I have a little Phillips Senseo one as it's small and convenient for 1 person. Here, the pods are really easy to get and because it uses the soft pods, you're not stuck with having to use a particular make. I used to have a Dolce Gusto Picollo but the hard pods it uses were very expensive and I was worried about all the plastic used too in landfill.

The dealership where we get our car serviced recently got one of those machines, vs a pot of brewed coffee. Neither of us like the coffee in the Keurig, Tassamo machines. They're not to our taste at all.

We were offered a machine for free, but we love our pot of brewed coffee in the morning. I see more and more machines offered for sale or for free as people say the coffee is too expensive. I would never, ever fork out the cost of the pods, not to mention the horrible waste. They're not recyclable.

Food for thought... My opinion concerns using the one-cup coffee makers from a cost and environmental point of view, and that view is shared with the inventor of the K-Cup. These are some headlines and bylines I've found and keep them in my "Book of Odd Knowledge".

- "Did you know that the K-Cup inventor says he regrets ever inventing them because he realized the horrible effect they've had on the environment?"

-At 11g of coffee per pod, it equals $40 per pound.

-In Halifax, Nova Scotia, one of the few places that can recycle #7 plastic, K-Cups are accumulating in quantities that alarm people who see the waste coming out of offices using the machines.

-"Most wasteful form of coffee there is!"

-Sylvan (the inventor or Keurig), sold Keurig in 1997 for $50,000. He turned around and bought stock in Green Mountain (pods) for $3.20 a share and sold a couple years ago when it broke $140. [It's akin to....it's not the printer, it's the ink; it's not the razor, it's the blades --- where the money is made.]

I would purchase a quality electric kettle (Capresso 259 H2O Plus Glass Water Kettle is my favorite with an automatic shut-off) and make French Press coffee for pennies per cup.

-Grainlady

The senseo machine used the soft, recyclable and much cheaper pods than the plastic type - see my previous post. Tassimo pods are expensive. With a soft pod type, you can even fill your own. Melitta make refillable pods so you can use the coffee of your choice.

Coffee is pretty wasteful in general and since hardly essential to life it probably should be banned outright. But since that isn't likely to happen and pinkmountain didn't ask for an environmental impact study of her life, I can see single cup brewers making sense for someone who doesn't drink a lot of coffee and is willing to pay for the convenience in the workplace.

I drink far too much coffee for single cup brewers to be cost effective for me. From what I understand if you want or enjoy coffee variety, then the K-cup platform is the way to go. If you want some kind of "cream" beverage then the Tassimo and its competitors is a better choice. I don't believe any will produce a "great" cup of coffee.

I am an environmentalist but I am also very very busy so I go for ease of cleanup. At home I use unbleached paper filters and compost them, and also an aeropress with a metal filter disk that I can just wash and reuse. So the paper pod idea appeals to me. But then again, with those machines that heat the water, the cheaper ones poop out after a while and don't get hot anymore because the heating element wears out. Maybe best to go with just another pour over set-up with an electric kettle with auto shut off. I was really groovin' on the idea of having a teeny instant cappuccino maker in my office but probably a pipe dream. There's a coffee shop on campus where I can get a latte if I really want to take a little walk. I can even get fairly drinkable coffee out of the coffee bags. I just do not like a french press system. I don't like cleaning them and I don't like the grit they leave at the bottom of the coffee mug.

You might look into a cold brew system. Keep the concentrate in your fridge and have a cup of coffee whenever you want.

Mike, you made me laugh. Coffee IS essential to me.

I'm starting to reconsider this. I don't like the taste of coffee over plastic, and I don't like to waste resources or money. I was willing to consider it because I don't drink that much coffee at work, but I think it was a pipe dream to think for around 100 bucks I could get my own private coffee house for my office, particularly for espresso drinks. I tried cold brewed because it is supposedly low acid. The only reason I drink coffee instead of tea is it is lower in acid, (at least the kinds I buy). I was seriously underwhelmed by cold brewed coffee. I may just get another electric kettle and a single cup pour over gizmo. I was using the coffee bags and water heated up in the microwave which was acceptable for the small amount of coffee I drink at work, but it wasn't good. When I discovered the coffee maker I got all excited about better coffee, but I should have known. I am not safe around a coffee maker that doesn't have an auto shut off!! I might find that I use the electric kettle for other hot water applications anyway, so maybe the best idea overall.

There are many individual coffee espresso - like the senseo - that have auto shut off. It makes an espresso or a long coffee depending on which button you press then shuts off.

Sometimes necessity is the mother of "experimentation." I made a pot of coffee today for my class with the old coffee maker and it was horrible. I think I must have melted something with my previous accident because it has a plastic taste. Also, not enough coffee for the whole class in the 10 cup maker. So I'm going extravagantly out on a limb and getting this Hamilton Beach maker which does both a 12 cup carafe and also a one cup using Senseo pods. No plastic in those pods, and you can also use loose coffee if you don't like the extra expense of the pods. Hopefully it will last a good long while since it won't get heavy use. Hamilton Beach Combo Coffee Maker

I've seen the combo units and even Keurig has started making one. To me the whole "cup"/"pod" system has been the biggest sell job since the Pet Rock. I've gotten away from coffee for a few reasons, but this has made me want to get out my glass percolator. Still the best coffee around IMO.

Well, the coffee maker is just OK, no better or worse than the other ones. I ordered some of the pods for the sake of experimentation. Not so good, but I think it was the quality of the coffee beans, not that it was a pod or pod brewer. You can hide a lot of sins under that pod! Same always goes with tea bags, which is a way to disguise inferior cuts of tea leaves and the end bits from finer grade loose leaf teas. Not all bag tea is like this, but it can be. I've only tried one type of the coffee pods so far, I bought a combo box of four different types. We'll see how it goes. I'll drink them but probably not buy again. Happily, with the machine I got, I can do an individual brew with loose grounds or a pot. Works for me at the office when I sometimes need a pot and sometimes need a cup. However, it brews so dang slow, I should have just gotten a hot water heater and used my Chemex for a big pot for the class. But then I'd have to get a thermal carafe. I like that with the coffee maker I can put the pot on while I'm setting up for class and don't have to fuss with it any more after that. Not the absolute best coffee, but passably good.