Mr. Senseo (Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?)

I had my first cup of coffee when I was 7. (Perhaps that's why I'm not very tall) My Austrian grandmother poured a splash of fresh brewed coffee into a speckled blue tin cup and filled it to the brim with warm milk and a bit of sugar. From that moment I was bewitched by the toasty aroma and obsessed by its creation. My grandma made the coffee in a percolating pot on the stove top. Later, my mother made 12 cups at a time in the automatic drip and in college the deep caramel colored liquid flowed from giant coffee urns into Styrofoam cups. In search of my preferred method I've tried a French press (not enough coffee for the effort), an automatic drip with a separate coffee grinder (kinda messy) and once, in a pinch I used a paper napkin over a mug (not ideal). My counter top espresso machine was a disaster to say the least, too expensive, slightly dangerous (steam is hot!)And it broke after a year.

With a Starbucks around every corner I have neglected my search in recent years in favor of fast convenient coffee to go. In fact, I was quite happy with my $5 coffees until yesterday when I met Senseo. Phillips Electronics has brought Douwe Egberts coffee from the Netherlands to the world with a super fast and clean coffee maker called Senseo. Using petite pods of Douwe Egberts coffee the Senseo quickly and cleanly produces a fine frothy cup o' jo in under a minute just by pushing a button. Gone is the brutal noise of grinding beans in the morning, gone is the trail of grounds on the floor, no more are the stubborn stains on the counter. It's simple- load the pod, push the button, drink the java. There are also several coffee pod flavors to choose from. I started with Dark Roast and French Bistro Vanilla. Is it my favorite coffee of all time? No. However, it is quite tasty and the speed factor is huge especially when I really need the wake up call like Monday morning.

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