Single-cup brewing is a great way to enjoy coffee or tea – your cup is ready in under a minute – and everybody gets their choice of beverage.

Pod brewing is a great option – we believe it is the best – when it comes to single-cup coffee and tea. Pods are round bags – made of a gauze-like material – that, unlike other single-cup capsules, are biodegradable and compostable. They are also the least expensive of all single-cup brewing systems.

Pods make one cup of coffee or tea at a time – meaning everybody gets their choice of beverage. It is done quickly and easily, and there are no filters or coffee grounds to mess around with. It’s a great way to make coffee or tea whether you are alone or with a larger group.

The new Bunn MyCafé MC pod brewer is a great all-around home pod brewer – here is our review.

First Steps

When you first open the box, you will find a small carton containing several different varieties of coffee and tea pods from various manufacturers. But don’t get too anxious about trying them out just yet – you’ll need to go through a few steps first, which prepare your brewer for initial use. It won’t take long; just follow the steps that are clearly outlined in the instruction booklet.

Brewing Process

The brewing process works as follows: First, you open the pod drawer and place your choice of pod inside. Next, using the mug or cup you plan to brew your beverage into, measure a desired amount of water (up to 14 ounces) and pour it into the brewer reservoir. Lastly, place the mug or cup under the brewing spout, and press the brew button. Your beverage of choice will be ready in under a minute!

While it might seem like a hassle to pour in water for each cup you want to brew, this function allows you the choice of brewing (cup) size. Another advantage – if the coffee (or tea) is too strong, run just an ounce or two more of water into the same cup just to ‘weaken’ it a bit. However, using more than 10 ounces of water tends to result in a less flavorful beverage.

Other Features

In addition to the regular brew mode, the brewer also has a “pulse” mode that is recommended for tea and also can be used to make a stronger cup of coffee.

Also, after 6 hours of non-use the brewer will enter into an energy-savings mode. Opening the pod drawer will ‘awaken’ the brewer and cause it to enter ‘ready’ or pre-heat mode. Preheating only takes about a minute or so.

Finally, while these aren’t really features, the brewer is really quiet, and at the end of the brewing process the brewer evacuates any excess water out of the pod drawer leaving the pod dry, making disposal a cinch. Compared to most other single-cup brewers found in the market today, the Bunn MyCafé MC has one of the highest brew temperatures.

We feel this is one of the best single-cup pod brewers on the market, with its ease of use and brew capabilities. If you are planning on buying a single-cup brewer, make sure to consider the Bunn MyCafé MC.

For the coffee enthusiast, a French press isn’t a maybe, it’s a must. A French press, also known as a coffee press, a cafetiere, a coffee plunger or a press pot, is an easy way to improve the quality of your coffee in about the same amount of time it takes to brew your favorite morning beverage in the traditional drip method. The results are amazing: the press method delivers coffee with a richer flavor and thicker body while creating a more elegant impression.

Why bother with a French press?

Coffee-drinkers can tell the difference between pressed coffee, which retains essential oils and sediments that are trapped in drip coffeemaker’s filters and eliminates the taste of the paper filter. This method will allow the full flavor intensity of your coffee grounds to survive the brewing process and make it into your mug in just minutes per pot.

You will need:

A French press (we recommend the Bodum French Press)
A burr-style coffee grinder
Coffee beans
A tablespoon
Boiling water measured to fill the press
A spoon or a chopstick

Get to know the French press:

The French press will be composed of a glass or plastic cylindrical beaker fitted with a lid and a plunger. The plunger holds a filter plate that is used to trap the sediment from the coffee grounds when the brew is ready to be poured.

How to brew the perfect cup of French press coffee:

• Measure water to reach the press pot’s fill line, but not above it, to make sure that there is room for the filter. Boil the water and let it cool briefly to the optimum temperature of around 195 to 205 degrees F.

• Grind the coffee beans to a course texture, being careful to avoid over-grinding the beans into a fine texture. Tiny particles will not be trapped in the French press method, so use a high-quality burr grinder to avoid creating dust and chunks.

• Add about two tablespoons of coffee grounds per 8 oz. cup of coffee to taste to the press pot.

• Pour the pre-boiled water into the press pot slowly to allow the gas to escape.

• Briefly stir the mixture with a chopstick or a spoon (about six strokes) to aid the filter in catching the sediment.

