Choosing The Right Coffee Pods
Unfortunately not all coffee pods fit all pod coffee makers. Being relatively new to the coffee industry a standard has not been set so each manufacturer has its own size coffee pod that only fits it relative brewer. This is one reason why many are so expensive to purchase. The other reason would be the convenience they provide by allowing you to put a coffee pod in the brewer and in less than a minute have a perfect cup of coffee.
If you want to cut corners and save yourself some money, you can always make your own coffee pods. The advantage here is that you can use your favorite brand and not have to depend on the limitations of manufacturers. It doesn’t take a lot of time to make your own either. You could easily do it in less than five minutes. The best thing to do would be to make a large number of them at once to store in your freezer for later use. This will save you a lot of money in coffee pod purchases.
Different Choices In Coffee Pods
The thing to note about investing in single serve coffee pods is that you need to understand what you are buying before you make the purchase. You want to buy something that produces the widest array of products, something that gives you the most options.
If you end up buying a K cup machine you will be stuck with buying K cup products.
That’s not to say you won’t be happy with a Keurig device (their Green Mountain coffee pods cover a broad spectrum of coffees), but as I mentioned earlier every manufacturer has its own variation on the coffee pod and the K (Keurig) cup is incompatible with other styles.
The same thing applies to the T disc. This is Tassimo’s answer to the coffee pod craze. One difference is their single pod coffee maker also incorporates espresso coffee pods, cocoa and tea pods. But, again, you can only use their discs with their maker and the Tassimo system is available only for commercial use, which means it’s expensive.
There are some more open formats for coffee pods available and that is the direction you want to take if you are going to invest in a single serve pod coffee maker.
The best option is the increasingly popular paper disc shaped single serve coffee pod. It’s a perfectly measured serving of coffee that is sealed in a paper filter so all you have to do is place it in a compatible pod coffee maker and hit a button. In under a minute it brews the perfect cup of Joe.
Another option is organic coffee pods. You don’t need a coffee pod machine for these. They work like tea bags. You simply steep the organic coffee pod in hot water for a few minutes and it’s ready.
You can also use refillable coffee pods. These are adapters that fit into a standard coffee pot and let you pour the coffee of your choice for a single brew. When it’s done, you dump the grounds, rinse it out and it’s ready for another cup. These kinds of reusable coffee pods are the most economical and offer complete freedom of choice.
Yet another realm of the coffee pod industry is flavored coffee pods. These are best used in situations where a guest wants coffee but may not like unflavored varieties. You won’t have to brew a whole pot and they will get a far tastier cup of coffee from a single brew cup than a whole pot can offer.
So choosing the right coffee pods isn’t a hard thing to do; you just have to know what you’re getting into before you do it. The advantages of single servings should be fairly obvious and I’ve briefly touched on a one: being able to make only one cup rather than waste a whole pot. Then there is the benefit of having no messy clean up. You just remove the pod and toss it in the trash. And probably the best reason is that you will always have the perfect cup of coffee every time.
