Single Serve Capsule Reviews

(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 aroma complicated by cherry-toned fruit notes. Rather rich in the cup, with decent body and sweet, wine-toned acidity but little else in the way of nuance. Clean, round short finish, slight bitterness in the long.

(As brewed in a Melitta One:One single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Arabica Express brand 44mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Subdued, faintly rich aroma, with wine and walnut notes and regrettable hints of cardboard. In the cup medium bodied with a roundly acidy, wine-like character and a touch of lush sweetness, though the cardboard still lurks. Rich in the short finish, mildly astringent in the long.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 7.25 ounces): Distinct vanilla and caramel aroma with a hint of sweetly acidy fruit, orange perhaps. In the cup light in body and delicate in mouthfeel, soft and simple in flavor with dilute hints of caramel and orange. Moderately rich in the short finish, very slightly astringent in the long.

(As brewed in a Juan Valdez Pod Coffee Maker in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Flowers edging on sweet grass in the delicate, rather shallow aroma. In the cup softly and gently acidy, with tart but sweet cherry notes and a light (rather than thin) body and smooth mouthfeel. Short, clean, simple finish.

(As brewed in a Senseo HD7810 single-serve brewing device in a Senseo brand 62mm pod at a cup volume of 8 ounces): Ingratiatingly sweet and caramelly aroma with remote suggestions of low-acid fruit: banana perhaps. In the cup thin bodied and lean. The sweet, mildly fermented fruit reads as a sort of dilute, wine-toned chocolate. The sweet chocolate persists rather richly in the short finish, but seems to grow a bit cloying in the long. (Same coffee, same pod as brewed in a Black & Decker One-Cup Coffee Maker at a cup volume of 7 ounces): The musty-fermented notes that read as caramelly and chocolaty in the Senseo cup come across here as, well, musty and fermented, although they charitably can be read as a sort of twisted semi-sweet chocolate, think chocolate crossed with fresh tobacco. Rated 78 as brewed in the Black & Decker.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 7.25 ounces): Sweet, simple, caramelly aroma. In the cup medium-bodied but lean in mouthfeel, with a thinly pungent, musty/malty character and hints of cherryish fruit. A mild musty astringency in the finish leans toward rich.

(As brewed in a Black & Decker single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 7 ounces): Good complexity in the aroma -- caramel, sweet floral grass, hints of fresh leather and semi-sweet chocolate ? although the general impression remains shallow and thin. In the cup watery, half-heartedly bittersweet, with vague hints of fruit and chocolate. Simple but surprisingly rich finish.

(As brewed in a Krups 1010 single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 6 ounces): Simple, sweet, subdued, vaguely fruity aroma, with a slight hint of smoke. Bitterish, simple and shallow in the cup, with the only complication the same remote hints of fruit and smoke.

(As brewed in a Juan Valdez Pod Coffee Maker in a Juan Valdez 55mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Shallow, sweet, smoky aroma, with some peach-toned fruit and a hint of cardboard. In the cup simple and bittersweet with a possibility of reading the bitter side as walnut. The cardboard tones hinted in the aroma turn disturbingly old-board woody.

(Tasted as produced by the Melitta One:One single-serve brewing device using a Melitta 44mm pod at a cup volume of 8 ounces): Soft, shallow aroma with vanilla- and peach-toned fruit notes. In the cup this coffee landed on the palate like a liquid brick: bitter, hard and monotoned. Some sweetness and vague suggestions of vanilla and caramel were quite overwhelmed by bitterness in the cup and a soapy astringency in the finish.

Thin but intense aroma, with distinct papaya-toned fruit. Medium-bodied but lively in the cup, where the high-toned fruit, still reminiscent of papaya, takes on a delicate chocolate richness. Sweet, balanced acidity.

The authoritative aroma is dominated by low-toned fruit: apricot or papaya. In the cup the fruit brightens, lifts and intensifies, suggesting a tartly sweet temperate fruit like green apples. Light-to-medium-bodied but roundly smooth in mouthfeel; sweetly acidy.

Sweet, low-key, expansive aroma. In the cup rich and cleanly roasty, with an agreeable bittersweet balance complicated by fresh leather, chocolate and a shimmer of sweet grapefruit. The grapefruit persists in the rich but astringent finish.

Balanced, low-toned aroma with a tickle of fruit and chocolate. Maintains its character in the cup: low-toned, understated, balanced, complicated by a faintly chocolate-inclining prune and apricot.

The aroma is round and intense but limited in nuance. The cup adds a complicating hint of chocolate-toned fruit to a similarly limited but balanced and deeply resonant profile.

Smoky, leathery and sweet in the aroma, with a hint of low-toned fruit. Softens and relaxes in the cup, with the smoky fruit sweetening toward chocolate. Lean in mouthfeel but rich in impression.

A coffee seen from the far end of the taste telescope, intriguing but shrunk and diminished. The aroma is lushly sweet with a hint of grapefruit. The cup is sweet as well, but complicated only by an agreeable but simple acidity. Once past the aroma little nuance of any kind. Slightly astringent in the finish.

Virtually no aroma. The cup is potatoey and flat on first impression, but with patient drinking a quietly satisfying profile emerges, with a balance of bitter, sweet, and acidy tones complicated by a low-key fruit that sneaks up on milk chocolate.

The aroma is delicate to a fault, more neutral than balanced. The mouthfeel is lean and the flavor watery, with a faintly sweet, delicately acidy character complicated by attractive grapefruit notes.

The aroma is shallow and cloyingly sweet, though complicated by pleasant Meyer lemon notes. The lemon notes carry into the otherwise undistinguished cup, which is thinly acidy and simple.