I’m thinking of getting one of those 1 cup at a time coffee makers and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them. I’m not much of a coffee connoisseur, or espresso guy, so I’m not looking for anything too high end.
I don’t make coffee much at home, but it’s mostly because I don’t feel like making a whole pot for 1 or 2 cups - so I’m thinking maybe if I get one of these I might make myself a cup more often. Plus I’m moving to a new place and moving my old, dirty, crappy looking maker doesn’t appeal to me. So aesthetics of a the new unit is a little important.
Anyone have experience with the Tassimo? It’s on my short list because it can also do cappuccino. But it doesn’t seem as “universal” as those using the Keurig system (as far as availability of refills go). I think I can get a Keurig unit for about $100, and I found a Tassimo at Target for $100 also.
My experience has been with Keurig, and you can get a damn fine cup of coffee out of them. I’m not a connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but I know a tasty cup I enjoy from swill I have to choke down and K-cups are clearly in the former category. One drawback some see is the waste generated with the plastic cups, but if you’re an infrequent user, then it’s probably not an issue. It’s fun to experiment with the different flavors.
My sister has a Flavia; yes, you have to buy their packets, and they’re pricey (about $1.00 per cup of coffee), but hey, it’s no more expensive than making a whole pot and then throwing out most of it, right? Plus, you can get teas and wonderful hot cocoa for them. It does put out a very nice cup of coffee.
Have you considered a manual drip filter? You can get one for 3 bucks. All you have to do is boil water and pour it on top. It’s no harder than making tea.
It’s handy in that it doesn’t take up space, and if you only make coffee occasionally, the low price makes the most sense.
An automatic drip coffee machine that makes one cup? I don’t have any experience with those.
But a couple of times, I had (and still have) a plastic cone that sits atop the cup. Put a #2 filter in it, put grounds in the filter, and pour boiling water in it.
Pros: Little to clean up, don’t need counter space, makes a decent cup of coffee.
Cons: Need to babysit it while it’s being made, uses up a lot of filters, need to use a LOT of grounds to get a decent cup.
I suspect you’ll use a lot of grounds in a machine as well.
My husband is an on again off again coffee drinker and he loves his Keurig. The only time it’s a bit of a pain is when we have a few people over and we’re trying to make coffee for everyone at the same time. We aleviate the pain of waiting by offering them their choice of coffee.
We have (although have only used once) the reusable cup that you can put your own coffee in. It works fine we’re just lazy
I’ll third this. It’s cheaper, and it makes better coffee, hands-down. I just was on the road for business for a couple days, and took along my cone, and the coffee it makes is pretty damn near what I get out of my $200 electric unit (and WAY better than the stuff in the room!)
I had a K-cup (Keurig) at an old office and I liked it. You do have to buy the special cups for it, which can either be great (they are individually sealed and take forever to go bad), or awful (expense, waste, etc) depending on your point of view. But from being easy and no-fuss, you can’t really beat them.
I have an Aeropress at work which is also very easy to use and inexpensive and perfect for one cup (some people say it makes better coffee than virtually any other method). I would say it is slightly more involved than a k-cup machine but simpler than a French Press (because an Aeropress is basically self-cleaning).
I had a Keurig in my office for several years. You do NOT have to buy the special (and expensive) cups for it. Keurig sells an insert (or you can buy it after-market) into which you can place your own fresh grind.
One thing about the cones – As I mentioned, they take a lot of grinds to make one cup. Like 4 tablespoons. My father came up with an ingenious solution: Boil just as much water as I need (maybe a little more), then put a smaller amount of grounds into the pan. Turn off the heat. Let the pan sit for 2-3 minutes. Then pour the contents of the pan into the filter.
I love my Keurig… which I have in my office. The k cups are usually about 50c a cup. So pretty cheap on the whole. Definitely worth the investment.
They also have cocoa and tea K cups. Don’t know how good they are (coffee hound), but at least there is the choice since the OP isn’t a huge coffee drinker.
The bottom line is, you need a good amount of grounds to make good strong coffee. Too long exposure to water “over extracts” and makes yucky tasting sludge.
I’ve been told that even for people who like weak coffee, the proper way is to brew full strength, then add water to the finished product. Using too much water or too little grounds makes for the same yucky coffee.
[ul]
[li]Consider the warm up time. How long does it take to go from cold-water to hot coffee?[/li][li]Do you need to remember to turn it off?[/li][li]What is the per-cup cost of the consumables?[/li][li]Does it taste good?[/li][li]How easy is it to find the consumables?[/li][li]Is there enough variety for your taste?[/li][li]How fiddly is its mechanism? Does it have cheap parts that will snap when you load it?[/li][li]Is it easy to refill with water?[/li][li]Can you hook it directly to your water supply (if that’s your thing)?[/li][li]How much waste does it generate?[/li][/ul]For me, it was important to have a machine that I didn’t need to remember to turn on and didn’t need to turn off. Press a button to turn it on; it is ready to brew in a minute. Pop in a K-cup, and it will brew a cup in a minute. If you leave the room, it will automatically shut itself off in a half hour or so.
And the machine has lasted three years so far, so the most important cost to me at this point is the per-cup cost of K-cups.
The K-cups themselves are pretty small, so less garbage is generated than if I bought the same cup of joe at Dunkin’ Donuts.
As far as coffee strength goes, my Keurig has three buttons, labeled “small”, “medium”, and “large”. If you like stronger coffee, use “small” twice to fill your cup (using two K-cups in the process).
We just had installed a Saeco Royalcoffee make in our office.
I doubt you’d want it for yourself, it cost more than $1500. But boy is it nice. It’s connected directly to the plumbing, and it has a bin of beans in the back. You put your cup under the spout and push a button. It grinds the beans, just enough for one cup, then brews the coffee.
It comes with its own travel mug and makes the coffee right in it. If you use freshly ground beans, it makes a decent cup, although I’m not a coffee connesieur. I use about four tablespoons of (freshly, key information) ground coffee to make a 16 oz. mug.
I’ve also had decent luck with the Mr. Coffee five cup machine, if you’re going for drip. It makes 25 oz. of coffee (or less, if you want) at a time. Both machines run ~$20.
Consider getting a French Press instead. They make great coffee and it’s really cheap and easy to clean.
The amount of waste these one-cup coffee makers produce is staggering. I’ve just recently convinced my office to get rid of theirs and move towards a whole bean/grinder machine.
I bought it just for the tea (and occasional dark cocoa), and the tea is very good. You can get a good 16-oz cup of tea out of one K-cup by using it twice. That doesn’t work for the cocoa, though.
A word on filling your own K-cup. There is another brand of re-fillable cup that comes from Perfect Pod (here). I have one on order but it hasn’t come yet, but I think it will be easier for two reasons: you use paper filters (inside a plastic cup), which maybe you can fill in advance; and you don’t have to take out the whole cup assembly like you do for Keurig’s refillable cup, you just pop it in like any other K-cup. I’m looking forward to trying it out.
The second reason I got this is that, for occasional visitors, I can offer coffee (that I don’t drink) and even give them a choice of flavors.
Roddy
I’ve tried all sort of coffee varieties in it. It makes a darn fine Chai Latte, and I can’t believe I want a cup right now. Oh, I think I will have one.
BRB.
Okay, I have a Chai Latte. I was gone for less than a minute.
I’ve used Folgers Black Silk coffee in the Keurig cup thingy and it was the best cup of Folgers I’ve ever had.
The wife and I oft exclaim, “How did we live without this?” Best. Endorsement. Evah.
