The Verdict
The Café Specialty Drip Coffee Maker is an SCA certified drip coffee maker that combines precision brewing with smart home connectivity and an upscale design accented by signature copper details. Built with a 10-cup thermal carafe and app controls, it offers barista-quality extraction and custom temperature adjustments right on your kitchen counter.
Why We Love It (Key Features)
- SCA Certified Precision Brewing: Rigorously tested to meet Specialty Coffee Association standards, this machine brews drip coffee between 185 and 205 degrees so you achieve balanced, consistently delicious extraction without guesswork.
- Smart Connectivity & Voice-to-Brew: Wi-Fi integration pairs seamlessly with the SmartHQ app, Alexa, and Google Home, allowing you to schedule brews, adjust strength, and initiate coffee prep from anywhere using voice controls.
- Customized Brewing Modes & Cup Settings: Tailor every pot or single serving to your preference with four distinct brew settings—Gold, Light, Medium, and Bold—while saving your favorite cup size, temperature, and strength parameters.
- Convenient Auto Brew & Built-In Water Filtration: Program your morning routine in advance with auto brew, supported by an internal filtration unit in the water reservoir that works to reduce chlorine and impurities for cleaner flavor.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Certified by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) for Golden Cup standard extraction.
- Variable temperature control spanning 185 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Flexible capacity handling anywhere from 1 single cup up to a full 10-cup pot in a thermal carafe.
- Hands-free smart automation via SmartHQ app, Alexa, and Google Home.
- Includes internal reservoir filtration to remove chlorine and common water impurities.
Cons
- Replacement carbon water filters (GE Appliances UNIV1CFLTR6PK 6-pack) must be purchased separately.
- Takes up dedicated countertop space in smaller kitchens.
- Requires proper grind consistency and coffee dosing to maintain ideal brewing results.
Who Should Buy This?
This SCA certified drip coffee maker is an ideal fit for coffee enthusiasts and design-focused homeowners who want exact temperature control, smart home voice integration, and the convenience of scheduling morning brews without sacrificing countertop aesthetics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes an SCA certified drip coffee maker different from a standard brewer?
An SCA certified drip coffee maker has undergone rigorous testing by the Specialty Coffee Association to ensure it meets strict Golden Cup standards, including maintaining precise water temperatures between 185 and 205 degrees for optimal extraction.
Can I control the coffee maker using my smartphone or smart home assistant?
Yes, the coffee maker features built-in Wi-Fi and connects with the SmartHQ app, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home, allowing you to use Voice-to-Brew controls and customize brew size, strength, and scheduling remotely.
Does the machine come with water filters included?
The machine features an easy-to-use internal filtration unit that sits in the water reservoir to help remove chlorine and impurities, but GE Appliances replacement carbon filter cartridges (6-pack UNIV1CFLTR6PK) are sold separately.
