Which To Choose Conventional Espresso Maker Or a Pod Based System? |
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| By Stephen Tern |
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| For a long time, the choice of machines open to those who
wished to make real coffee at home was really limited. Home coffe makers were comparable to those found in coffee bars and restaurants and used loose coffee, either beans or ground. You had to follow a set procedure:- 1. The coffee had to be ground to the perfect grade. Too coarse and the espresso was weak and did not have the crema on top. Too fine and the machine would struggle to force the water through. Additionally the grain size had to be very uniform for the best results. This often meant investing in an expensive burr-type coffee grinder. 2. The right quantity of coffee then had to be added to the holder and tamped down very accurately and evenly. Failure to do this properly resulted in poor results as the water didn´t flow evenly through the grounds. 3. Hot water, at the right temperature and pressure was then forced through the coffee to give you your espresso. 4. There was generally a steam wand to froth milk for cappuccino. 5. At the end of the day it was essential to clean the machine thoroughly, as any old coffee residue would taint the next day´s brew. Nonetheless, the espresso that a traditional machine makes is brilliant, so long as the exact procedure is learned. A bean-to-cup machine goes a long way to removing some of the hassle. Here the machine measures out and grinds the beans for you - all you have to do is add beans to the container. The measured amount of coffee is added automatically to the container and tamped down properly for you. These machines work well, but a good one will be pretty high-priced and take up a lot of space on the counter. Against this, the advantages of a pod-based machine are obvious:- 1. The coffee comes in sealed pods, ready ground and measured out. 2. Rather than having to measure and deal with the coffee grounds, you just insert the pod into the top of the coffee maker. 3. Press a button and the machine does the rest - the right amount of water is forced through the coffee in the pod and the coffee flows out of the outlet. 4. When finished, you just throw away the pod, thus removing the need for fiddly cleaning. 5. You can usually buy a wide variety of different coffee pods - and the system allows other drinks to be made in the same way. The same machine can make tea or hot chocolate for example. It can be argued that the results are not actually as good as from a traditional espresso maker; that may be so. You don´t get properly frothed milk of course, as the foam for your cappuccino comes from a milk pod, which may not taste quite so good. But set against the efficiency of operation, these concerns are maybe not important. I think that many espresso machines lie unused because of the trouble of operating and cleaning them - a pod machine will be used repeatedly. Their overall flexibility and ease-of-use is a clue to their attraction. |
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| Article Source: http://interpret.zar.vg | ||||
| About The Author You can read more about the Bosch Tassimo pod-based coffee machines and compare them with say, the Gaggia Classic at Tern Kitchen Reviews. |
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