Pod Espresso Makers

Pod espresso makers are almost foolproof

Experts agree that making espresso at home is a complicated business. You have to buy fresh coffee beans and store them properly. Then, each time you pull a shot, you have to grind the beans to the proper fineness, decide how much coffee to use and tamp the grounds down with the right amount of pressure. You can avoid a lot of trial and error by purchasing a machine that accepts pods -- prepackaged filter packets that come in several varieties. Purists disdain these types of espresso makers because although they greatly simplify the process, they also take away a lot of the creativity and skill from making espresso.

Cleanup with a pod coffee maker couldn't be easier. You can only make one shot at a time (regular espresso makers generally let you make two shots), and the pods cost more (about 50¢ each) in the long run than buying coffee and grinding it yourself. Pods are available online, as well as in some retail stores. Owners say that the pods stay fresh for months, so you can keep a good supply on hand. The downside is that you're strictly limited to prepackaged pods for your particular machine; Nespresso, for example, has a line of 12 pods available year-round and a few seasonal pod varieties. Espresso enthusiasts say that pods cannot compete with freshly ground coffee beans for flavor, but on the flipside, many owners say espresso from pods tastes just as good as or better than coffee shop espresso.

Editors at Food & Wine deem the Nespresso Concept D290 (*Est. $500) the best pod machine they evaluated. After six months of testing, Slate's Alex Abramovich also chooses the Nespresso D290 as his favorite: "The machine is so reliable and easy to use that I found myself overlooking the inconvenience of Nespresso's online ordering system." He writes that inexperienced baristas could "spend all day trying to make a better cup than this one produces at the touch of a button." We found only a dozen or so owner-written reviews posted to Amazon.com and Epinions, but most are positive. Owners rave about the Nespresso D290's convenience and efficiency, and several praise its unusual design, which features a carafe-shaped water tank. The Nespresso D290 ejects spent pods in a container that you empty after eight cups, and it has a removable steam wand. Otherwise, the Nespresso D290 works like any other top-quality espresso machine, using pump action that generates 15 bars of pressure.

If you don't care about frothing milk to make cappuccino, but still like the idea of a pod espresso maker, the Nespresso Le Cube C180 (*Est. $300) and the Nespresso Essenza (*Est. $230) earn high marks for their espresso. Neither has a milk frothing wand, so if you plan to make cappuccino, you'll need to look elsewhere. Reviewers say that the Le Cube is a good overall performer, but it has a relatively small water reservoir, and its brewing temperature varies from cup to cup. We read a handful of reviews of the 11-pound Le Cube at Amazon.com. Owners praise its sleek Deco design, and they say that it's a great machine if you want espresso only.