I believe it's time to order a coffee/espresso maker. I go through phases where I want one daily. I'm in one right now. It's good to get out of the house, I primarily work from home, but I'd prefer to avoid Starbucks. The locally owned shops are a bit too far out to warrant a drive for an espresso.
I got my buddy a Nespresso as a gift and he likes that. Another friend has a Kuerig K-Cup setup and that looks cool too. So my question is...What should I get?
Glad you asked!
I have owned the Tassimo, the Keurig, and the Starbuck's Verismo single cup machines. And like you, my work is in my house. I don't like to leave for a mere cuppa coffee, and I like having single cup for visitors to the studio as well. Here are my thoughts:
1. The single cup machines are a slight compromise vs standard machines, but they are SOOO convenient.
2. Of the three major players, the Tassimo makes the best tasting coffee, that is closest to a regular coffee or espresso maker. At the time I owned mine, Starbucks made pods for this machine. This machine uses an electronic bar code that it reads from the pods to set the water to the correct temperature for each brew. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to Starbucks, and they stopped making pods for this machine, but if you like European coffees like Gevalia and some of the other brews made for Tassimo, I strongly feel that this is the highest quality machine on the market in terms of the coffee it makes.
3. The Keurig machines not only make the worst coffee of the three machines, they won't make espresso or lattes. But they have by far the largest selection of coffees, including Starbucks. My problem with the Keurig is that I can for some reason taste the plastic from the pods the way the coffee is brewed, and I absolutely hate the coffee they make. I had two of them, one for the studio, one for the kitchen, at my wife's urging, but I couldn't live with the coffee. So I got rid of them. Personal opinion, of course, these machines are very popular. But you are a discerning gentleman, so please judge for yourself. For me, the taste of the coffee was "office coffee." Not acceptable.
4. The Verismo is somewhere in the middle. Starbucks
foolishly delayed its potential by only releasing a few coffees for it, however they seem to be adding some according to the info on the Williams Sonoma site. Right now, the pods are harder to find. I get them at Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon, which makes them pretty inexpensive.
But the coffee tastes almost as good as it did with the Tassimo, and it will make lattes and espressos. The Verismo is also sold in other countries under a different name. Williams Sonoma has a decent price on the larger machine, and while it's expensive, that's what I'd buy simply because the original machine is a bit on the small size, and the larger machine lets you choose the temperature you like your coffee served (my wife likes very hot, and our original machine only makes "moderately hot").