[red-beard]

Well, the advantage of the SuperAutomatic:

You load your primary beans in the hopper and load water in a tank on the other side. When you turn it on, it heats up a metal block which in turn heats the water when you activate the machine.

Normal operation:

You select how much water (1-8oz) and then press the start button. For mild coffee, press once, regular coffee, press twice, strong coffee, press three times. Fresh coffee in 30-40 seconds.

The mild-normal-strong sets how much coffee is ground, the dial tells the machine how much water to run through those grounds. A mild 1oz shot will still be quite strong. A strong 8oz cup is also quote strong.

Next to the machine is a hot water/steam wand. If you want to make tea, put the cup under and open the tap. If you want to steam milk, press the steam button and then open the tap.

If you want decaf and regular beans are in the machine, you can put in powdered coffee in the top. If someone prefers a different powdered coffee, again it is easy to make.

I know $699 seems like a lot, but it makes better coffee than Starbucks. If you buy 10 cups from Starbucks a week, you'll pay for it in less than a year. At $50/month in K cups, it pays for itself in about 1 year.