Pod Coffee Makers - A New Breed of Coffee Maker

There's a new process for brewing coffee that has sparked a whole new breed of coffee makers. Pod coffee makers are becoming very popular and some are wondering if the drip coffee makers are going to soon become obsolete.

The pod coffee makers fall in the middle of a drip coffee maker and an espresso machine. The boiler of the pod coffee maker rapidly heats the water and drives it through the coffee grounds. By using light pressure, the brewing process is faster than with regular drip machines.

In order to maintain the precise amount of pressure and water flow through the coffee, pre-packed coffee pods are used. This ensures that the coffee is packed to the proper level for optimum brewing.

This brewing process produces a nice foamy layer on the top of your coffee that adds a luxurious touch. Not quite the crema you get on espresso, but close.

You brew one cup at a time, and the whole process takes only one to two minutes from when you turn on the machine, to drinking your fresh coffee. You just flip open the machine, place in a coffee pod, close it and hit the brew button.

With a pod coffee maker, you no longer have to settle for stale coffee sitting on the warming plate, nor do you have to sit and wait for a pot to brew.

It's perfect for the individual who craves a java fix but doesn't want to make a whole pot that will go to waste.

Each coffee pod has a measured portion of ground coffee or espresso, compressed between two biodegradable filter paper sheets. They are sold in different varieties of roasts from mild to medium to decaffeinated. So you can brew each individual cup to any desired coffee drinkers taste.

Coffee pods are easy to use, convenient, mess free and provide a consistently delicious freshly brewed cup of coffee.

Top Pod Coffee Maker Recommendations

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Torrefazione Italia Coffee

"Toray-fot-see-ohnay" - Italian for place where coffee is roasted. Torrefazione Italia Coffee was created and brought to the United States by second-generation coffee roasters from Perugia, Italy.

With cafes in Vancouver BC, Portland, Chicago and Dallas, Torrefazione has a blend for every coffee lover from lighter roasts with sweet notes to darker blends that are bold and rich.

Torrefazione Italia Coffee is for coffee lovers who prefer full-bodied and intense flavor and is served by fine restaurants, hotels, and cafes throughout the world.

The blends they currently offer are:

Milano Blend - Lightly roasted, this delicately aromatic blend is incredibly smooth and mild, with a slightly nutty flavor and sweet finish.

Napoli Blend - This dark roast is rich and spicy, with hints of caramel and other exotic flavors.

Palermo Blend - Torrefazione Italia's darkest roast is full-bodied and rich, with velvety textures and soft, delicate flavors.

Perugia Blend - Wonderfully rich, with a heady aroma and smooth flavor notes, this fullbodied Perugia Blend™ is a tribute to the coffee-roasting art developed by Torrefazione Italia founders two generations ago.

Pisa Blend - Bright and full-bodied, this blend also features a rich, buttery texture that is wonderfully smooth and mellow.

Sardegna Blend - Medium-bodied, spicy, smoky and indulgent, this blend delivers all the pleasures of a dark roast.

Venezia Blend - Elegant and sophisticated, with a fragrant aroma that is earthy and sweet, this blend combines subtlety and snappiness for a very memorable cup.

Decaffeinated Montecatini Blend - Torrefazione Italia's only decaffeinated blend delivers smooth textures and a spicy aroma.

Their authentic roasting style and expert blending create a coffee experience that is truly unforgettable. It's offered to you in both whole beans and those already ground.

We invite you to experience a taste of Italy and discover Torrefazione Italia Coffee.

Buy Torrefazione Italia Coffee


This article is supplied by Best Coffee Makers Online where you can easily shop and compare coffee makers so you can purchase exactly what you're looking for at great values. For more articles like these go to: Coffee Articles.

Coffee Tips

Here are some interesting coffee tips.

•  Never store coffee in its original bag. Transfer your whole beans immediately into a ceramic or glass container with a rubber seal and preferably one that does not allow light through it. Air, light, heat and moisture are enemies of coffee.

•  DO NOT freeze your coffee beans! Contrary to what you may have heard, never store your coffee in the freezer, especially the refrigerator as this develops moisture around the bean.

