Single-Serve ("Pod") Coffeemakers

A discussion in another thread prompts this query.

I'm in the market for one (possibly). Keurigs are the most popular, but on Amazon there is a significant minority of posters who say they have had reliability problems. The kind I'm leaning towards is the Bosch Tassimo, which is about $150. But I may not get one at all.

Anyway, what advice do people have to give on the topic? Mind you, I'm not looking for "you can make a better cup of coffee some other way." I already know that. The convenience of the single-serve thing, for certain situations, is what tempts me. So within the single-serve universe, what are the best options in terms of flavor, convenience, ease-of-use, reliability, etc.?

Thanks.

We've had our Keurig (purchased from Costco) for about 3 years. Use it daily and I think it's great. There are non-K-cup alternatives for coffee which are very good (and much less expensive):

http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-Bay ... bay+k+cups

If you're a Costco member, then reliability concerns should be diminished because they'll take it back, no questions asked.

We have been through the same problem twice with our Nespresso machine. The part that pierces the pod gives out. It cannot be replaced. According to online sources, Nestlé re-engineered their newer espresso makers to prevent after-market pods from being used in their machines. In so doing, they adopted a defective piercer-part. Seems as though this is a common experience with the Nespresso. Can you say "planned obsolescence?"

We have also had a Keurig for the last 3 years and it still works great. We use it daily.
We have the EkoBrew refillable cup and it works well.

http://www.amazon.com/Ekobrew-Refillable-Keurig-Brewers-1-Count/dp/B0051SU0OW/ref=sr_1_1?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1353941366&sr=1-1&keywords=eco+k-cup

Josephine, I'm sorry to hear about your Nespressos giving out! How long have they lasted? Ours is two years old now, and we haven't really had any problems. We chose it over the Keurig for a few reasons: you can make espresso as well as coffee, the pods aren't plastic (hot plastic gives me the willies), the pods are recyclable (or so they say--they take them back at the Nespresso boutique downtown, and we choose to believe they recycle them as promised), and IMHO, the it's a better (albeit smaller) cup of coffee. It was kind of a luxury purchase for us, but we use it on a regular basis, and really enjoy it.

We bought our machine at Abt, but we buy (and return) our pods downtown at the Bloomingdales Home Store on Ohio. They are happy to make you samples of whatever you'd like to try. We always get a cup when we pick up our pods, and it makes us feel quite fancy.

riddlemay wrote:A discussion in another thread prompts this query.

I'm in the market for one (possibly). Keurigs are the most popular, but on Amazon there is a significant minority of posters who say they have had reliability problems. The kind I'm leaning towards is the Bosch Tassimo, which is about $150. But I may not get one at all.

Anyway, what advice do people have to give on the topic? Mind you, I'm not looking for "you can make a better cup of coffee some other way." I already know that. The convenience of the single-serve thing, for certain situations, is what tempts me. So within the single-serve universe, what are the best options in terms of flavor, convenience, ease-of-use, reliability, etc.?

Thanks.

We have a Keurig at the office (I can check the model number another time, if you are interested). So far, so good. I've been pleasantly surprised that the coffee comes out drinkable (I use pods from Green Mountain). One thing that I like about it as an office machine is that it stays quite clean. I've used another brand in the past (which I can't recall the name of) that made excellent coffee, but required people to spend five seconds cleaning up after themselves. Since no one cleaned up, the thing was always dirty.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, folks. Sounds like Keurig is the way to go. The model I'm eyeing is the B70, which is fairly easy on the eyes (IMO).

riddlemay wrote:Thanks for all the feedback so far, folks. Sounds like Keurig is the way to go. The model I'm eyeing is the B70, which is fairly easy on the eyes (IMO).

FYI - I bought mine at Costco for less, and it included several boxes of pods (in case you have a membership).

If it helps - a recent article from the WSJ on the subject - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 68564.html

Last night I saw a spot for a newfangled invented by Hamilton Beach called The Scoop. Basically it's a single-serve coffeemaker in which you put your own ground coffee into a stainless steel scoop, and from there on it works like a Keurig. Advantages: Choosing your own coffee, no plastic coffee pods in landfills. Slight disadvantage: Having to clean out (or at least rinse out) the scoop after each use, but the stainless steelness of it makes that seem like no big deal. (On TV it looks like the whole contraption is made out of stainless steel, which seems appealing on a countertop.) May go that way. Decisions, decisions.

riddlemay wrote:Last night I saw a spot for a newfangled invented by Hamilton Beach called The Scoop. Basically it's a single-serve coffeemaker in which you put your own ground coffee into a stainless steel scoop, and from there on it works like a Keurig. Advantages: Choosing your own coffee, no plastic coffee pods in landfills. Slight disadvantage: Having to clean out (or at least rinse out) the scoop after each use, but the stainless steelness of it makes that seem like no big deal. (On TV it looks like the whole contraption is made out of stainless steel, which seems appealing on a countertop.) May go that way. Decisions, decisions.

That seems to be truly a single-serve (as in you make one and it takes a while to recycle for a second cup). The advantages to the Keurig is that it has a good-sized water tank and for the occasional times when we need more than one cup you can do several in fairly quick order. As for the waste with teh K-cups, there are a number of reusable coffee-holder options and the link I provided farther up in this thread is for a competing product to the K-cup (still fits the Keurig) that is essentially a paper filter cup attached to a rigid cap. Still wasteful, but far less so (and almost half the price of K-cups).

