Before I recently tried the Senseo Cappuccino pod, I was incredibly skeptical. I've had some amazing cappuccinos at some fantastic coffee shops, so this was going to be a tough bar to surpass. There's just something great about getting the real deal at a coffee shop where the barrista is properly trained to froth and heat the milk to the perfect temperature, adding just the right amount of espresso, etc. To think that someone was going to come along and stuff this great experience into a tiny little pack of single serving coffee was just silly.
After brewing up a cup, I'm happy to report that I was way off in my prediction. While these coffee pods aren't perfect, they are a pretty fantastic alternative that is ten times more convenient than going out into the crummy weather and waiting in line at the local cafe. The fact that you can so effortlessly brew up a cappuccino is amazing in its own right, but the fact that Senseo has delivered such high quality is really a thing of beauty. Thus, the insignificant hit that you take in terms of quality shouldn't even enter your mind.
If there was one big difference between the Senseo version and the real thing, it would be the strength of the overall end result. Luckily, some clever people have been experimenting with varying the strength of the coffee pods and have determined that doubling or even tripling the amount of pods that are brewed at one time seems to solve the issue nicely. It is really going to come down to individual experimentation because everyone has a different gold standard for the strength of their cappuccino. I gave this a try myself, doubling the amount of pods - the result was surprisingly good, and this is how I've been brewing these little pods ever since. Since the Senseo cappuccino coffee pods come in boxes of 40, you won't be constantly running out even if you use more than one pod at a time. I've actually come to see this as a strength: You can precisely control the boldness of the cappuccino just by putting in more pods, but without the waste that comes with making a cappuccino the traditional way.
Overall, my experience with the Senseo coffee pod was a great one. This was my first foray into single serving cappuccino, having only dealt with the more traditional coffee products in the past. Based on this positive experience, I'll definitely be trying out other espresso-based pods!
