beetiger

Because I'm supposedly influential among my friends, and seem to be on the right mailing list, I was recently offered a free Senseo coffeepod brewer by the manufacturer. I've been using it for a few weeks, and for the way I drink coffee, it's quite nice.

I'm not a heavy coffee drinker. I'm unlikely to drink more than one cup of coffee, two tops, in the course of a day, and I tend to drink my coffee with skim milk and Splenda. When I have guests, I generally used to offer them tea, since I usually couldn't remember where my drip coffeemaker was and the coffee in my freezer might very well be stale. Some days I don't drink coffee. But I also did find myself drinking coffee at Starbucks, Panera, Dunkin' or the local coffeehouse at least 2-3 times a week when I found myself dragging, though often not finishing the cup I bought.

The coffeepod brewer makes either 4 or 8 oz of coffee at a time, using a round thing kind of like a teabag with ground coffee in it, and sending hot water through it under high pressure, yielding a warm but not boiling cup of coffee with a nice crema-type foam on it in under a minute, after about 2 minutes to heat up the water. It makes 20 oz before needing a water refill (for the basic version; the deluxe version has a bigger tank), though you need to replace the pods every 8 oz. It's extremely easy to use, and easy to clean by rinsing. It brews directly into a normal sized mug or coffee cup -- a tall travel mug won't fit.

Overall, I've found the machine to make a reliable, fresh tasting small cup of coffee, perfect for my morning needs, or for guests who like coffee.

lediva was way happier in the morning here on her last visit than I'd seen her in a while. The coffee doesn't come out that hot, so if you like to add a lot of milk, you might need to microwave it for a few seconds to get it hot again, but on the other hand if you don't like your coffee scalding you will love it.

Coffee pods (for 4 oz coffee) cost somewhere between 27 cents (for the basic Senseo coffee, at the price in my local grocery) to about 40 cents (fair trade organic pods, full retail). So not super cheap, but well less than the equivalent in the local coffeeshop, and in your own cup. There's a moderately good selection of pods available, and most will fit this machine, though you may have to go online for a good selection. What I've been able to find locally is pretty basic.

So they've caught me. I've bought 3 packs of coffeepods so far, more brewable coffee than I've bought in years. I've saved more than that cost in times I thought I might go to Starbucks and reconsidered.

The basic unit costs $69.99 retail. I have some $20 off coupons from the manufacturer, good on all versions of the machine, so if anyone would like one, just leave a comment. Or you can go to this site and try your luck at getting the manufacturer's promo on the basic machine yourself.