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Summary of our Review
✔ What We Liked
- Good drip coffee
- Great countertop piece with a retro style, multiple color options, and matching appliances
- The slim depth (roughly six inches) didn’t take up space on the kitchen counter
✘ What We Didn't Like
- Lack of features, like brew strength and gold tone filter, compared to other machines in the same price range
- The tall lid can’t be opened under low-hanging kitchen cabinets
The Haden Dorchester makes a good cup of drip coffee. However, it only has a few quality-of-life features, such as delay brew and keep warm. Given its price point, we wish it had other features common to other machines in this price range.
Aesthetically, the coffee maker is adorable with a retro style and many color options available. Haden also makes other appliances in this style, such as a kettle and toaster, so you can buy a matching set. This is great if you want appliances that match the style of your kitchen. We also liked the slim depth of the machine as it felt compact and unimposing in our small New York City kitchen.
Taste Review
We taste-tested this coffee maker with a few different kinds of roasts over a couple of weeks.
Medium Roast
The first roast we tried was Trader Joe’s Joe Medium Roast. We used a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio for our brew. We first tried the coffee without milk or sugar. It had a medium to full body with a hint of bitterness and a pleasant aftertaste. As I take my coffee with oat milk, I couldn’t taste any bitterness in my cup. For me, it was very drinkable and what I’d want from a drip coffee machine.
The machine has a keep-warm function, and we tasted the coffee after roughly two hours on the keep-warm function. The coffee was more bitter, but only by a little bit. The machine kept the coffee extremely hot. I had to let my cup cool down for 10 minutes before drinking it.
Dark Roast
The next roast we tried was the La Colombe Corsica Darker Roast. The first time we brewed, we used a roughly 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio. The coffee was acidic with a medium body and a long lingering aftertaste. I took my cup with oat milk, and I could still taste a bit of the acidity.
The second time we brewed with the dark roast we used a 1:17 ratio. La Colombe recommends this ratio for this roast. The acidity was greatly reduced compared to our first brew. But it was still a bit acidic for our taste. It also had a much smoother taste and was not as full-bodied. That said, we both agreed that neither of us would drink this black. But I’ll disclaim this statement by saying we don’t love dark roasts. I put oat milk in my cup and the creaminess cut the remaining acidity. This made a nice, drinkable cup.
We think the Haden Dorchester coffee maker made a good cup of coffee with the medium roast. We did not love the dark roast. But we also don’t generally drink dark roasts. The machine made coffee with some notes of bitterness and acidity in the brews we tried, but this is common among drip coffee machines. Overall, the machine made better-than-average coffee when compared to other drip coffee makers we’ve tried.
Ease of Use
Like most drip coffee makers, the Haden Dorchester is easy to use. It comes with a reusable filter, so you won’t need paper filters. To use, pour water into the chamber, add your coffee grounds, and brew. Brewing takes five to ten minutes depending on how many cups of coffee you’re brewing.
The Haden can brew as little as 2 up to 10 cups of coffee, using a roughly 5-oz cup size. Because Haden is an English brand, the water chamber marks the water height in cups and liters.
While we brewed, we noticed that the machine dripped coffee onto other parts of the pot. It also dripped onto the warming plate when we removed the pot after brewing. We don’t think this is a dealbreaker, but it could be annoying for some folks.
Features
The Dorchester has a couple of quality-of-life features: keep warm and delayed brewing. After you finish brewing, the machine will keep your coffee warm for up to two hours. The machine keeps the coffee very hot for the entire two hours. I had to let my coffee cool for a while after pouring a cup one hour after brewing. You can also set a time for the machine to start brewing. Both of these features are standard on many drip coffee makers.
However, we wish that the machine had other features given its price point. The machine does not have a true auto-pause feature. You can remove the pot during brewing to pour yourself a cup, but Haden says you shouldn’t take it away for more than 30 seconds. Haden also doesn’t advertise this as a feature.
The machine does not allow you to select your brew strength, which is a common feature on other similarly priced machines.
