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Philips Senseo
by mjc121
I bought my machine a few years ago as I have always had the habit of not wanting to get up in the morning then not having time to boil the kettle etc.
The machine uses coffee pods, you can buy both the 'Douwe Egbert's' ones or the generic shops own. Once it has heated the amount of water needed at the touch of a button the ... coffee is made by passing the hot water through the coffee pod. Whilst it has a fairly large water tank it only heats the water it needs to hence it can save energy.
The machine does come in a range of colours and it does look good and isn't clumsy looking like others on the market. Cleaning it is easy as the area where the coffee pod sits and the base is detachable.
the machine comes with two 'pod bases' one will hold one coffee pod the other will hold two. I assumed this was to make one or two cups of coffee. As the machine has a double spout two cups can be made at the same time.
However for me the coffee the machine makes is simply not strong enough, even by using the dark roast coffee pods so I have started to use the double pod base and two pods for one cup. It is also quite noisy in use but it makes the coffee quickly.
It also has a safety device where by if there is not enough water in the tank the machine won't start. This is indicated by the light on the power button flashing quickly. The machine will need descaling from time to time, as I live in a hard water area I tend to use filtered water in the machine so this will give a longer period of time between descales.
The machine is small enough to be left out on the kitchen worktop when not in use but can be stored in a corner cupboard although it's shape may cause a problem in small cupboards. The coffee pods can vary in price depending on where you by them but on average they are around £2.30 for a pack of 18. The coffee pods come in four types, light, medium and dark roast and decaffeinated. They have now started producing mug size pods (20 pods for £3.29 - waitrose price). For this just put the two cup pod holder in the machine, one of these pods and then set up as normal. However, you will need to press the two cup button and this will make enough coffee for a mug. (YAY!! - I just drink too much coffee I think)
When I bought the machine it was when they first came out and it cost about £45. I did get it with a special deal with three packs of the coffee pods and two coffee cups. I believe they have come down in price since but as with all things they always do in the end.
As it is made by Philips it is a name I trust and it appears to be well built and it doesn't look like it will drop to bits on it's first use. The bit which may fail fist is the valve type thing on the bottom of the removable water tank as this type of thing has failed on other machines I have seen and used in the past.
I have had this machine for about 5 years now and it is still going strong so it is well made.
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Philips Senseo
by corshamy
I have been using Senseo's for a couple of years now both in the UK and France. It is simple to use, reliable and produces excellent results.
A particular advantage is that it uses one of the cheaper type of coffee pods available in the shops. If ou go to France you might find the coffee pods are a lot cheaper as well (euro ... rate permitting)
It only heats the water needed to operate and is quick to start from cold. it is quite possible to make several cups that you can all drink together rather than just one person at a time.
Cleaning is quite simple because all the relevant bits detach quite easily and just as important they are easy to put back together again.
You can chose different colour finishes. We have a blue one and my in-lwas have an ivory one - so they can blend into your kitchen theme.
Easy to use and makes good coffe.
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Solis Palazzo
by Corrado
This is a great super automatic. Firstly, the machine has a rapid steam feature which works perfectly and you can also choose which way round you want to Brew and Steam, either way works and the expresso is still good.
One feature, they directly solved was having a shorter path for the expresso to travel, to get to the cup. ... Being only 2.5 inches in this machine, it means it doesn't cool down on the way to the cup. It is also pretty small and fits right into most places with ease, as well as being on a turntable, which is always helpful.
This machine really has it all and is only around £300 to £400. There is really nothing it has forgotten about. It even has a fully automatic cleaning system, so you just press a button and it cleans itself! It's such an easy machine to use and this is why I've given it five stars.
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