• Place the lid, with the attached filter and plunger assembly, onto the press pot and let the brew steep for two to four minutes, depending on the boldness of the beans used and the size of the pot.

• Holding the lid down firmly, grasp the plunger and slide it down in a straight, even motion, being careful to avoid turning the filter crooked. If it does, the grounds will escape into the upper-half of the pot.

• Wait about 30 seconds to allow the remaining sediment to settle.

• Hold the lid on while pouring and serve the coffee immediately, to avoid a bitter brew.

• Enjoy!

Alternatively, to make iced coffee, use cold water and leave the French press in the refrigerator overnight. Without the heat to damage the essential oils, the coffee will taste fresh and sweet.

Photo Credit: Sierra MS

The Grindmaster OPod Pod Brewer, one of our best-selling Coffee Pod Brewers.

Choosing The Right Pod Coffee Brewer

Who wouldn’t want a perfect cup of gourmet coffee that’s fast, easy and on the go whenever you need it? It’s possible to have coffee in your hand in under a minute without any leftovers sitting around in the coffee pot, and no messy clean up afterwards. Pod coffee brewers do exactly this. They give you one serving of coffee, fast and easy.

The coffee pods also known as soft pods look like tea bags except that they are round and plump. That little pod is the filter and contains enough ground coffee to make the perfect cup.

With many different brands, sizes and styles out there, it’s hard to know how to choose the right pod brewer. You should know where you will be buying coffee pods and what sizes you will need in order to have a full understanding of the type of pod brewer you want.

Here are three reasons why you might want a pod coffee brewer:


1. You like the idea of making coffee with no mess or cleanup.
2. You want a single cup of coffee from time to time and want to be able to grab it and go.
3. You like gourmet coffee but don’t have time to grind beans and make a full pot.

Here are a few things you should know about the pod brewers on the market:

Sizes

There are three different sizes, pod diameters in 44mm, 55mm and 62mm. Most commonly the 44m fits Melitta pod brewers. The 55mm pods usually fit the “Juan Valdez” brewers. Finally, the 62 mm pods usually work for “Senseo”, “Krups”, “Mr.Coffee” and “Black & Decker”, "Grindmaster", "Cuisinart" and "Bunnomatic" pod brewers.

Brands

The first brand to make a pod brewer was Senseo in 2004. Soon after this, many other companies began making pod coffee brewers. A few of the most common brands would be, “Senseo”, “Melitta”, “Bunn My Café”, "Grindmaster G Pod", and “Cuisinart”.

Single vs. Double

You can either buy one-cup pod brewers or two-cup pod brewers. One-cup pod brewers are sleek and compact and come in retail for home use or commercial for office use. The usual pod size is 10 grams and 61mm, but there are also Extra Bold options that weigh in at 12 grams for the coffee afficianados out there. A dual brewer is typically used for home or hotel room applications, which has the ability to brew one cup or two cups simultaneously.

Coffee Strength

Since coffee pods come in different weights, the weight you select will give you various 'strengths'. In addition, some brewers come with a manual strength selector. This allows you to select the strength of coffee you want on any given day, some prefer a milder coffee in the morning and a stronger version in the afternoon (or vice versa). This can be great for an office (or home) with people who have different coffee preferences.

Water Reservoir

Most pod brewers have a water reservoir like any coffee pot that brews the water through the filter to make coffee. You can choose to have the water reservoir that you manually fill or one that allows for plumbing to continuously supply water to the coffee brewer. This “plumbed-in” type system is much more expensive than one you would manually fill. However, this is a great choice for an office or business setting.

An example of K-Cups.

An example of a coffee pod.

When it comes to single-serve coffee, there are a variety of solutions that let you say goodbye to fussing with filters, ground beans and left-over liquid sitting in the pot. Like coffee dispensing machines, K-Cups and coffee pods give you press-and-brew simplicity.

How do K-Cups work?

A K-Cup is a plastic container that resembles a creamer cup that contains ground beans sealed air-tight with plastic and a foil lid.

The Keurig brewer forces hot water through the K-Cup and into your mug or cup. There are two main manufacturers of K-Cups:  Green Mountain and Van Houte. K-Cup brewers have been on the market for over 10 years. Regardless of the manufacturer, each relies on micro-processor technology to control the temperature and the amount of coffee brewed.

