Instant coffee
New one-cup coffee makers allow you to skip the mess and excess while brewing coffee to suit each drinker. But don't forgo your Starbucks fix just yet.
We wanted to love the one-cup, pod-system coffee makers, and we suspect that as they evolve we will fall for them. Especially when there are more choices of coffee.
They all deliver on the promise of making a hot cup of coffee fast. But for now, we are underwhelmed with the technology and the taste.
Here's what we found:
MELITTA ONE:ONE, about $50 at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and other mass marketers. Also available online through www.amazon.comwww.melitta.com and store Web sites. Comes with eight pods, including light, medium and dark roast coffee and three teas. Packs of 18 pods cost about $5, or about 28 cents a cup, at stores that sell the coffee makers or through Melitta and at www.podhead.com Maxwell House is making a compatible pod that will be in Publix by the end of the month.
What we liked: The design is Euro-cool, and besides white and black, it comes in kiwi, mango and red. It's the easiest of the one-cup brewers to use, and it feels sturdy. The tea attachment allows a larger cup to be placed under the spout, but a tall travel cup won't work.
What we didn't like: The coffee was weak. We tried medium roast, decaffeinated, vanilla and hazelnut. The flavored coffees smelled fabulous but didn't deliver. The water receptacle at the back of the machine is cumbersome and might be difficult for someone with limited dexterity to handle.
SENSEO FROM PHILIPS, about $70 at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy and other large mass marketers. Also available online through www.amazon.com and store Web sites. Comes with 72 coffee pods, 18 each of light, medium and dark roast, plus decaf. A four-pack, 72-pod, package costs about $17, about 24 cents per cup. Buy online at several sites including www.podhead.com or at stores that sell the coffee maker. A new Maxwell House pod, available soon at Publix, will fit Senseo.
What we liked: Like Melitta, this is a fairly easy machine to use, despite having to yank the water receptacle out in order to fill it. It's a handsome machine that would look good on a counter. We thought the European Douwe Egberts, made by a Belgian roaster owned by Sara Lee, was the best of the bunch. Some of us thought the foamy layer on top was a nice touch; others thought it was gimmicky.
What we didn't like: Don't bring this machine to the office. It's loud. The pods come 18 to a bag and unless you seal it tightly the coffee will go stale. (Other pods are individually packed.) Only a standard cup will fit under the drip spout; forget travel mugs.
BLACK & DECKER HOME CAFE, about $60 at Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and other mass marketers. Also available online. Comes with a starter-pack of eight Folgers pods. A pack of 14 to 18 pods will cost about $4, or 22 to 29 cents per cup. Find them online or at mass marketers such as Wal-Mart and Target. Millstone also makes pods for Home Cafe.
What we liked: The drip spout is high enough to allow a tall coffee mug to fit underneath. The water reservoir is easily accessible and can be filled through a large opening at the top. (The other models have narrow openings that make spilling inevitable.)
What we didn't like: The Home Cafe feels more like a child's toy than an adult coffee maker. We can't imagine this machine lasting long. It's especially troublesome because it takes some effort to move the lever that opens the pod lid. Then it is difficult to get the lid to align properly to close. All that pushing and pulling made us feel like we were breaking the machine.
More important, the coffee was unpleasant. Even after four cups, it tasted like plastic. We experimented with a Melitta coffee pod and got the same results. Also, the coffee splashed when it dripped into the mug. Who wants that cleanup?
-- Coffee testers included Times staffers Lyra Solochek, Sherry Robinson, Carolyn Blankenship, Peter Couture, Linda Cole, Judy Stark and Janet K. Keeler.
