MacGourmet News

I recently acquired a Senseo from my friend Jay. He runs SingleServeCoffee.com, and I had been hearing about these new single or double cup coffeemakers from him for a while. Single serve coffeemakers have been big in Europe, but have now started showing up here in the US too. Rather than buying and grinding coffee beans, or using pre-ground coffee in a canister and measuring it out scoop by scoop, single serve makers use "pods" or "k-cups" that contain vaccuum packed pre-ground coffee. Brewing a cup is as easy as popping in a pod or k-cup, filling the maker with water and pressing your one or two cup selection. Having had it and used it for some time, I have these impressions to offer:

• Easy set up, kind of loud


• Made a mug of medium. Pretty smooth. Better with more sugar. Put cream in first, cause you can't see through the foam unless you have a clear mug.


• Hot. That's good.


• No coffee brewing aroma. May or may not be a down side for you.


• FAST


• Great that you make as much or as little as you want.


• Did I mention FAST?


• Very limited varieties from Sanseo. This can be remedied by 3rd parties, or with a filter that lets you use your own ground coffee.


• Clean up: Super fast.


• Checked with Peet's: no plans to make pods. Gourmet coffee places like Peet's might stay away from pods.


• Any way you slice it, not as good as fresh ground, definite tradeoff.


• I liked the smoothness of the second pass through two pods. Sort of weak, but very light and creamy.


• Have a dinner party where different people want different coffees or maybe even decafe coffee? Not a problem with a single serve machine

Will this replace my Infuze vacuum brew coffeemaker (a review of this is coming later)? Not any time soon. Actually not ever. But the Senseo definitely has a place in the gourmet's kitchen I think. It's easy and it gives you access to variety for guests. It's also great when you only want one quick cup of coffee with very little clean up. And to be honest, while the coffees I've tried so far haven't been spectacular and have had little character, the Senseo still makes a pretty good, different (creamy) cup of coffee.

For more information on single serve coffeemakers like the Senseo, check out SingleServeCoffee.com where you'll find tons of information on the different makers, coffees for them, etc. The Senseo Single Serve Coffee Machine and is available from Amazon.com in a variety of colors.

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