Regular or Pod brewer?

[adityar7]

Hi

I want to buy an auto drip coffee maker. With the machine that I have now (Black & Decker), typically I get a half pound bag which lasts a while even though I make 1-2 cups everyday. So the flavor goes away long before the coffee finishes.

I read about the pod brewers. Would anyone recommend those, or should I stick to the regular ones? How does the coffee quality compare in the two machines, and what about cleaning?

By the way, how are Gevalia machines?

Thanks!

 

[soccr3jc]

Have you thought about french pressing coffee? If you really want to extract all the flavor from coffee, you should think about buying a french press.
Also, ninety-nine percent of coffee machines sold to consumers do not get the water hot enough to extract all the flavor from coffee.
Hope that helps.

 

[adityar7]

Thanks for the reply. I actually do have a french press as well as a stove top espresso maker. But in this case I need to make a choice between the pod and regular coffee makers.

I'm a college student, and using the french press at 7 a.m. with 2 minutes to go before class in not a feasible option :grin:

Any more suggestionsa anyone?

 

[topher]

stay way from pod coffee...stick with fresh roasted and freshly ground coffee.

 

[phaelon56]

If by pod machine you mean products like the Senseo system... it isn't really quite like regular drip coffee nor is it espresso. It's not bad if you happen to find a good source for better quality pods but it will never ever come close to the quality of good drip coffee or quality espresso.

Have you considered splitting up your half pouund bag of beans into smaller zip-loc'd portions and freezing them? Remove a bag from the freezer the evening before you need to use it and make the portions enough for perhaps 2 - 3 days of consumption. This system works really well if you ensure to let the beans thaw completely BEFORE opening the bag (this prevents condensation from forming on the beans).

At the office (I work in the coffee trade but also have a "day job") I have a little Black & Decker electric kettle that boils 10 ounces of water in about 3 minutes. I grind a small portion of beans while the water is boling and use a Melitta one cup filter cone to make the brew. Start to finish time is about 4 minutes and the coffee is excellent.

 

[adityar7]

phaelon, thanks for the suggestion about freezing the coffee. I'll definitely try it, hopefully I can get some zip-loc bags soon!

I may get the promo offer from Gevalia ($20) or Illy ($50) which have 2 bags of coffee, a machine and a flask. The machine is almost free in both cases, and look nice. How well they brew, I dont know..hopefully they're good.