5 reasons to buy a filter coffee machine rather than a coffee pod machine

The latest trend in home coffee machines is the coffee pod or capsule brewer, but is a pod machine the best choice for your new coffee machine? While the coffee pod machines offer a convenient, prepackaged, single serving of coffee with minimal clean up, there is a cost for the convenience.

1. Coffee pods are relatively expensive

Choice magazine found that coffee pods had between 5 and 5.8g of coffee per pod. This means that consumers pay more than $100 a kilo for coffee in capsule forms, where coffee grounds retail for a much lower cost per kilogram.

2. Coffee pods and capsules are not interchangeable

As coffee pods and capsules are a different size and shape for each brand, and operate with a different mechanism in each machine they cannot be easily interchanged (although some cheaper pods are being designed by new manufacturers as patents expire). This means that it can be challenging to find your specific brand of pods if you run out unexpectedly, or the local retailer runs short of stock during a busy period. 

3. Coffee made by capsules is weaker

As the coffee pods and capsules have between 5 and 5.8g of coffee per pod they are weaker than cafe-brewed coffees which tend to have around 11g of coffee per serving. This is a matter of taste and some users prefer the weaker taste, whilst some prefer the stronger taste of the cafe brewed coffees.

4. There is a lower range of coffee types available in pod form

For a traditional filter coffee any type and blend of coffee can be ground and brewed, with a infinite number of single bean and multi-bean blend brews available. In pod form you are limited to the blends marketed by the capsule maker, usually the most popular 3-5 blends. This can be an issue if you prefer a much different blend of coffee than the popular blends, or simply the option of more variety.

Luckily some manufacturers are starting to offer refillable coffee pods that can be filled with any coffee grounds, which can be used to skirt this issue.

5. Coffee pod machines can only brew 1-2 cups at one time while filter machines come in many capacities

Filter coffee machines can be bought in a range of capacities (usually measured as "cups") to suit your lifestyle, where coffee pod machines at most brew 2 cups of a coffee at a time (and many only brew one cup at a time). This can be frustrating if you are making coffee for a large group and find yourself waiting in front of the machine for each cup to brew, missing out on the gossip!

For more information, contact a company like Coffee Shrine.


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