This was my first purchase of a coffee maker besides your basic run-of-the mill brewer. I liked the idea of pods, and friends in Europe said these were all over the place. I'm not a big coffee drinker, so I figured the one- or two-cup ability suited me perfectly. The machine is incredibly easy to use, but the coffee is not very strong, and it has too much of a cocoa-ey taste to me. The crema is a nice touch, but it's like fresh paint on my old 1986 Honda. You have to run a cup or two of plain water first to get your cup of coffee hot enough - otherwise, you have to pop it in the microwave. The pods are easy enough to come by, but there are only 4 types: mild, medium, dark, and decaf. As I said, even the dark roast isn't very strong. There have been sites I've seen where people - mostly in Europe - have figured out how to 'hack' the machine so that it uses less water for a stronger cup, but I haven't investigated it for my machine. Since I purchased it, a lot of these pod machines have come out, but this one purchase is enough for me. Unless someone wants to donate me some Jura!
Buying Experience
It was Sam's - you come, you buy, you wait in line, and you get a pretty good deal.