And while the machine has a reusable filter, it is a stainless steel filter, not a gold tone filter. A gold tone filter uses gold plating on stainless steel mesh. People like gold tone filters because gold does not affect the taste of your coffee the way that stainless steel can.
We don’t think these things are dealbreakers, but we wish the Haden Dorchester had comparable features to other machines at this price range.
| Number of steps involved | 3 |
| Time to brew | 5-10 minutes |
| Supplies needed | None |
| Coffee grind size | Medium |
| Coffee to water ratio | 1:15 to 1:17 |
| Yield | 2 to 10 cups |
| Cleaning | Hand wash only |
| Extra features |
|
Cleaning
Cleaning the Dorchester is easy. Remove the filter, funnel, and pot from the machine. Handwash them with hot, soapy water. These parts are not dishwasher-safe. The most difficult part, in our opinion, to clean is the water chamber as it is not removable.
If you live in an area with hard water, as we do, there are a couple of things you can do to prevent mineral buildup. First, leave the lid open after brewing so the chamber can dry out thoroughly. Second, use a towel to wipe down the inside of the lid as a lot of moisture builds there during brewing. If you need to descale the water chamber, use a descaling solution and run it through the machine.
Haden recommends wiping down the machine’s outside and its warming plate with a damp cloth or towel. You shouldn’t use an abrasive cleaner to clean the outside of the machine as this can damage the machine.
Appearance
There’s no other way to say this, but the Haden Dorchester is a cute coffeemaker. It has a retro style, which may not suit everyone’s taste. That said, we think it’s a great countertop piece. It comes in five different colors: matte black, matte white, stone blue, pebble, and silt green. We got a stone blue machine, and it’s a lovely blue color.
Haden also makes kettles, microwaves, and toasters in the same style and color palettes. The colors available should match many palettes, making it easy to match your kitchen and kitchenware.
Measurements
By our measurements, the machine measures 6.25 inches deep, 13.5 inches tall, and 8.75 inches wide. With the lid up, the coffee maker measures 22.5 inches tall. We have low-hanging kitchen cabinets and couldn’t open the lid under the cabinets. This is something to consider if you have low cabinets and want to place the coffee maker underneath them.
We liked the slim depth of the machine. It sits nicely against your backsplash and doesn’t feel like it takes up space. For the record, we have a “large” New York City kitchen, which is small by most American standards. This coffee maker felt compact and out of the way in our kitchen.
Finally, the machine is very lightweight, weighing in at 5 lbs and 4 oz (about 2.4 kilograms).
Materials
The machine is made from plastic, stainless steel, and faux bois. Faux bois means “false wood” in French. The wood accents you see are not wood, but plastic. We didn’t think it looked fake or cheap. From afar, it looks like real wood. All of the colors of this coffee maker have faux bois accents. If that’s not something you like, you’ll want to look elsewhere for a drip coffee maker.
The silt green and pebble colors have dark faux bois accents (about the color of walnut wood). The other colors have light faux bois accents that are roughly the color of pine. We didn’t get to see the silt green or pebble in person. However, we preferred the look of the dark faux bois accents as we love walnut wood.
Value
Since the machine comes with a reusable filter, you don’t need to purchase paper filters unless you prefer that. There are no other ongoing costs to owning this machine (except, of course, the cost of coffee beans). We wish the machine had other features, like brew strength or a gold tone filter, for its price. That said, it produced good-tasting coffee, the machine is good-looking, and Haden makes matching appliances.
| Current price on Amazon | Price not available |
| Costs for supplies | N/A |
If you like the style and want the matching appliances, we think this is a good drip coffee maker. If the aesthetics aren’t as important to you or you don’t like the retro style, there are similarly priced options that offer more features.
Rebecca is the co-founder of First Coffee Then. She has written for numerous publications, including ValuePenguin, Inc.com, Business.com, Christian Science Monitor, StartupNation, and NASDAQ. She loves to get into the nitty-gritty of how things work and applies this philosophy to all things coffee. Her favorite coffee beverage is a cappuccino (though La Colombe Oat Milk Draft Lattes are an extremely close second).
