Philips Senseo Coffee Maker Review
Cleverly designed with very few moving parts, the Philips Senseo HD7810 appears as if it will outlast other plastic coffee makers. The unit employs a vacuum pump, which does however have the potential for wearing out.
The Philips Senseo coffee maker has three buttons and three removable parts. The removable parts simply fall into place; there are no snap fittings to struggle with and are just as easy to remove when required. All controls are conveniently placed on the front of the machine. This thing is so simple to use, you could make coffee in your sleep.
The coffeemaker uses Senseo coffee pods made by Douwe Egberts. With a coffee pod there is no measuring, no mess. Cleanup involves simply tossing the pod away. It was simpler than I had ever imagined. My unit shipped with 36 coffee pods, each of which will make a single cup. The pods are available in "mild roast", "medium roast", "dark roast" and decaf. My unit shipped with "mild roast".
If this unit has a weakness it's the use of proprietary coffee pods. As of this writing this unit requires Senseo (Douwe Edwards) pods. I checked, and the pods, although not available at my usual grocer, were readily available nearby. The pods are also available online.
Coffee pods appear to be the future of home coffee brewing so it may be that eventually other suitable pods will become available for this unit. It may be that the standard E.S.E. espresso pods made by Illy and other manufacturers will work with this unit.
This Philips Senseo coffee maker is not programmable, but this is simply unnecessary because it takes less than one minute to fill the reservoir, insert the pod, and produce a cup of coffee. In fact it's simpler and faster than making instant coffee. The water reservoir is removable, which makes for easy filling, and accommodates one or two cups.
I am a coffee snob. No coffeemaker will ever make coffee as good as my French press, and I can't use my favorite brand of coffee with the Philips Senseo HD7810. But the Douwe Egberts coffee pods are good as long as you use the "dark roast" blend. Considering the convenience of this thing, I may just mend my snobbish ways.
Although the pods are pre-measured, you can vary the strength of the coffee. The unit accommodates one or two pods. I was able to make stronger coffee by doubling the pods and using the single cup setting.
This unit requires almost no cleanup. When required, it can be thoroughly cleaned in less than a minute.
Although very well designed, I think the unit could be slightly more compact. It is as tall if not taller than many multi-cup units and just about as bulky. Looking more like a modern espresso machine than a coffee maker, its sleek "Italian" design is stylish but generic enough to fit in to just about any setting.
