Coffee Brewing - An Art or a Science?

Art or a Science?While there are many who consider coffee brewing more of an art than a science in today's busy world an automated approach can be acceptable to some. To others it is probably an anathema to even consider using anything but the purest of approaches.However, whatever your personal opinion may be, there are now a number of automated single serve coffee makers on the market which have been accepted by many users as a practical solution for their coffee making needs.In its simplest and stripped down form brewing coffee essentially consists of passing steam or hot water through ground coffee beans or immersing the ground beans in hot water to extract their oils and flavors.But I can hear the gasps of horror from those who consider this a base description of what many consider to be an almost sacrosanct ritual - brewing coffee. And in many ways they are right. Because it is the finessing of the whole process that makes all the difference to the final result. Selection of the beans, the type of roast, the size and how recent the grinding, the quantity of coffee to use, the quality and temperature of the water and the brewing time are all factors in the quality and taste of the resulting cup of coffee.So if immersing yourself in the preparation and brewing of your favorite coffee is something you enjoy then by all means continue to do so. There is no criticism implied in any of this. It is just that some of us lesser mortals find it all just a bit too time consuming and difficult. And from personal experience I would add that some of the 'home' equipment, particularly say an expresso machine, is difficult and messy to use on a daily basis.Single Serve Coffee Machines - An AlternativeTaking all these factors into consideration many folk feel their coffee preparation activities have been simplified and enhanced with the advent of the various single serve coffee makers that are now on the market. Names that immediately come to mind are Bosch, Keurig, Hamilton Beach, Senseo, Breville, Cuisinart, Krups and Delonghi. From a brief overview of user comments it appears that Bosch and Keurig are the more popular brands. However I am sure that each particular machine will have their own strong advocates because of personal preference and experience. And we should bear in mind that taste, machine function and usability are as much about perception and personal preference as they are about technicalities.Tassimo Coffee Maker - Goes One BetterHowever it is the technicalities that most of these machines deal with. Take, for instance, the Tassimo Coffee Maker from Bosch. This is one of the more popular makes generally referred to as a single serve beverage machine by the maker. Why? Because it is also capable of making tea, hot chocolate and a variety of more specialised coffee options. It achieves all this using Bosch's clever Tassimo T Disc and bar code reading system. The T Disc, with it's bar code, is a sealed pod containing the correct quantity of the appropriate beverage ingredients - coffee, tea, chocolate. The T Disc is inserted into the Tassimo Coffee Maker with the bar code face down and the lid is shut. The bar coding technology reads the code to determine what the pod contains which allows it to set all the relevant brewing requirements - remember them from before? Brewing time, water quantity, temperature and the like. All of which are coordinated by the Tassimo Coffee Maker to give you a single cup of your favorite beverage in under a minute.In Summary - A Viable Daily OptionSo to summarize - coffee is drunk by millions of us every day and is a most enjoyable beverage. All coffee drinkers know there is a whole culture surrounding the preparation and serving of a first class cup of coffee. However for many of us there is neither the time nor inclination to do this on a daily basis. But we would still like to quickly and easily prepare a good cup of coffee. And it here that the Tassimo Coffee Maker range comes to the rescue. It is quick, accurate and prepares a more than acceptable cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate for us.Sure the Tassimo Coffee Maker may never satisfy the expectations of the barista or coffee connoisseur but it helps thousands enjoy their coffee each and every day. It is certainly a valid option for most of us allowing us to quickly and easily prepare a single cup of coffee at any time.