Hamilton Beach FlexBrew Trio 2-Way Coffee Maker, Compatible with K-Cup Pods or Grounds, Combo, Single Serve & Full 12c Pot, Black – Fast Brewing (49902)

This dual coffee machine delivers as promised.
Works exactly like advertised. It did spill over the first time making the full coffee pot but I had the filter seated incorrectly which was 100% my fault. Once I made sure that it was seated correctly the times after before I closed the lid the problem vanished. The single cup brewing is really nice because you can specify how many ounces to brew so it brews it all at one time, which is great for larger coffee cups that can easily hold 14 ounces because you don’t have to ‘brew twice on medium/small’ like with traditional K-Cup brewers. The backlight is very bright and readable even with my increasingly bad eyes, and it’s easy to program and set time. It comes with an instruction manual but honestly it was pretty self explanatory, however I did read the manual afterward to make sure I didn’t miss anything. The quality of the coffee is superb (compared to making the coffee in other machines), and the 90 second single cup brew is accurate, plus it keeps track of how many ounces it has left to brew in the event you wanted to step away for a second.

UPDATED REVIEW
“Didn’t you just get that two months ago?!”That’s what my son just said to me after I spent the better part of two days… TWO DAYS … attempting to resolve the dreaded “nEEDLE” error on the single serve side.Of course, the return window closed a couple weeks ago. Of course.It’s not that the needles needed replacing or that they were clogged. I cleaned both – top and bottom needles – thoroughly. They are piercing just fine.And it’s not the brand of cups being used. We have a variety of brands from a variety of sources.It’s the machine. See video.It brews about an ounce or two then suddenly starts hissing and puffing out steam from all openings, ending with an impressive blow-out of steam and loud hissing, accompanied by a burst of ground-filled water. It’s about half an ounce but it contains enough grounds to cover the bottom of the coffee cup.And then there is a blinking blue light on the “brew/power” button.My son reminded me that our previous machines went out in a similarly hiss/steam blaze of glory. I guess because they lasted a few years, I didn’t pay attention to how they ended up giving up the ghost. I just attributed it to them being a few years old and replaced them.This is a few MONTHS old. Bought at the end of April 2025. And it’s now the end of June 2025.As much as I have felt loyalty to this machine for more than a decade … I agree with my son: it’s possible it’s just not made as good as the previous versions were.PREVIOUS REVIEW:This is such a great system. I am honestly a fan of the dual brew going back years to when it was first released. I bought her (what, 10 years ago?) and it lasted until a few months ago, when she started refusing to acknowledge we had cleaned it whenever we tried to use the single-serve side.She was done. Period. She still brews carafes just fine, so she went to my husband’s work site because no one brews single-serve coffee there.I made the mistake of trying a few other systems because some of my family wanted something that makes cold coffee, but after a few months of packing up and returning them all, one by one, I just bought this and told the family to take whatever coffee is left over in the carafe at the end of the day and pour it into a jar and put in the fridge. Voila, cold coffee… OG style. I mean, as a former newspaper editor, I was drinking cold coffee before it was a thing. Pour a cup of coffee, sit down to your desk and then the phone rings and someone knocks on the door… And four hours later, you sit back down and you have cold coffee. IT’S NOT THAT HARD and does not require an expensive machine to get done. Geesh.Anyway…This is a great system, as I knew it would be.I do like the larger reservoir for the single serve side – it lets me get a few decent size mugs from it.It brews a nice hot mug of coffee. I am able to put an average travel mug under the single serve dispenser but you do have to remove the mug pedestal to do that. I don’t use the pedestal because we have tall mugs and the coffee doesn’t splatter out while brewing like it does in shorter mugs.I like the addition of the brew strength choice – regular or bold. The bold makes it just right for a coffee. That option is there for both carafe and single serve use.You also get to choose the size of the mug on the single serve – going up to 14 ounce. That’s that we use for our Contigo travel mugs.It gets the coffee hot and brews pretty quickly, which is good in mornings.Now, for context – this is sitting next to a $1000 fully-automated espresso machine that we use for fussy drinks.So, the fact we would spend that kind of money for an espresso machine should show you that we are buying for results – not cost savings.And the Hamilton Beach Dual Brew is our choice for quality results. The fact it’s affordable is a bonus.

Good product with some design flaws
Ok this is more of a 3.5 star review. Had the previous model FlexBrew and bought this next generation model as a replacement. First off, if you are someone who wants access to both carafe and k-cup brewing, I recommend the FlexBrew product. Had I not owned the previous model, this review may have fewer cons.Pros: temperature is good, no issues with taste, adding a reservoir for the single serve side is a nice change from the previous model, delay brew is great, does everything I need my coffee maker to do.Cons: water level markings inside reservoir – can’t see them. There are little “steps” inside that equate to the water level. I find it difficult to see the numbers on the steps. Poor design here. The lid needs a lot of clearance to stay open while you are filling and adding your coffee. Previous model lid had tension so it would stay open. This one will fall down on you if there’s a light breeze. The display isn’t super clear unless you are looking directly at it. I’m taller than the item so looking down on the screen, I see all the “potential” options that aren’t selected. Product feels “cheaper” than the previous model. The carafe is lighter and the buttons feel like they will break before too long.Overall, not a bad product. I just feel cheated a bit in my “upgrade”. The previous model had some flaws but I feel like the FlexBrew went slightly backwards with this model.

I liked that you can name a cup or a pot.I don’t like that once a weèk you need to make the coffee grinds don’t plug up your machine 😒

This is my second one. We broke the pot on the old one and decided to get a new brewer because of the age of the other one.They’re great machines and we like the option of brewing a single cup when the craving hits.I highly recommend it.