The Senseo pod brewers are designed to complete a brew in less than a minute with relatively little water pressure. You have to let the water soak through all the coffee if you want to get the best solids extraction from a coffee pod.
To brew the best cup of coffee in your Senseo 7819, Steep the Coffee. Steeping simply means allowing the coffee pod to get fully saturated by the water.
To steep the coffee, you must stop the brewing process after about one ounce has been brewed into the cup. Then wait for a minimum of 30 seconds and restart the brewing process. You can vary the wait time to suit your personal taste. If you want a stronger cup of coffee, steep the coffee and then you can stop the brewing process at the point where brew suits your taste. If you want weaker coffee extend the brewing time to suit your taste. You will learn with experience. By following these instructions you can brew coffee as strong or as weak as you'd like with your Senseo pod brewer. To stop a brewer to allow the coffee steep time, turn the brewer off with the on/off switch and after the steep time start the brewing by pressing the on/off switch. If you want a stronger cup of coffee you can stop the brewer from pumping more hot water into your cup by removing your cup from the brewer and sliding a second cup under the spigot to prevent a mess.
Tips and Tricks to brewing a better cup of coffee with a coffee pod brewer.
- Always use good coffee. Use either pure Arabica or Arabica blends. Be advised that there is an extremely wide range of Arabica coffees. Some low grade Arabica coffees I've tasted were horrible and some higher grades were excellent. Someday I dream of tasting the best coffee on earth; my search continues.
- Use nitrogen-flushed pods. Always use coffee pods that were ground and individually packaged in a nitrogen atmosphere. This manufacturing process insures fresh roast taste. Here again, be advised. Some high volume coffee pod manufacturers use older podding equipment that grind and make coffee pods in normal oxygen atmosphere (air) and then, the oxygenated coffee pods are packaged in individual pouches. This manufacturing method produces a beautiful individually packaged pod but the coffee pod inside the package is saturated with oxygen and has been decomposing since the coffee was ground. I hope the coffee companies employing this method are not using high grade Arabica coffee because they are just wasting good coffee beans which are in short supply.
- Clean your pod brewer. Clean (flush) your pod brewer at least once every six months. This is even more important if you use the brewer very seldom because stale coffee dries in the pump, boiler and tubing between each infrequent use and builds up. In addition to clogging the brewer, two month old coffee is not a pleasure to taste when it is mixed in with the fresh coffee. You can buy special coffee pot cleaner at the market or use regular vinegar. I use vinegar because I know what it is and it is not harmful. When I read the label on the commercial coffee pot cleaners my natural survival instincts kick in.
The cleaning process is simple. Put a used coffee pod in the pod holder so the cleaning activity is done under pressure. Put about 14 ounces of vinegar in the brewer's tank. Brew about four cups of vinegar coffee (yukk) into a container while waiting at least 10 minutes between each brew. Then rinse the brewer by brewing 5 to 8 cups of clean water without the waiting interval and without the used coffee pod. Repeat the process if you feel that it is necessary.
If your brewer is cleaned every six months the cleaning will make very little taste difference. If you hadn't cleaned the brewer in 18 months or so, you'll taste a huge difference.
There are only two things worth mentioning that you positively can not do with a coffee pod brewer: One: You can’t get more coffee out of a pod than is in the pod. If you want good cup of coffee you can not brew more than a 9 ounce brew using a 10 to 11 gram premium coffee pod or a 6 ounce brew using a 6 to 7 gram pod such as those available at the markets. Two: There is no magic button on any pod brewer that will make bad coffee taste good.
We always welcome any constructive comments or suggestions about making a better cup of coffee with a Senseo 7810 brewer.
