| Your One and Only |
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| Tuesday, 10 May 2005 | |
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It won't make a double iced skim soy milk decaf latte with a shot of vanilla and whipped cream topped with mocha syrup to go for $4.85. But the Philips Senseo does turn out a nice cup o' joe. The Senseo - along with competing systems from Kraft, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Keurig and others - are the leading edge of a campaign by coffee-maker manufacturers to bring American coffee drinkers back home. These so-called "single-cup" machines arrive into a coffee culture that has become spoiled about the quality of their java, thanks to Starbucks and other luxury-coffee outlets. Using various forms of coffee software - pods, discs, capsules - these high-tech devices make the old stove-top espresso boiler or French press brewer positively primitive by comparison. One of the products, in fact, reads a bar code on the coffee capsule to determine how much water to pump through. Source: New York Newsday.com Most of the machines are interesting to use. They heat water quickly and turn out cup after cup with consistent results. Convenience is key, and the process is minimally messy. Generally, it involves filling a reservoir with fresh cold water, flipping a power-on switch, placing a pod into a holder, pushing a button, then tossing out a soggy pod a few seconds later, when the process is done. The price range is wide. The less-sophisticated machines, priced at less than $50, are mostly plastic, while Nespresso's upscale D290, an imposing appliance in metal, sells for $500. The cost of coffee pods varies, but averages 40 to 50cents a cup. Here's a look at five single-cup machines, with ratings of from one to four cups. Keurig Model B50, $170. Keurig - it comes from the Dutch word for "excellence" - is strong in marketing its machines for commercial use, and it's now making waves in the home market. We auditioned the handsome B50 home brewing machine, which uses a proprietary capsule called the K-cup. The hardware is robust, with a removable 48-ounce water tank and removable drip tray, plus a small LCD readout that has a clock and allows programming of an on/off timer. Users can choose between a regular, at just over 7 ounces, or a more intense 5.25-ounce of coffee. Keurig offers several brands of "gourmet" coffees and teas, all conforming to the same K-Cup configuration. We tried a sampling of roasts from Green Mountain, Diedrich and Timothy's World Coffees. All were strong but lacked body, and the Diedrich left a rather fruity aftertaste. Home Cafe by Black and Decker, $50-$60. This budget system that uses pods is ubiquitous in home appliance stores. It's also clunky, cheaply constructed, and hot water dripped out of it where it shouldn't have dripped. The Home Cafe is also the only machine here without a removable drip tray, which compounded the mess. Most of the coffee it brewed in my home I threw down the drain - too weak. Double the pod recipe - using two pods to make a 7-ounce cup - helped. Home Cafe uses pods distributed in most supermarkets by Folgers and Millstone. The company is about to introduce new flavored coffee. Nespresso Essenza D90, $180. If there is a creme de la creme of single cup coffee makers, it's the pricey players from Nestle's chic Nespresso division. Nespresso mavens pretty much must "subscribe" to an exclusive mail-order service, called Nespresso Club, to buy 10-pack sleeves of the several varieties As an alternative to purchasing online or by phone, New Yorkers who need an immediate fix can visit the Nespresso "boutique" at 650 Fifth Ave. at 52nd Street in Manhattan. This is serious espresso. The blends range from tart to acidic to thick and bitter and are best taken straight or with a dollop of steamed milk. Adding hot water to make an Americano doesn't work. Nespresso recently introduced a lungo capsule, which makes a longer cup if the two-ounce shots a) aren't enough or, b) make you too frantic. The Essenza is not automatic: Water flow is controlled manually. Nespresso at home is most like the stuff I get at the Cafe San Marco in Trieste. Mainstream it isn't, for the American market, but the kick is genuine. Tassimo, from Kraft, distributed by Braun, $190. A formidable entry into the single-cup sweepstakes from food giant Kraft, this machine uses saucer-like discs filled with Gevalia coffee and Suchard cocoa as well as Twining tea discs: It's what's called a "beverage maker." The cappuccino formula is novel: First, an expresso disc is loaded, and Tassimo automatically pumps out a couple of ounces of fragrant, somewhat acidic brew. Then, a dried-milk capsule gets the hot water treatment and layers a frothy, milky top on the coffee. Pleasant taste, rather vague texture. Senseo by Philips, about $60. A real surprise from Philips, which claims to have sold millions of these machines to coffee-loving Europeans in the past few years. There's a water tank, a colorful finish (red, white or blue) and a removable drip tray. Two pod holders are supplied, for either a 4-ounce or 8-ounce (using two pods) cup. The coffee comes from Belgian supplier Douwe Egberts, is consistently tasty, and, while mild, has substantial flavor. On the unflavored pods I used - in dark, medium and mild strength - the brewing finishes with a creamy head, no bitter taste and a cup that's a cross between a stronger espresso and an American filter brew. |
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