•  To get rid of bad refrigerator smells, place a small open bowl with 1/2 cup of ground coffee on each shelf and leave it there for a couple of weeks. The coffee will absorb the odors and leave a clean smell. Throw the coffee away afterwards because it is totally undrinkable.

•  If you or your guests like chocolate, try serving your coffee with a square of chocolate on the saucer which can either be eaten separately or added to the coffee.

•  If you want your coffee to stay hot longer, heat your coffee cup or mug with hot water and remove the water just before pouring in your coffee. This will keep your coffee much hotter a lot longer.

•  The best way to clean everything from your brewer to your cups is with a mixture of baking soda and water. Be sure to rinse, rinse, and rinse again so no residue is left behind to spoil the coffee flavor.

•  If you make a dessert that calls for coffee, you might consider using decaf. Desserts are usually eaten later in the day and those requiring coffee may contain a considerable amount of caffeine for the late afternoon or evening eater.

•  When mixing desserts and coffees, the more plain the dessert, the lighter the roast of the coffee you may want to accompany it. Espresso goes well with richer desserts and lighter roasted coffees with less rich desserts.

This article is supplied by Best Coffee Makers Online where you can easily shop and compare coffee makers so you can purchase exactly what you're looking for at great values. For more articles like these go to: Coffee Articles.

Organic Galapagos Island Estate Coffee

The Galapagos Islands are located 600 miles from Ecuador in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Coffee trees flourish in the clean pure climate on the San Cristobal Island Estate in the Galapagos Islands and produce some of the world's best organic coffee beans.

Declared by UNESCO "Patrimony of Humanity", Galapagos Islands law prohibit the use of chemicals and other pesticides.

Galapagos Island Estate Coffee organic coffee beans are larger in size, extremely rare, and unbelievably come from the same coffee trees that were planted by the French explorers more than 130 years earlier.

While supplies last you can order this truly one-of-a kind tasting coffee.

If you like specialty coffee, treat yourself to this delightful, medium body, balanced, coffee with an intriguing finish.

This unique coffee is unlike any other coffee, from the most exotic place on Earth.

Order Galapagos Island Estate Coffee

This article is supplied by Best Coffee Makers Online where you can easily shop and compare coffee makers so you can purchase exactly what you're looking for at great values. For more articles like these go to: Coffee Articles.

Tips For Choosing The Perfect Travel Mug

A good travel mug is a must when you need to take your coffee or tea with you on the road. There are many different types of mugs available, so here are a few tips to consider before you purchase one.

Travel mugs are offered in both stainless steel and plastic with plastic being the least expensive.

Even though stainless steel initially costs more, it will give you much better value for your money.

Plastic mugs can break when dropped and they don't keep your coffee or tea hot nearly as long as the stainless mugs.

You can expect superior performance from a stainless steel travel mug keeping your coffee or tea hot for about an hour. If you are looking for the very best way to keep your favorite beverage hot or cold longer, look for a mug with stainless steel double wall insulation.

Stainless steel also cleans up easier than plastic and the plastic liner over time will absorb coffee or tea. This build up will affect the taste of your beverage and the only way to remedy it is to buy another travel mug.

If you still prefer a plastic travel mug, make sure it has a stainless steel liner. The advantages of a stainless steel liner are you won't feel the heat on the outside of the mug and you have a variety of colors to choose from.

You should also decide if you want your travel mug to fit a cup holder in your car or if you want it to have a wide bottom for stability.

The advantage of a travel mug that fits a cup holder is you don't have to hold onto it. Just make sure the dimensions of the mug will fit your holder.

If you don't have a cup holder or don't like to use one, you need a travel mug with a wide bottom.

Look for a non-slip wide bottom because not all of them come that way. You don't want it to slide if you let go of the travel mug.

Next, what kind of a lid do you prefer? The lids that snap on can sometimes come off if the travel mug tips over or is dropped. Screw on lids are better because they stay on no matter what happens and that's the idea of a travel mug to begin with.

Also, consider how the beverage hole will be covered and uncovered when you want to drink. Do you like a flap over the drink hole that snaps shut or do you prefer a slide that stays open or closed? Then there is the Press'N'Sip lever design that opens when you push on the spring loaded lever and closes when you let go.

