bostonredhead
Boston, MA
Revolution in Coffee? How About Really Easy Instead?
4 star rating

a believer in trying new things, practical, a lover of unique kitchen gadgets, a busy person
Pros

    Quick and Easy

Cons
    Coffee is average

NOV
15
2007

Philips Senseo HD7810/95 5-Cup Coffee Maker — 

The Senseo Coffee System is more of an evolution in coffee enjoyment than a revolution in coffee enjoyment as the Philips company that markets it claims. In a nutshell the Senseo is quick and easy to use - and the coffee is not bad either. How did I come the sensation "many Europeans have experienced for themselves"? My mother gave me one as a present. She had experienced the sensation while visiting a friend and thought it would be a good appliance for me to use because I desperately need coffee in the morning and I hate cleaning the coffee pot between uses. Mom also thinks I spend way too much on lattes at Starbucks as well. So, she gave me a black Senseo that she bought at Kohl's for $65. Since all of my appliances are white and blue, I took it back to Kohl's to replace it. Since they only carry black Senseo's, I came home and went to the Senseo.com site in order to track down a store with a blue Senseo machine. The website was easy to use. By typing in my zip code, I immediately got the names of 10 stores in my area most of which were Stop & Shops or Target stores. I also printed out a coupon for $20 off the model when I bought it. Finding the Blue One I got back in the car and headed to Target. It was hear I discovered that Senseo has about 4 other competitors in the "pod coffee maker space". But I stuck with my search for a blue one. First Target store - no luck. Second Target store - bingo! The blue machine was the last one they had for sale. It had clearly been returned by someone as some wrapping paper was stuck on the box, but I didn't care. I bought the blue one and took it home. Target charged $58 for the model. I also bought a bag of medium roast coffee pods for $4.29 at Target. Where Senseo Customer Support Let Me Down I immediately ripped the Senseo machine out of the box and set about making myself "what millions of Europeans have experienced". I found the coffee maker easy to use - but already used! The darn thing was dirty! Since I'd already hit four stores to find my blue one, there was no way that I was taking it back. I just dropped all removeable parts into my dishwasher and headed back to the Senseo website to e-mail customer support. After a week, I'm still waiting for an answer. I had no coffee coupons or free coffee pods with my unit. I can't register it because I had no registration card in my box. So, customer support doesn't impress me much. Get to it - how's the coffee? I found the medium roast to be a bit harsh for my taste. (Probably a surprise since I drink Starbuck's which is also a bit harsh.) I much prefer the Mild Roast. The pods are easy to use and easy to clean up. They are definitely more expensive that using the Maxwell House coffee by the scoop than I was using for my Kitchen Aid 12-cup machine. But the ease of use is worth it to me. I find that using two pods and setting it for 2 cups instead of 1 cup nicely fills my favorite coffee mug and wakes me up in the morning. I have yet to use anyone else's coffee pods in my Senseo machine yet, but will shortly. A $2 off coupon for Maxwell House universal pods with my grocery store receipt will get me trying those next. I expect to be pleased with the results. How does it look? The device is kind of a French blue, not really the bright blue that you see on marketing materials or on the website. It's not exactly like the other bright blue appliances that I have, but it blends nicely with my yellow kitchen. How could they make it better? This is hard to say. It heats up pretty quickly. I generally start it up as soon as I get out of bed and grab my coffee about 5 minutes later. This works fine for me, but I would imagine that some folks would like to see a clock and a timer added to the Senseo. For now, it's okay for my needs. If I have more people to make coffee for than myself, I'll just go back to my 12-cup machine which has all of those features. Summing it all up - if you make coffee for mostly yourself and you're tired of spending too much money at your local coffee shop and cleaning up your coffee maker - than give this a shot. Take advantage of the $20 rebate and all the coupons that exist to get you to try Senseo and their competitor's coffee pods. Just don't expect much out of their online customer support organization. And, I'm still going to give the black machine I have away to someone for the holidays. I think there are a lot of people out there who will enjoy this.



I_thumb_up Philips Senseo HD7810/95 5-Cup Coffee Maker is recommended by bostonredhead

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