The Overrated Coffee Appliance You Should Think Twice About Before Buying

These days there are countless ways to make coffee at home, with these coffee-brewing methods running the gamut from the simple pour-over to complex and potentially confusing espresso machines. They can all brew your morning coffee, but while some brew a quality cup, others just don't pass muster. According to Matt Woodburn-Simmonds, ex-barista and founder of Home Coffee Expert, the increasingly common single-serving coffee makers, like Keurig and Nespresso machines, are better avoided.

These machines are convenient for certain settings, like a hotel or the waiting room at an auto mechanic. In those places, the ability to brew a single cup of coffee without much fuss can be a boon. But in your own kitchen, they are more of a burden. "You have to buy specific pods which hugely limit your choice and can end up being very expensive in the long run," Woodburn-Simmonds says. "Especially if you like a lot of coffee." But the cost of operating these machines is far from the only concern.

"There is also the waste to consider,"  Woodburn-Simmonds continues. "Three or four pods per day, every day, is a lot of waste. Even if you recycle them it's much, much worse than buying bags of beans for a super automatic machine or to grind yourself." From an environmental perspective, Nespresso pods are more sustainable than Keurig, as they are made from aluminum and can easily be recycled, but in either case you are still creating a lot of waste.

Perhaps the largest issue for a coffee conoisseur, however, is the quality of the brew itself. "With single serve machines, they are locking you in to their branded coffee pods," Woodburn-Simmonds says, and "the coffee quality is really not very good." Not only do these machines limit your morning brew options to the Keurig K-Cup coffee pods or Nespresso Signature Pods available, but even the best of those options often churns out a middling cup of coffee. "These machines use coffee that is pre-ground and then sealed," he explains, meaning "the quality will never be as high as using a machine with freshly ground beans."

It's not all about what not to use; this coffee expert has some advice on what you should be using to make your coffee instead, with his favorites being an Aeropress and a semi-automatic espresso machine. "The AeroPress is the easier and cheaper of the two," he explains, "[It's] admittedly much more work than a single-serve, but the coffee quality is miles better." But, if you can swing the expense, Woodburn-Simmonds thinks an automatic espresso machine is the way to go, and the more automated, the better. "Making your own espresso at home takes time and practice," he says, "but spending a bit more on a super-automatic machine that does everything for you from bean to cup but without horrible pods, is also a superb option if you can afford one."