Coffee & Espresso Makers Tips

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I love coffee.

I have for a long time. I’m one of those people who relies on that caffeine kick in the morning to start the day. I hadn’t gotten into the habit of making it in the morning, simply because that took time that could be put to better use sleeping. When I did make coffee, I had the choice between putting down the entire pot myself (since my wife won’t drink the coffee I make), or leaving a lot of it behind. We solved this problem with a Senseo machine. However, the people at Senseo seem to have a radically different idea of what constitutes a coffee cup than I do — the Senseo assumes a ‘regular’ cup of coffee is four ounces, and 8 ounces constitutes a double, requiring two pads.

MaryTara upgraded our caffeine-producing facilities by getting me the Braun Tassimo machine for Christmas of 2005. She pointed out that the Tassimo made a proper 8 oz cup of coffee as its default, and also could make tea, lattes or cappucinos, or hot chocolate. So the Tassimo entered service at our house.

The Tassimo does not use coffee filters or cloth-wrapped pods as the Senseo did. Instead, it uses plastic T-discs. You put the T-disc in the machine, and a laser inside the machine reads the barcode on the T-disc and determines what it is (coffee, tea, milk, etc) and thus how much water needs to be heated. There are four lights on the front of the unit; one flashes yellow, then when the top one lights up solid green it’s ready. You press one button. Then it emits a mighty grumble, sends a small amount of water through, waits another few seconds, and dispenses your beverage.

It can’t get much easier than this.

It was so easy, in fact, that our then five-year-old son decided that he was now the barista of the house and made coffee with it constantly. He liked the noise, I suppose, or liked how easy it was, or liked our reaction to an unrequested cup of coffee. This became a problem because he ran us out of cappucino in a few days. Being a caffeine addict, I didn’t mind it too much, but after four cappuccinos in an hour my wife tends to get jittery. So we had to put the T-discs up where he couldn’t get to them. My daughter is now old enough to want to make coffee with it too.

A definite benefit to the Tassimo is the sheer volume of choice that it offers. This has only gotten better since we first got the Tassimo. There is a Gevalia brand which offers gourmet coffee — French vanilla coffee, and just plain coffee. Maxwell House has also gotten into the Tassimo line, and they’ve got their regular coffee. There’s cappucino. There’s latte. As of this year, there is chai latte, my personal favorite. There is hot chocolate. Braun seems to be behind this unit all the way.

Over two years, the Tassimo has proved very reliable. It made coffee and made it well, without a lot of problem. Braun recommends using a descaling solution every three months, which makes sense if you’re putting this kind of money into a coffee machine. Recently the machine began to leak and make a mess. Had our Tassimo turned in its notice? As it turned out, no. The spout part, which also punctures the T-disc, had simply gotten clogged with a stray piece of foil from a T-disc and some coffee grounds had gotten jammed in behind it. After taking two drink stirrers and pushing them through the spout (which is divided into two small tunnels for some reason), the machine worked normally. Not unreasonable for a machine that’s been used almost every day for two years.

Are there downsides? Well, you can’t really adjust the strength of the brew — what’s in the T-disc is what you get. Although the Tassimo can fill a 16 oz mug, it either requires two T-discs to make a full strength brew or you simply use the same T-disc which results in a weaker brew. The T-discs can get expensive, but the price has come down since we got it and hopefully will continue to do so.

All in all, the Tassimo is a great coffee machine. Making a cup of coffee in the morning is a simple, no mess affair.

Just don’t let the kids at the T-discs.

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