Deus Ex Coffee Machina
October 5th, 2006 | By Ian in Misc | 7 Comments »
I just got home and found an unexpected package at my door. It is a Philips Senseo pod coffee maker. Despite living in Seattle and working within two blocks of no less than a half-dozen fantastic coffee makers, I’m not much of a java drinker. Honestly, I’m more of a tea man, but who am I to say no to a free coffee maker?
Rinse out machine, plug it all in, First thing after rinsing it all out and plugging it in, I put in a pod, plunked down my biggest mug, and pressed the big/two cup button.
The folks who designed these coffee pods must have done quite a bit of testing to come up with a coffee grind that can be so completely exhausted so quickly. I watched with great interest as the cup filled halfway and then the coffee coming out turned light tan and then clear in under ten seconds. After inspecting the hieroglyphs on the coffee pod holders (2), I discerned that I should have used the other pod holder and inserted two pods.
One cup down the drain.
I put my cup back under the machine, lowered the head, and pressed the one cup button. After a bit of chatter, the machine starts pumping water all over my counter. Apparently the coffee maker will still run even if the head isn’t locked in place. It may appear that you’ve shut it if the latch is down and the head is lowered, but you can’t latch it until after it’s shut. I imagine it will also spew hot water if you don’t put in the pod holder, so don’t do either of those things.
Third time’s the charm. I put a single pod into the holder, filled my cup 1/4 with milk and let ‘er rip on one cup of fancy Irish cream coffee.
I’ve never had such tasty drip coffee.
My first thought upon seeing the machine was that I’d have to spend the rest of my days buying proprietary teabags full of coffee grounds so Philips can earn a return on this loss leader machine. As it turns out, the pods are simply round mesh pouches and the two pod holder has enough space to fit even the largest of teabags.
I’m currently drinking the most convenient cup of tea I’ve ever made. I do believe this machine will find quite a bit of use in my home through the cool winter ahead.
A tip for those who might make tea in their Senseo: One typical teabag equals two coffee pods. Your results may vary, but my tea came out very potent for the first half of the process and the second half lightened out and eventually ran clear. The end result was a perfectly steeped cup made in less than a minute.