5.0 out of 5 stars More then the Bells and Whistles, It Makes Great Coffee! So after reading some reviews here I was hesitant to buy this machine due to some reviews saying how messy it was. We’ll let’s just get this out of the way. I have yet to see a mess from this machine and have posted photos showing how good the coffee bed actually looks. In the photo, that is 69g of fresh roasted beans ground right before brewing using a Fellow Ode grinder. Not even close to a mess!Now getting into the actual review. My have to haves for this machine were a timer for auto brewing for the weekdays, SCA approved and a thermal carafe. I have owned other SCA approved machines in the past like the Breville Precision Brewer, the Bonivita 8 cup and the latest was an SCA approved Ninja Machine. If the Ratio 6 had a timer that would have been in the running this time around. Unfortunately it does not and this machine checked all my boxes so I decided to give a it a try and so glad I did!Without touching on all it’s options yet, the one thing the machine needed to do in order to make it a keeper was make a great cup of coffee! If it couldn’t do that, then it wouldn’t matter how high tech this thing was and all the fancy stuff it could do, it was going back. Well I am happy to say, this machine makes one delicious cup of coffee! My first reaction to my first brewed sip was WOW, this cup is smooth! It was super smooth, sweet and delicious! An 8 cup pot finished brewing in just about 5 minutes which is pretty fast.The thermal carafe definitely kept the coffee hot for an hour after brewing and was even drinkable 2 hours later. Some reviews mentioned they were upset there was no hot plate. No thermal carafe machine comes with a hot plate! That is the reason for going with the thermal carafe. So your coffee doesn’t cook and continue to change in flavor. If you want a hot plate, you need to buy the glass carafe. That goes for any coffee machine. If you want your coffee to stay the hottest in the thermal carafe, run hot water in the carafe so when you brew your coffee, you won’t be brewing into a cold carafe which will cool the coffee down quicker. Also, the more coffee left in the carafe the longer it will stay hotter for. If you only have one cup left in the carafe, it will cool down quicker then if you have say 4 cups sitting in there.The machine allows you to choose the gold standard setting which sets everything to the SCA approved cup of coffee and no settings can be changed when set to this but for those who like to tinker, the machine also allows you to set the exact temperature of the water from 185° to 205°. You can also change the brew strength between 3 settings, light, medium and bold. I am not sure what this setting actually adjusts as it’s separate from the temperature setting. I haven’t brewed on anything besides the gold setting so far but I am definitely going to test the other stuff out but the Gold Setting brews a great cup.The wifi option is such a bonus on this thing! It makes setting everything up super easy. Being able to set a schedule for weekdays means I don’t need to program the machine every night. If something changes, can just go into the app and change what I need. Have grinds and water in the machine but don’t want to brew yet, can just start the brew from my phone when I am ready. It’s great. Also hooked up to Google Home with no problem. Like I said though, if the machine didn’t brew a great cup of coffee none of this other stuff would have mattered!Bottom line, yes the machine is expensive but if you are reading this review around the time it’s posted, it’s $100 off right now putting it much closer in price and even better then some of it’s competitors! And it make a great cup of Joe!*8 Month Update – Machine is still working great! Have not had any issues and still producing a great cup of coffee. I basically have kept it on the Gold setting and found there is really no need to play with the temp and strength as the Gold Cup produces a great cup. I have been using an 18:1 coffee to water ratio based on the ounces listed on the water reservoir. Fresh roasted whole beans and weighed out. During the week I prep the night before and have a schedule setup in the app for weekdays. In the morning the coffee still comes out great even with grinding the night before. I have yet to experience any mess with grinds overflowing as others talk about and have made pots using up to 74 grams of coffe. Still recommend this machine.Variation: Color: Matte BlackStyle: Thermal Carafe
5.0 out of 5 stars Sleek and modern looking, easy to use... AND it makes one heckuva good cup of coffee! After about six years of faithful service from my Bunn coffee maker, it decided to start leaking. Not bad considering we make at least one pot of coffee a day, and often 2-3 pots on Saturdays. As much as I loved the Bunn, I was ready for a coffee maker I could program to start brewing while I was getting ready in the morning, and didn’t take up quite so much counter space. I had one specific requirement for out new coffee maker. It needed to be SCA Golden Cup certified. After much research it came down to this GE Cafe and the Breville coffee maker that was also Golden Cup certified. The ultimate deciding factors were that the GE Cafe (as expensive as it is) was still about $100 less than the Breville, and it was compatible with my SmartHQ app that I already use with my GE range.I ordered the white Cafe. Not the color choice I