I usually do pour over, but this is a great little machine when I don't have time. I'm still playing around with it, but overall I'm very satisfied. It seems to be on par with Keurig machine for K-Cups but where it really shines is with freshly ground coffee. I used 20g Ethiopian whole bean coffee ground to medium fine (around 4 ninja scoops) and then used the 12 oz setting on the machine and that produced a decent cup of coffee. It wasn't as good as pour over but definitely nothing to complain about. I don't know the Brew temperature, but it has a shower head with lots of holes so it ensures the coffee beans are fully immersed which is a great design. If you're using K-Cups, to get a really flavorful cup, I use the 6 oz rich setting. Sometimes I'll even use another pod And use the over ice setting to get a concentrate and I'll pour that concentrate into my previously brewed 6 oz coffee. Bit of a waste, I know, but it produces a more traditional coffee-like experience with K-Cups. Machine drips a little bit after the brew cycle so I just use a shot glass to catch the drips. No big deal. Cleaning the permanent filter is a bit of a pain imo just because it seems fragile. I would love to buy multiple permanent filters but they're out of stock on the ninja site currently. I'm going to try adding a paper filter to the permanent filter to make cleanup easier.