We’ve all heard the joke about how hard ordering coffee can be these days. Among many other gourmet coffee shops, Starbucks is perhaps most (in)famous for giving us terms like “venti”, “cappuccino” and “macchiato”. For those who enjoy coffee culture, its diverse and specialized jargon is part of its charm. For those who simply want a hot cup of coffee to wake up to in the morning, sometimes learning a new language is the last thing they need.

Whether you’re a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur or an old-fashioned, just give me a cup of joe type of person, one of the quickest and easiest ways to get great coffee at home is single serve. coffee maker. But, like any other coffee accessory, you need to learn the lingo to make an informed decision about which system is best for you. As it happens, this article is about just that. The first thing you have to decide is if you want to go manual or electric. This article refers to single-dose electric coffee makers; an article below will explain manual coffee makers.

Single-dose electric coffee makers mainly come in three types, depending on the brewing and filtering systems they use. Keurig and Tassimo form two types because each has its own unique brewing system, while a wide variety of brands, including Senseo, Cuisinart, and Black & Decker, use standard-size coffee “pods.”

Pods – Single Serve Capsule Machines

Capsule machines use small pucks of coffee that are prepackaged in their own paper filter. To brew, slide a capsule into the machine and press a button. The main advantage of the capsule machine is the variety of coffee available. Because the pod is standard, many different companies can offer their coffee in pod form, from household names like Lavazza or Millstone to newer entries like Senseo’s Douwe Egberts pods. Also, you can buy your own pod maker, like Perfect Pod, which allows you to choose any brand of coffee and make your own ready-to-use pod.

K-Cups – Keurig Single Serve Coffee Makers

Keurig, from the Dutch for “excellence,” uses a special filter product called a K-cup. A K-cup is a self-contained unit that you place directly in your Keurig coffee maker. The machine perforates the K-cup and sprays hot water onto the floor, which drips through a miniature filter and into the cup in about a minute. Many companies, like Caribou Coffee, Timothy’s, Coffee People, Tully’s, and Gloria Jean’s, offer their own K-cups, so you actually have a nice selection of high-quality coffees that are available online. But what’s really cool about K-cups is that since they’re free-standing, you can switch drinks without having to clean the machine. That means you can buy K-cups of Twinings or Bigelow tea, as well as K-cups of Ghirardelli hot chocolate.

T Discs – Tassimo pod coffee machines

Tassimo machines, like the Keurig, use their own self-contained filtration called the T Disc. T-discs are similar to K-cups, but add a high-tech component: A barcode on each T-disc tells the machine precisely how to prepare your beverage, whether it’s coffee, espresso, hot chocolate, or tea: that is the temperature of the water. brew time and volume, all at the push of a button, one right after the other. Brands that make T Disc include Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, Maxwell House, Gevalia, Carte Noire, Tazo, and Twinings.

A Note About Espresso Machines

One last note: Technically, an espresso machine could qualify as a single-serve coffee maker, since it typically produces one to two shots of espresso per brew cycle. The main difference between most espresso machines and what tend to be classified as single-serve coffee makers is that espresso machines use loose grounds that you measure and tamp yourself, while single-serve machines rely on grounds. prepackaged. In addition, single-dose coffee makers like the Keurig or Tassimo machines have the added advantage of making more than just coffee or espresso, so you can please all your guests with them, whatever their taste.

So there you have it: Armed with these basic terms, you’re ready to sound smart when it comes to single-serve coffee makers.