Travel mugs come in a variety of volume sizes too. If you only drink a small amount, consider a smaller 8 oz. travel mug. On the other hand, if you want a large amount of coffee or tea to drink, consider a larger 16 or 20 oz. travel mug.

Once you get the travel mug that is just right for your tastes, hand wash it instead of putting it in the dishwasher. Sometimes soap residue gets left behind either in the lid or in the travel mug and no one likes that kind of surprise. So be sure to rinse it extra good so all that you taste is the rich flavor of your coffee or tea.

If you leave your travel mug in the car while at work, store it away from direct sunlight. That way the hot sun magnified by the windows won't damage the rubber seals in the lid.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you shop for a travel mug so when you fly out of the door with your favorite hot beverage, it will stay in the mug and remain hot until the last drop.

Copyright © 2004 Best-Coffee-Makers-Online.com All Rights Reserved.


This article is supplied by Best Coffee Makers Online where you can easily shop and compare coffee makers so you can purchase exactly what you're looking for at great values. Buy the perfect Travel Mug.

The Mystery of Decaffeinated Coffee

Caffeine has become America's most popular drug by far. 90% of Americans consume caffeine in one form or another every single day. Most of it comes from drinking coffee.

But if you're a coffee lover who prefers to avoid caffeine, you can still enjoy a cup of coffee that delivers rich flavor with decaffeinated coffee.

It's how the caffeine is extracted from coffee beans that is a mystery for most of us.

These are some of the methods currently used for decaffeinating.

Direct Contact Method

In the direct contact method the beans come directly in contact with decaffeinating agents, such as methylene chloride, after being softened by water or steam. Caffeine is removed by directly soaking the materials in the methylene chloride.

Indirect Contact Method

With the indirect contact method a water and coffee solution is used to draw off the caffeine. The solution containing the caffeine is then treated with a decaffeinating agent, such as ethyl acetate, and mixed back into the beans for reabsorption of the flavorings.

Sometimes this method is referred to as naturally decaffeinated because ethyl acetate is a chemical found naturally in many fruits.

Water Processing

This process is similar to the indirect method, except no chemicals are used. The coffee beans are soaked in hot water then the solution is passed through a carbon filter to remove the caffeine.

Swiss Water Process

In the Swiss Water Process method, the caffeine is still extracted with carbon filters but the beans soak in hot water that is saturated with coffee flavor. The result is caffeine removal without removing the coffee flavors.

It's referred to as Swiss Water Process because a Swiss company originally developed and patented the procedure.

Carbon Dioxide Processing

With this method the beans are soaked with water-softened materials in highly compressed carbon dioxide. The small caffeine molecules are extracted from the beans allowing the larger flavor molecules to remain untouched. This method retains the best overall flavor of all of the methods used.

Not all of the caffeine is completely removed with any of these current methods. To qualify as decaffeinated coffee in the United States, coffee must have at least 97 percent of its caffeine removed.

Coffee beans are decaffeinated before they are roasted because that's when it has the least effect on the beans flavor.

The reason decaffeinated coffee costs more is because of the additional labor, equipment and material needed to remove the caffeine.

So what do they do with all of that caffeine? The extracted caffeine is manufactured and used mostly in medicines and soft drinks.

As an example, the caffeine content in soft drinks mainly comes from the caffeine extracted from these decaffeination processes. The kola nut accounts for less than 5 percent of the caffeine in cola drinks.

For the past 30 years scientists have done extensive research on coffee and the effects of caffeine. New research has even shown that caffeine has many positive effects.

Some of these effects include more energy, the ability to concentrate better and has even been used as an appetite suppressant.

But not all scientists agree with these findings and coffee and the effects of caffeine will continue to be thoroughly researched.

There will always be a market for decaffeinated coffee because some people just love their coffee without the caffeine buzz.

The rest of the 100 million regular coffee drinkers either love their coffee for the wonderful flavor or enjoy the effects of a caffeine boost. For most of us, I'm sure it's a little of both.

Copyright © 2005 Best-Coffee-Makers-Online.com All Rights Reserved.


This article courtesy of Best Coffee Makers Online where you can easily shop and compare coffee makers so you can purchase exactly what you're looking for at great values. For more articles like these go to: Coffee Articles.