Ahhh, a soothing cup of coffee in the morning, and some easy brews to make and toss in your drink holder:
Coffee pod machines, like the Nespresso or the Phillips Senseo, promise to deliver a great cup of coffee with no hassle. They’re otherwise known as “single-serve” coffee machines, because they only deliver a single serving of coffee at a time – sounds like a great idea.
So what do you do?
Making coffee is simplicity itself. You refill the resevoir on the back of the machine with water, if it’s not full already. Then you select the type of coffee you want from your selection of “pods” – much like tea bags for coffee, they’re little containers with just enough ground coffee (and, some people whisper, also some instant coffee) for a single cup. Insert them into the machine (one or two depending on whether you want a cup or a mugto go in your cup holder), put your recepticle of choice in the bottom, press the button, and bam – instant coffee that isn’t, in fact, instant coffee.
Workplaces seem to particularly like this type of food and beverage.
How does it work?
At the back of the machine is a narrow series of tubes, which can be heated with a large heating element. The tubes are narrow enough and the flow carefully enough controlled that the element can actually heat the water up to 88 degrees Centigrade (190F approximately), the perfect temperature for coffee making, whilst the water flows.
Once the water hits the top of the machine, it is then forced down and through the coffee pod, through a narrow needle designed to increase the pressure of the water. The water spreads out through the coffee, extracting the coffee flavours, before being forced through another narrow nozzle and out into your cup.
Whilst some people will say these machines produce espresso, with the exception of the Nespresso, the drink they produce and the brewing mechanism is actually much more similar to something like a Moka Pot.
Does it taste good?
For that, we’ll turn over to the cookery experts, who have written a great guide to coffee pods, and whether they’re right for you. Enjoy!