One Cup Personal Coffee Makers

I am the only one in the family who drinks coffee. During the weekday mornings I only have time for one cup. On the weekend mornings I usually drink two or three cups. When my drip coffee maker stopped working and it was time to look for a new one my sister-in-law went shopping with me. She suggested that I look into one cup coffee makers.

She has one, a Black and Decker Cup-at-a-Time personal coffeemaker, and she loves it. She's the only one who drinks coffee too. She says it's quick and easy and the coffee pods are always fresh. She can quickly make her one cup to go for the weekday commute to work and drink her two cups on the weekends.

I have another friend who has a Brew N' Go Delux personal coffee maker that has a stainless steel mug. Both the Brew N' Go and the Black and Decker one cup coffee makers are very inexpensive between $17 and $25.

Some may think me a bit of a snob, but I like gourmet coffee. That's why I looked into the Tassimo Hot Beverage System. It comes with lots of different "pods" so you can make a variety of drinks, milk based lattes, cappuccinos, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. This coffee maker and pod are state of the art. Tassimo pods, called T-Disc, each have a barcode with information that the coffee maker reads. The barcode tells the machine the precise water temperature and length of brew to get the best flavor from the coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Tassimo has coffee pods from Maxwell House, Mastro Lorenzo, Carte Noire, Nabob, Gevalia Kaffe, Seattle's Best, and Suchard hot chocolate. This machine runs about $170, but is the absolutely perfect gift for the coffee lover who has everything.

There are lots of other one cup coffee makers on the market, one from Melitta and one from Hamilton Beach. The Gevalia Coffee-for-One personal coffee maker runs about $20. Keurig is up there with Tassimo and also offers pods from the best coffee and tea manufacturers, like Green Mountain, Gloria Jean's, Coffee People and Timothy's.

Here's an idea of the prices for T-Discs; Gevalia Cappuccino $8.90 for 8 discs, Gevalia Espresso $8.95 for 16 discs, Suchard hot chocolate $7.95 for 8 discs. Yes, more expensive than a drip brewer, but less expensive and far more convenient than topping at Starbuck's or 7-11 on the way to work.