Pod-based coffee makers, like the Philips Senseo, are perfect for time pressed javaheads like us. They produce a quick, tasty cuppa superior to anything that trickles out of a drip machine. The only downside? Unless you seek out specialty mail-order suppliers, the actual coffee for these machines varies from weak to weaker. To the rescue comes the Perfect Pod Maker. This machine allows you to make your own sturdy, convenient pods from your favorite blend. All you need do is put the ground coffee in the empty pod, fold it over and close the machine's cover to weld the pod shut. It took us all of 10 minutes to grind coffee and stamp out a week's worth of robust pods—great for those mornings when the simple act of pouring cafe is like writing a doctoral dissertation. —David Becker
WIRED Ability to produce a fresh coffee pod immediately before brewing consistently yields a tasty, full-bodied mug of joe. Cheaper than virtually any pre-made pod. Pod making technique is easy—we mastered it in mere minutes.
TIRED Pods are rather expensive for what amounts to basically a little disc of gummed paper. Warning: Don’t grind that coffee too fine; pulverized java has a tendency to clog pod-based machines. Trust us.
$40, perfectpodmaker.com
