I had a Cuisinart which didn't seem to produce a hot cup of coffee, but successfully made a bitter one. I fought with the grind and amount of coffee and had no success. The new Bunn does a great job. The coffee is very hot and not bitter at all, which may have some bearing on bitterness. I was a little concerned about the concept of leaving it on all the time, but it hasn't proved to be an issue. The instructions indicate that it takes about 15 minutes to heat the water in the tank, however my experience is that it happens in about 7 minutes from cold. One the water is heated, it fills this pot very quickly, so overall it doesn't take long to make coffee, just slightly more planning.