Old stale coffee from pods, is the norm from pods. Unless you can figure out how to grind, pack, ship, have the coffee sold and consumed in under 2 minutes, don't waste your time if you want any of the flavors you are trying to sell to stand out above the normal pod coffee. It just can't happen. Pod coffee is barley drinkable with milk at it's best, and vile at it's worst.
Bott Senior Member Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 147 Location: USA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Expobar Athenea Lever
Posted Thu Oct 16, 2008, 7:46pm Subject: Re: Do ESE pods work with any machine?
Most espresso drinkers in the US have Starbucks as their standard. ESE pods in the proper setup will produce better espresso and milk based drinks than what you can buy at Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or Peet's. It isn't perfect espresso by any means but really not the dreadful undrinkable result that most people here report. Few people that read these forums would have (or even want for that matter) a high quality ESE machine or go to the trouble, time and expense of finding a successful way to use ESE pods on a machine not specifically designed for them. Given that reality, I am repeatedly amazed at how many have become experts on the evils of the pod.
Posted Thu Oct 16, 2008, 8:16pm Subject: Re: Do ESE pods work with any machine?
Bott Said:
Most espresso drinkers in the US have Starbucks as their standard. ESE pods in the proper setup will produce better espresso and milk based drinks than what you can buy at Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or Peet's. It isn't perfect espresso by any means but really not the dreadful undrinkable result that most people here report. Few people that read these forums would have (or even want for that matter) a high quality ESE machine or go to the trouble, time and expense of finding a successful way to use ESE pods on a machine not specifically designed for them. Given that reality, I am repeatedly amazed at how many have become experts on the evils of the pod.
However Jack, I don't think you have to be hard core to reap some benefits from coffeegeek or have something to contribute to it.
Bott Said:
Most espresso drinkers in the US have Starbucks as their standard. ESE pods in the proper setup will produce better espresso and milk based drinks than what you can buy at Starbucks, Coffee Bean, or Peet's. It isn't perfect espresso by any means but really not the dreadful undrinkable result that most people here report.
Agreed. Not a lot of experience with them, but I didn't find PODS to be the foul liquid that they get reported to be here. They're not good espresso IMO, but I've been served worse from some shops. If all I drank were mochas and caramel lattes, I'd probably use them too.
But I don't think you have to be "hard core" to conclude that you prefer fresh coffee over pods. On ePinions.com, pods just might get glowing reviews -- keep in mind, it's compared against pre-ground Folgers, by participants who are generally less discriminating. But here, the general answer regarding pods is "Don't do it!".
But, I'm sure there are really bad pods, and better ones. I guess I'd prefer the better ones over the bad ones, and perhaps over Starbucks. Point taken.
I appologize, "hard core" wasn't a good word choice. I should've said something more along the lines of "dedicated to the best espresso possible".
All things considered, I'm satisfied with my extremely modest stereo equipment which wouldn't fly with any given audiophile. It's not that I can't tell the difference between my system and a higher end one, because I can. That also doesn't mean I wouldn't do research or be interested in what members might say or offer on an audiophile forum.
My point was really this, if I was satisfied (and I'm sure many people out there are) with PODs, why wouldn't I use them? If I could tell the difference between fresh beans, fresh ground and properly extracted espresso and pods, but the convenience and cost of a grinder outweighed the difference for me then, so be it.
Of coarse, it IS hard to understand someone wanting pods after tasting truelly good espresso.
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