Rachel's CafeAll things coffee…

Tassimo vs Keurig

In 2010, sales of single-serve coffee capsules was valued at US$4.3 billion with the US alone accounting for some US$600 million in sales.  Two of the most popular brands using such capsules and in which people usually have a hard time deciding on are Tassimo vs Keurig.

Objectively, both brands have served their respective customers well.

If you are experiencing the dilemma of which would suit you, take heed that the bottom line is to know what you really want, what suits your needs.

Let’s get a low-down on what both brands have to offer :

1. Ease of Use

Both Tassimo and Keurig brands of coffee machines are acknowledged for their ease of use. Simply put, you just need to insert the capsule into the machine, press a button and voila, you’d get that cuppa.

Now, there is only a small difference – particularly in the time taken to have a cuppa from the Tassimo as compared to that made in the Keurig. This is due to the time required to warm up water and filtering the coffee.

It takes about a minute to make a cup of coffee in Keurig against the approximate two minutes taken by Tassimo.

2. Beverages You Ask For

The selection of drinks you can obtain from a Tassimo coffee machine as opposed to Keurig present as the initial difference between both of these brands of machines.

With its T-Discs, Tassimo coffee machines offer you an array of about forty different types of hot beverages comprising coffee, tea, hot chocolate, espresso, cappuccinos and lattes.

Keurig coffee makers, on the other hand, use K-Cups to make coffee, teas and hot chocolate. To date, there are some 200 selections to choose from.

Owners of Keurig machines do not currently have the option of making other hot beverages such as cappuccinos nor lattes. Nevertheless, Keurig claims it is working on such options to increase variety of hot beverages for its consumers. No dates have however been released on when this would happen!

There is really not much difference in the manner that T-Discs and K-Cups are used to make hot beverages in both types of machines.

Having said that though, the Tassimo utilizes its barcode technology present on the T-Discs to estimate the quantity of water to be used, the temperature of that water as well as the timing of the brewing cycle.

This ‘intellegence’ to read, results in a more concentrated (strong) coffee as well as the ability to make cappuccinos and lattes, although making these drinks in the Tassimo does require an extra step. You must use the espresso T-Discs followed by the cappuccino or latte T-Discs.

3. Costs – T-Discs and K-Cups

I found that T-Discs are about $0.56 per cup while the K-Cups are slightly cheaper at about $0.40 per cup. Online stores such as Amazon offers more variety as compared to stores such as Bedbath.

Now What?

To give yourself an optimum choice, ask yourself what you really expect from your coffee machine. To help you do this, I thought considering the following factors might help:

• Do you want to serve your family/guests coffee, tea and hot chocolate or do you also want to include espresso, cappuccino and latte in this selection?

• Are you a ‘strong’ coffee drinker? Most such coffee drinkers opt for Tassimo as they claim that coffee made in Keurig machines does not live up to their expectations even when they use the recommended bold or extra bold blend of coffee.

• Do you love Starbucks coffee so much that you cannot live without it even for a day? If you are, you might think about getting Keurig as Starbucks is no longer producing T-Discs. As of March 2011, it will produce K-Cups for Keurig.

The last thing you should worry about is whether the Tassimo or the Keurig will fit well in your kitchen.

Both machines are seriously aesthetically pleasing and I bet would fit quite snuggly in your kitchen counter-top.

So just be true to yourself and if you can answer to the above considerations, then there shouldn’t be any difficulty in making that choice between Tassimo vs Keurig.

About the Author

Lina Styler conducts reviews on a variety of homewares products in her blog Homewares Review. Prior to managing her own websites, she was a communications executive in an electronics MNC.

Keurig Coffee Maker

Keurig B70 Platinum Brewing System $131.89 The Elite Brewing System is Keurig’s gourmet home brewing made affordable. The Elite Brewing System, the most affordably priced Keurig kitchen brewing system, offers K-Cup® coffee, tea and hot cocoa brewing as the elite choice to any drip coffee maker. The Elite offers two cup sizes for brewing options with the programmable feature of Auto Off. The 48-ounce removable water reservoir holds up to 6…

EZ-Cup for Keurig Coffee Machines By Perfect Pod $9.00 EZ-Cup By Perfect Pod for Keurig Coffee Machines Use any coffee in your Keurig Coffee Machines! Self tamping spring extracts a better cup of coffee or tea. The EZ Cup MUST be used with EZ Cup FILTERS (Sold separtaely). Simple to use and reuse! 1. Place paper filter in center of EZ Cup and wrap edges around EZ Cup 2. Fill coffee into filter 3. Close paper filter lid and wrap lid edges around…

DisposaCup Filters – 100 Disposable Replacement Filters for Use in DisposaCups and others – Box of 100 Filters – FREE PRIME SHIPPING $9.99 Contact us for more information and videos! DisposaCup Filters were created to fill a void that the Keurig® Coffee maker has left in so many Coffee Lovers Homes. Finally you can brew the coffee of your choice in a disposable cup with less mess and zero clean up! Like most Keurig® coffee maker users, you purchased this coffee maker because of its ease of use and no-mess K-cup® packs. Using the D…

Chinet Comfort Cup (16-Ounce Cups), 50-Count Cups & Lids $9.68 Chinet Comfort Cup Hot Cups & Lids are preferred 2 to 1 over other hot drink cups….

DisposaCup Filters – 100 Disposable Replacement Filters for Use in DisposaCups and others – BOX of 100 FILTERS $6.99 Contact us for more information and videos! DisposaCup Filters were created to fill a void that the Keurig® Coffee maker has left in so many Coffee Lovers Homes. Finally you can brew the coffee of your choice in a disposable cup with less mess and zero clean up! Like most Keurig® coffee maker users, you purchased this coffee maker because of its ease of use and no-mess K-cup® packs. Using the D…