Edit********changed from 2 stars to 3 stars. The unit can make a good cup of coffee if you're willing to put in the effort. At this price point, effort should not be a requirement, but I don't mind a bit of effort for good coffee.What I have learned : this unit requires a finer grind than typical . On a baratza encore, setting 13. I also recommend closing the drip stop valve for the first 30 seconds or so to get a nice bloom going.The coffee is still somewhat weak, but my leading theory is the filters are too thick. They trap important oils and flavonoids that provide coffee with taste. The moccamaster filters make too "clean" of a cup.Ultimately, I will keep the unit because I like that I can play with it, and all it really does is send hot water over a basket. Not a whole lot to the process that can be blamed on it. Once I swap out the filters with something less aggressive, I think the brew will be really good.I hate to write this review, because I have looked forward to owning a moccamaster for years. Everyone speaks highly of it , whether it be coffee aficionados , cooking blogs, and kitchen appliance experts. My experience calls into question their taste in coffee.First, the unit itself is underwhelming. The plastics are cheap, flimsy, and warped. The water reservoir cover has a huge gap in its side that would allow all manner of debris and bugs into it. The cover is also a cheap and flimsy plastic that warps easily, preventing a seal with the edges of the reservoir.Similar lack of quality can be seen with the coffee basket as well. It's a low grade plastic basket that sits loosely and haphazardly on an equally flimsy bracket sticking out of the unit.The unit itself has a nice finish, and the aluminum paneling feels like good quality.I will say the carafe is great. The best I've seen in a coffee maker. It will keep coffee hot for atleast 2 hours.Now for the real purpose of this review and the reason for such a low rating. The design is fundamentally flawed , and guaranteed to produce a weak brew. As seen in the photo, the shower arm is off center. Only the half of the grounds closest to the unit will get properly saturated. The result is water will oversaturate half of the grounds, and under saturate the other half.The only way to remedy this is to drastically reduce the grind size to slow down the flow, or to manually baby sit the flow stop in order to force it to bloom. Neither of these are desirable. For one, you want the coarsest grind you can get away with when brewing coffee, and two, you pay for an auto drop so you don't have to baby sit it.After much experimentation with different beans and comparing to my Oxo 8 cup, blind tastings have repeatedly proven the moccamaster produces a flatter, weaker and more astringent brew. My guess, the poor design of the shower head leads to only half of the grounds being extracted, and the half being extracted is over extracted.Sadly, I don't feel this unit is worth the fuss. My Oxo was almost half the cost and produces a consistently better coffee. I have no idea why this unit is so highly rated when it's design flaws are plain as day, for all to see and taste. Further more, the material quality is objectively poor compared to rivals. The manufacturer claims this is to ensure their plastics are safe and environmentally friendly, but " environmentally friendly" is just code word for cost cutting at the customer's expense.The best part about this unit is the carafe, which is insanely good.If anyone is curious: I brewed 40 oz water to 69g coffee with two separate beans. I played with the manual flow stopper to induce bloom ( a unit at this price should bloom for you).