Right - as spinynorman99 said, you can buy reusable filters for the Keurig. See http://goo.gl/4ZI2R

Some people in my office use these. Here's the main problem as I see it: you need to have a grinder in your office to freshly grind whole beans. If you aren't going to use freshly ground beans, you might as well just use the ready-made kcups.

Hi- They have a really good deal at Jewel right now on one of the Keurig single pod coffeemakers. The details are under deals in the professional forum. Thanks, Nancy

Just an update...the missus expressed a strong preference for the Hamilton Beach thingamabob (something to do with saving our planet's precious resources, or some such thing), so that is the one I got. Even though it's not a surprise, we're not opening it until Xmas, which is why I have no feedback to report on it yet.

Strack also has the Keurig for $99 right now. Not sure if that includes the rebate, coupons, etc, so read the details at the store and ask!

It sounds like the Hamilton Beach scoop is innovative and I have been impressed with it from afar. I am a Senseo user and my pots are still going strong but eventually I will be in the market for a new coffeemaker when these bite the dust as they do not make them anymore. Well at least do not make the same kind of Senseo anymore...it seems to be in flux and you can no longer buy the pods in supermarkets. Some kind of stupid corporate snafu or mismanagment that left many of us Senseo users adrift. I know buy my pods on line. An attractive feature of a machine would be one where their is an option to used a premade purchased pod as well as your own coffee. Stainless steel construction is good too. The pods Senseo used were not as harmful to the environment as they are made of something akin to a teabag. I also like the "crema" that the Senseo pod maker makes by forcing steam through a small rubber plug. I look forward to the reviews on the Scoop coffeemaker.

I have a Senseo, and like the coffee, but found it expensive for the pods and the coffee doesn't seem to be as hot as I like it.

riddlemay wrote:Last night I saw a spot for a newfangled invented by Hamilton Beach called The Scoop. Basically it's a single-serve coffeemaker in which you put your own ground coffee into a stainless steel scoop, and from there on it works like a Keurig. Advantages: Choosing your own coffee, no plastic coffee pods in landfills. Slight disadvantage: Having to clean out (or at least rinse out) the scoop after each use, but the stainless steelness of it makes that seem like no big deal. (On TV it looks like the whole contraption is made out of stainless steel, which seems appealing on a countertop.) May go that way. Decisions, decisions.

That product's been on the market for about a year now - FWIW, its won a bunch of awards & is extremely popular if you look at the online reviews. Since it works with a single serve travel mug its pretty much ideal for me, who basically just wants a no fuss cup of coffee to take on my morning commute & I'm considering ordering one.

I have a Keurig B60 that we've been happy with for several years. I do descale it religiously every six months and I suppose that helps.

It did act up once and I called their customer service. While the rep was walking me through some checks, I broke one of the clips on the cartridge holder and they sent me a replacement at no charge. The problem rectified itself while we debugged it. My guess is that unplugging it resolved the 'short cup' issue I was experiencing. My customer service experience was satisfactory.

Now that the patents have run out on the K-cups there should be even more brands of coffee available in that packaging.

Were I buying today I might give the Hamilton Beach Scoop a second look, but I'm not disappointed with my Keurig.

My verdict--which is different from mrs. riddlemay's: The entire purpose of a single-serve coffeemaker is to offer more convenience than a normal drip coffeemaker or percolator when making one cup of coffee. In this, the Hamilton Beach Scoop fails. There are just as many parts to take apart and clean every single time as with a regular coffeemaker. It does make just one cup at a time, so I suppose one saves water and coffee grinds when all one wants is just one cup, but this to me seems an insignificant benefit. When I want a cup of coffee, I'll continue to use my percolator, which is every bit as easy as the Scoop, and comes with the benefit of offering me a second or third cup of coffee if I decide I want it.

I think if one seeks a significantly different (on the scale of convenience) alternative to a drip coffeemaker or percolator when making one cup of coffee, a Keurig is probably the way to go; the Scoop offers not enough of a convenience-benefit over a traditional coffeemaker to make it occupy any sensible niche that I can see.

That is what I am thinking. I do like the convenience of putting in a pod. I have not had trouble with the hotness of the coffee, its hot enough for me. I only drink one small cup a day. What I do not like about the Keurig is price of k cups and the waste/pollution factor. I also really love the crema top that comes out of the Senseo.

I have a Senseo that I will happily give to the first person interested in picking it up. I just don't use it and it's taking up space. I have all the pieces/parts but no box, and I have regular, decaf and "vanilla" pods.

(btw, we got a Cuisinart that uses k-cups for the office and like it a lot. Our problem was people making huge pots of coffee and only drinking one cup, then leaving the pot and grounds, etc, all the parts to be washed by others...)

riddlemay wrote: The entire purpose of a single-serve coffeemaker is to offer more convenience than a normal drip coffeemaker or percolator when making one cup of coffee..

Melitta (R) Perfect Brew (TM) Filter Cone. Easiest cleanup possible. $2.99 @ BB&B.

I have about five Senseos stashed away in case one breaks. I buy them on ebay where there is a lively market for them. I love the pods and the coffee and will be sad when they are no more.

Since I posted earlier, my B60 quit brewing. I called them again and they were unable to work any magic. Instead they offered me a discount on a model of my choice or replacement with the same model refurbished unit for free. I took free and remain a happy Keurig customer.

It probably helps that I subscribe to their coffee and they figured it would cost them more if I went with another brand.