Single Serve Capsule Reviews

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Considerably more impressive in a 6-ounce serving size than in an 8. At 6 ounces the aromatics in nose and cup are pleasingly buttery and round with a crisp roasty edge and hints of caramel and chocolate. At 8 ounces the mouthfeel is a tad lean and the aromatics thinnish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): The aroma displays a simple, pure coffee character: tartly sweet, chocolate-toned fruit and a hint of flowers. In the cup medium but silky bodied at 6 ounces, slightly thinnish at 8. At both serving sizes quite sweet, gently tart, with continued delicate chocolate-toned fruit notes. Nice persistence of chocolate and flowers in the finish, although this delicate, lyric coffee stiffens and simplifies a bit as the cup cools.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Distinguished by a sweet, gently tart fruit note in aroma and cup that reads as a sort of crisp orange- and chocolate-toned blackberry - or call it "black currant," a term for this flavor note in vogue among coffee describers. Whatever we call it, it is a precious and agreeable sensation. The body is medium and the mouthfeel silky at a 6-ounce serving, slightly thinnish and lean at 8. Rich finish with good flavor persistence and excellent stability as the cup cools.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Smoke and earth notes in the aroma are brightened by a hint of floral-toned vanilla. In the cup, low-toned acidity, substantial body, and continued smoke, earth and floral notes rounded by a quiet caramel sweetness.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Delicately complex aromatics: suggestions of flowers, chocolate, peach, sweet orange, all of which take on a Riesling-like sweetness and delicacy in nose and cup. Gently bright acidity. Fades rather quickly in the finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): In the aroma buttery and round with low-acid fruit, apple perhaps, and a hint of flowers at the top. Softly acidy. The aromatics consolidate in the cup but remain quietly rich through the short finish, though they fade quickly in the long.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Shifting, complex, sweet-toned aromatics: distinct butter and caramel notes, with suggestions of peach, walnut and flowering grass. In the cup very sweet, and delicately but assertively acidy. Think tartly sweet green apples. Continued peach and floral nuance in the rich but quickly fading finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Smoke, toast, caramel, prune-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup rich, low-key, with continued toast and pruny fruit notes and a hint of flowers.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Sweet, round, toasty caramel aroma with a hint of flowers. In the cup very balanced: sweet, toasty, rich, with a hint of green apply tartness and pruny fruit edging toward chocolate. Sweet and rich in the short finish; turns slightly woody in the long.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Delicate, caramel-toned aroma: flowers, berries, chocolate. In the cup continued caramelly and quite sweet with ongoing berry notes, but slightly cottony in mouthfeel and woody in flavor. The sweetness prevails in the finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): A coffee either pleasingly subtle and delicate or disappointingly subdued and shallow depending on taste and expectation. Caramel, flowers and a hint of smoke or perhaps cinnamon in the aroma. In the cup gently acidy, light-bodied but silky in mouthfeel and mild in flavor, with hints of caramel, cocoa, pear and sweet flowering grass. Very sweet but simple finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Mild but complex aroma: distinct caramel notes and hints of butter (perhaps butterscotch), vanilla and chocolate. Gentle, wine-toned acidity and sweet, delicate flavor with grapey red wine and floral notes and a hint of chocolate. Shallow but quietly persistent finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Very mild, sweet, smokily cedar-toned aroma. In the cup simple, relatively rich for a K-cup brewed coffee, with dried fruit notes - raisins, cherries - that verge on a dark chocolate. Sweet, mildly astringent finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): A complex and rather exotic profile. Round, low-acid fruit (apple?) in the aroma, leaning toward chocolate, with a hint of flowers. In the cup lively, wine-like acidity, with apple, floral, chocolate, nutmeg-like spice notes. Chocolate and apple resurface in the long, quietly rich finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Subdued aroma, with dry fruit (cherry?) and fresh leather notes. In the cup shallow in sensation but crisply balanced, with suggestions of Meyer lemon, white wine, tart cherry edging toward chocolate. Thin but pleasantly sweet, cherry-toned finish.

(As brewed in a Bunn My Cafe MCP single-serve brewing device using a 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Distinct sweet cocoa notes in the aroma, along with hints of low-acid fruit, cherry perhaps. In the cup richly acidy, lean-bodied but rich, with continued sweet cocoa and tart cherry notes with a shimmer of vanilla. Rich, tart but not overly astringent finish. The same pod brewed in the Krups 1010 at a cup volume of 6 ounces scored an 85 with a basically similar profile and description.

(As tasted in a Krups 1010 single-serve brewing device using a 62mm diameter "Home Cafe" pod at a cup volume of 7.5 ounces): Sweetly acidy, winey, high-toned aroma, with some rounding caramel and vanilla notes. In the cup surprisingly full-bodied, sweetly balanced, complicated by wine (more rose than cabernet), vanilla, floral notes. Cleanly sweet, cherry-toned finish. (In the Black & Decker One Cup Coffee Maker and Mr. Coffee AT13, lower-priced single-serve machines taking similar-sized pods, the same Folgers 100% Colombia pod attracted a rating of 81. In the Bunn My Cafe, a machine designed to take multiple sizes of pod, the same pod scored 82.)

(As brewed in a Senseo single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Sweet, round, fairly deep aroma with hunts of chocolate and cherry. In the cup the chocolate and tart cherry notes grow more distinct, complicating a rather rich, sweetly balanced cup and carrying into the clean, round finish.

(Tasted as produced by a Braun Tassimo Single Serve Coffee Maker brewing a Tassimo T-Disc at a cup volume determined by the coding on the capsule, in this case 3.5 ounces): Simple, sweetly smoky aroma, with some depth of sensation and floral and fruit hints. As would be expected given the short serving size, full-bodied in the cup, with a fermented musty fruit that reads as walnut and bitterish semi-sweet chocolate. Cardboardy undertones, perhaps owing to staling. Simple but surprisingly clean short finish, with some mild astringency in the long.

(As brewed in a Bunn My Cafe single-serve brewing device using a 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Lovely aroma: balanced, delicately sweet, floral, with orange-toned citrus notes. Radically simplifies in the cup: turns ordinary, sweetly shallow, gently acidy, lean-bodied. The orange notes resurface in the thin but cleanly refreshing finish. (Same pod as brewed in the Krups 1010 at a cup volume of 6 ounces: Watery, shallow, delicately sweet acidity, remote suggestions of caramel and fruit, basically underextracted. Rating 79.)