When it comes to single-cup brewers, Tassimo gives you a choice of your cuppa: brewed coffee, cappuccino, latte, hot cocoa and even tea. Think auto-espresso with push-button simplicity at a fraction of the cost of what you’ll pay at your neighborhood Starbucks or competitor.

Keurig K-Cups offer single-origin coffees from Africa, Latin and South America including organic and fair trade coffees. You can also choose from a wide selection of blends and roasts including decaf. If you are a tea drinker, you can use the K-Cup with Bigelow, Cafe Escapes, Celestial Seasonings, Gloria Jean's Tea, Timothy's Tea and Twinings Tea. English Breakfast, Chamomile or Earl Grey decaf, Chai, Peppermint and Mango. Hot chocolate drinkers can revel in the fact that there are Ghirardelli Chocolate brands as well as Green Mountain, Café Escapes and Timothy’s.

What is a coffee Pod?

Coffee pods – also known as coffee pads in other parts of the world – are the coffee version of a tea bag and have been around for over 20 years. They contain ground beans inside a filter. Just like K-Cups, coffee pod brewers run hot water through the single-serve coffee pods. There are more manufacturers to choose from: Wolfgang Puck, Melitta, Senseo, Reunion Island, Fratello and many others.

Coffee pods offer the same simplicity and one-touch convenience as K-Cups.

Either way, you can forget about grinding coffee beans, measuring them, throwing in a filter, or cleaning up the subsequent mess. You can give away your grinder and forget about having to stock up on filters.

Regardless of whether you choose the pod or K-Cup, you still need to shell out for a specialized brewer.

And what you make up for in convenience you lose in terms of control. If you don’t like the richness or flavor, you can’t doctor it.

For those who are worried about plastic ending up in land fills, the K-Cup is less friendly to the environment. With coffee pods, all you throw away is the bag and its grounds, which can go into your compost heap.

When it comes to the price tag, coffee pod brewers can be half the cost of K-Cup brewers. Once you’ve shelled out for the brewer, you have to shell out for the coffee itself. In total, this adds up to more than the cost of buying and grinding your own beans.

For the occasional single-serving coffee drinker, both K-Cups and coffee pods provide the simplicity of instant coffee or a coffee dispenser but with a huge taste advantage. The bottom line is whether cost-savings trumps selection.

Image Credit (K-Cups): Randy Read

If you have ever tried to make your own espresso, you’ll realize that the term barista actually refers to a skill that requires the precise amount of water or coffee, turning the heat onto the precise setting and using the right timing.

As a home-based barista without training, I was happy to discover the easy, error-free way to make an espresso: using a coffee pod.

Coffee pods deliver the exact amount of ground espresso beans, often in a tea-like bag that you insert in a slot in a pod brewing machine. Espresso at the press of a button is instantaneous, clean, compact and predictable.

If you like espresso dark and bold, try the Reunion Island dark roast espresso pod.

Timothy’s Rainforest Alliance Espresso Blend is another pod that delivers a dark coffee taste that’s smooth and non-bitter while helping the rainforest habitat.

Tips On Brewing The Best Pod Espresso

Brewing up a pod espresso isn't hard to do with a quality pod espresso brewer.

• Start with the best water: purified, filtered or bottled.

• Dampen your pod before you insert it into the brewer.

• Add cream or milk to your cup before you pour the brewed coffee.

• To get the retail coffee experience, add a dash of flavored syrup and soy milk.

If you want the home barista experience, stock up on flavored syrups such as Torani used at coffee houses. A few squirts along with whipped cream and you’ll never leave to buy flavored Italian coffee again.

Tips On Storing And Maintenance For Your Pod Brewer

Keeping your pod espresso brewer clean is easy and hassle-free.

• Keep your coffee pod brewer clean of build-up. To flush out your brewer, run a cycle without inserting a pod. Clean it with vinegar and rinse to remove build-up.

• Don’t reuse pods. Coffee pods aren’t like tea bags.

• Don’t refrigerate pods.

Store your pods in an airtight container. The pods should be away from light in a cool, dry place. This will help ensure that each pod espresso that you brew will have the same fresh, quality taste. Thanks to new pod espresso brewing technology, you can enjoy a piping hot espresso whenever you like, at home or at your workplace.