Currently, single cup coffee maker is the most popular way of brewing coffee at home. Their popularity is due to its ease of use and the low maintenance that this brewer requires.
However, this machine has one major drawback -it is a closed system. Closed system means when consumers purchased a single serve brewer, they can only use the coffee that comes with this machine.
For example, if you would to purchase a Senseo coffee machine, you would be allowed to use Douwe Egberts coffee and if you are using a Nespresso, you would be using coffee of the same brand.
Most of the folks that likes the ease brought about by the single serve machines, does not mind this minor drawbacks, but similar to any other electronics equipments, there are a small group of people that want to better this product, so for a while there are some underground movement.
Initially, this movement concentrates mainly on Senseo, by giving tips and tricks on how to create your own pods. It was considered unethical and even illegal by the industry. But, as it evolves and the market competition intensifies, broadening the use of the machine was embraced by the company.
Currently, you can practically use any type of coffee using this brewer with the help of device like coffee ducks and perfect pod maker. They allow one to create pods from any coffee that can be used on this brewer.
In fact, perfect pod maker allows you to make coffee pods that can be used on all the single cup machines except for 3 brands. They are Keurig, Nespresso and Tassimo. The unique coffee pods used by these 3 companies disallow any device to replicate its pods.
Not only it is very complicated to replicate the pods for any of these 3 companies, the specialized pods catering to this specific group of consumers also meant that the demand is not high enough to make money for anyone wanting to commercialized their pod makers.
A good example would be the T-disc from Tassimo, on the back for every disc is codes that would calibrate the conditions to brew the beverages. So, a cup of tea is brewed differently from a cappuccino.
Currently, there is no technology available that allows one to customize the coffee pods and include these codes. Similarly for the other 2 brands which has technology that continue to keep their business in a closed system.
But, other than these 3 brands, by using some of the devices available in the market like perfect pod maker, you can brew any coffee you like on the one button technology of the single cup coffee maker.
And, this is the secret which I think should benefit you as a coffee lover so that the next time you are shopping for a single serve machine, this would aid you in making a more informed decision.
