Dari has once again come through. Based on the recommendation that his father enjoyed the Philips Senseo, I picked one up for a coffee solution at work.

...the SENSEO® Coffee Machine brings great taste - in both design and coffee - to your kitchen. The patented system uses perfectly balanced proportions of coffee and water. Mild pressure and a special spray head produce an optimally balanced coffee filtering process.

The problem at work is the big industrial machine we have just doesn't make that good coffee. I'm not a big fan of drip, there is so much to clean up, and the coffee is decent, but frequently a bit weak for my taste.

Let us review some of Philips' claims about the product:

Each cup is perfectly brewed and topped with a rich, frothy coffee layer

Note here that Philips does not claim the "layer" is crema. It's not even really crema-like. However for the price, and what you can expect from this type of machine, it does meet their claims.

Quick and easy one touch brewing system brews a cup in 30 seconds.

Absolutly does this. It's not crazy loud like some would have you believe, although I did find the instructions a bit confusing, not mentioning anything about waiting for the power light to stop blinking before selecting 1 or 2 cups for the brew size.

Convenient, no worry auto shutoff after 1 hour

I guess it does this, I've never left it on that long. I'm not even sure why you'd want it to stay on, there is no hot plate or anything. Perhaps just a safety feature, which is always nice.

Clean up is simple with dishwasher safe removable parts

Clean up is simpled. Dead simple. Everything is neat and tidy, and for me that is a super big plus.

1450 watts of power

Well, yes, it does have that much power as far as I can tell.

All-in-all for an under $50 coffee solution (after rebates and if your shipping is free and there is no tax) it's possibly the best I've ever seen (all things considered).

The coffee selection is a bit limited, though, and although I've seen Kona pods, I've yet to see Maui pods (sorry Dad).