really wanted, but definitely easier to convince my wife to purchase it than to spend and additional $40-$50 to get either black or stainless. I know it will take extra care over time to prevent (or, at least slow down) the coffee stains… but it is, what it is. What it is, is a beautiful piece of equipment that certainly dresses up my 80’s countertop and log walls. Right out of the box the coffee maker feels very high quality. It was very easy to set up as well. The instructions were easy to follow, and within minutes I had it connected to SmartHQ and brewing the first pot of coffee.Speaking of coffee, it is fantastic. Even though the instructions did not specifically say to, I did run a pot of water through the coffee maker before brewing my first pot of coffee. For my first pot, I followed the instructions to the letter. I used 1 scoop of coffee per cup. I chose the Gold setting to brew according to SCA standards. The coffee that came out was strong, but not bitter. It was stronger than my wife and I both prefer, but still extremely pleasant to drink. Every pot I have made since then has used the ration of 1 scoop for every 2 cups of coffee. That equates to 1TBSP per cup. Not near as strong and black, but still an absolutely perfect cup of coffee to start the day with.I know the SmartHQ is an added bonus that is certainly not necessary. However, I find it very easy to use. I used it to set up an auto-brew schedule for Mon-Fri, and another for Sundays. For Saturday, I don’t have auto-brew set, but it is still nice to sit in bed, pull up the app on my iPhone and tell it to start brewing the pot I set up the night before. I know I will have a hot pot of coffee waiting on me.I have only been using the Cafe for just over a week, so I certainly can’t speak to reliability over the long haul. I have my reminders set to update this review in 6 months and a year. I will try to update with either pluses or minuses based on how reliably the Cafe is still working for us.Variation: Color: Matte WhiteStyle: Thermal Carafe
5.0 out of 5 stars I Recommend This Machine Coffee…. What is Coffee? The process of applying hot water and pressure to a roasted and ground coffee bean! People have been drinking coffee for centuries. Made in many different fashions. Most of which create the same result. So when it comes to a coffee machine, what is going to set you apart from the other coffee makers is pretty much just going to be design. Still applying hot water and pressure to roasted and ground coffee beans. As for the final result, it’s going to be the bean that’s the star of the show. How it’s roasted and how it’s ground. That’s It!When I was looking for a new coffee machine, I knew what I was getting into. The machine needed to meet the aesthetic of my kitchen. A timer for delayed brewing and a thermal carafe for mobility and a hope of easy clean up. Every other feature would be pointless. I found all of the necessary criteria I asked for in this machine. Every other feature on this including and especially the Bluetooth feature is absolutely pointless and should be removed from future models. Water temperature should just be 200dg. and that’s it! Anyone who believes a variation on this probably thinks starbucks is good coffee anyway! It’s not the temp of the water…. It’s the bean you choose!! Cooler or warmer than 200dgs. is another pointless pursuit.Waking up in the morning to a freshly brewed pot of coffee, ready for the drinking is one of the great joys in life. Taking the carafe with me back to the bedroom is a non negotiable feature I simply can’t do without! I needed to trust my bean squeezins will still be drinkable for the next couple of hours. It is! My previous maker’s carafe was a little thicker and kept the coffee hotter longer but this one is very adequate. This Cafe’ brand Coffee Maker has hit all my required marks. And just like the human face, it’s the nose of my kitchen. I see it as I walk into the room. And she’s pretty! The Italian influence in design, anchors my kitchens old world with modern twists as the eye darts about taking it all in.I particularly love the machines ability to be cleaned and dried… Dried is a very important aspect of coffee makers. The water reservoir in particular. Getting in there and drying this space with my hand before it begins to calcify and yellow, was a very important variable in my choosing this machine. Most are narrow and unreachable. This is a part of any other well kept kitchen that stands out from across the room if the tank is cloudy and yellowed. A pimple on the nose of my kitchen if you will….Auto set for time, time of brew and temperature are a little clunky in their execution. And temperature should not have be a concern in this makers abilities. 200dg. That’s it! Get on with your life!! Don’t quite know how that made it through the R&D phase of development. This could have been much simpler without interfering with the integrity of the look or function.In the end of this tiresome review … I fully recommend this coffee maker. I’ve waited several months to make a review so it wouldn’t be a knee jerk impression. Once I dialed it in… Please note, that only took a few minutes not an online search for a tutorial on how to, it was pretty much ready, aim , fire. I’ve been enjoying seeing her sitting in her place of honor in my kitchen as well as her morning gifts of liquid courage , to take on the events of the day!Variation: Color: Matte BlackStyle: Thermal Carafe