The title of this post is quite literally stolen from this post, and it is now time to dissect the value, if you will, of coffee pods.
There are many different forms of coffee machine out there. When I worked for a major sofa retailer, we had a coffee machine that was less pod, more… sachet? Yet the overall concept was the same. It provided virtually instant, hot coffee, of various types (cappuccino, latte, mochas, espressos, flat whites, you name it). This machine is considerably more expensive than the Tassimo machine I have at home, but is the quality of the coffee noticeably better? I am unconvinced. Don’t get me wrong, the machine did make good coffee, but it wasn’t dramatically superior to anything the Tassimo machine provided.
Then there’s the query of whether or not the pods can ever match coffee done via percolator. You don’t see percolators around much these days, but they make a very good, punchy coffee. There are also various techniques employed at places like Starbucks and Costa, both of whom are specialists in this particular caffeine field. I dare say a coffee out of Starbucks is extremely nice, but is it worth so much more money than say, a Greggs or McDonald’s coffee?
McDonald’s coffee is sorely underrated. A toffee-nut latte from there is a very good accompaniment to a McD’s breakfast. I highly doubt McDonald’s make use of the same sophisticated methods employed at Starbucks!
You then have instant coffee (the sachets of powdered coffee, sugar and milk), which is alright, but to me, suffers from being extremely hot (the boiling water from the kettle gives the coffee life, but having recently inflicted a rather horrific burn upon myself via such coffee, I am not especially given to it).
Granules (think your typical jar of typical everyday coffee) are what I usually go for, largely due to availability. The quality does vary a lot. Asda Smartprice is nowhere near as good as a Kenco or Nescafe. Still, sometimes it’s not about the quality, it’s about the caffeine!
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i still use a stove top percolator from the early 60s
I had several coffees over the weekend via a burger van at a trade show. Now, for this sort of coffee, I would be prepared to pay no more than a quid, but at a trade show, everyone is part of the same captive audience, and the owners of the van knew it. £2.50 for filter coffee, and you had to add the milk yourself! They were also crafty. Burger and chips on Friday was around £10, and on Saturday it was £12, when they knew things would get busy.