The First Questions.
Just starting to learn about one-cup brewing systems? Here are the three questions we’re most commonly asked by people learning about single cup coffee makers.
1: Why are one-cup coffee makers becoming so popular?
Coffee lovers tell us they like single cup brewing systems for a variety of reasons, including:
QUALITY-These new coffee makers brew a great cup of coffee. Because the systems automate brew time and water temperature plus they control coffee quality, grind and the amount of coffee used in each cup, quality is remarkably consistent. And, each cup is brewed fresh, so burnt or stale coffee is no longer a problem.
INDIVIDUAL CHOICE-With single cup coffee makers, each cup is brewed just for you. You make the choice of the brand and type of coffee (or tea) you prefer. Some single cup brewing systems offer over 200 different varieties of gourmet coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Everyone can find a hot beverage that they’ll enjoy.
CONVENIENCE-These coffee makers are easy to use. Put your mug in place, make your drink choice, place it in the brewer and press a button. The rest is automatic. With one-cup coffee systems, there’s no grinding, no mess, and clean-up is as simple as dropping the used pod or capsule into the nearest trash can.
QUICK BREW TIME-From start to finish, you can brew a gourmet cup of coffee or tea in less than a minute. Now the wait for that first sip is shorter than it has ever been before.
2: Which single cup brewing system is best?
Popular One-Cup Coffee Brewers
We’re here to help you decide which one-cup coffee maker you might like best. Then, once you make your decision, we’ll try to provide more information if you have questions about your one cup brewing choice.
We do know of a few different sources that have compared different one-cup coffee makers. A couple of years ago, CoffeeReview.com (“the world’s leading coffee buying guide”) tested a number of one cup coffee brewers. Their preferences seemed to be for the Keurig system and the Senseo pod brewer. Here’s a link to their article.
You may also like the “Keurig-vs-Senseo-vs-Tassimo” entry posted by Tony Martinez at his blog: “Attention Deficit”. He tried the three different systems and decided that Keurig was the one he liked best. Tony’s post has received over twenty comments, so other opinions are represented there as well. Click here to read it.
Finally, from time to time, we look at how often Internet users search for the different brewing systems on Google. If you use this as a measure of the popularity of each of the systems, then Keurig seems to be winner, followed by Tassimo. Coffee pods were a common search term a few years ago, but since then, pods seem to have lost much of their popularity. Here’s the trend lines we look at.
3: What about cost?
Convenience and choice have their value and it’s reflected in the cost of single cup brewing systems.
A good entry-level coffee maker from Keurig, Tassimo or Flavia is around $100. The coffee or tea capsule for each cup is about $.50. That’s more than the per cup cost if you brew a pot of coffee at home, but considerably less than if you stop and buy a cup on the way to work.
Pod brewers and coffee pods are generally less expensive than the other three single cup options, but we feel there’s a give-up of some quality and convenience with pod brewers, and that’s reflected in the cost difference.
For more cost information, please go to the pages for each of the brewing systems here on our site.
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| Keurig | Tassimo | Flavia | Senseo |
