tell you that brewing was complete so you know when it is absolutely safe to take a mug or tumbler out from under the spout–but even if you’re impatient to snatch things up before those last few drops of hot coffee come tumbling out of the basket, the drip tray is reasonably deep and pretty easy to clean up. We did notice that the clear measuring insert that fits into the blender jar’s lid has just enough play when it’s in the “lock” position that a few tiny drops could splatter out between the insert and the lid itself when the blender is running. We ended up only turning the lid insert to the half-way locked position and that stopped all the splatter completely–but it was a design issue noticeable enough to be worth mentioning.
Although I am not the coffee aficionado in our family, my wife has absolutely adored everything she’s brewed with the Mr. Coffee 3-in-1, and it all came from a pretty slick, self-contained, compact unit that seemed legitimately fun to use. And because she only makes coffee for herself, she loves not having to contend with a massive carafe or wasting whole pots of coffee because a single serving is all she’s ever really after. No, the hot and iced coffee functions aren’t really anything different from what you *could* do with your own regular coffee maker, but the draw here is that everything you need is already pre-measured and pre-marked to take the guesswork out of the process–and at least to my wife’s tastes, she found all the measurements to be spot-on. Mr. Coffee sells a single-serve iced coffee maker that comes in at a bit less than half the price of this unit, but it is ONLY designed to produce iced coffee (in a fashion similar to what we have here). With the 3-in-1 design of this unit, you get those same iced coffees, along with a legitimate single-serve hot coffee machine, and a handy, mini-sized blender for making frappes without eating up a lot of precious kitchen or shelf real estate–definitely recommended if you don’t need to be brewing several bottomless gallons of coffee at a time!