Coffee Pods - Their History

Coffee pods are the original invention of Phillips and Douwe Egberts, a subsidiary of the Sara Lee Corporation. These pods and the coffee pod machine in which they are used come under the trademark of Senseo. They were originally developed in order to do away with the need for a separate coffee filter. They are made in much the same way as a tea bag. They are placed in the receptacle at the top of the pod brewing machine, pressurized hot water is passed through the paper pod into a cup which is placed beneath the coffee discharge chute. The whole process takes between 30 seconds and one minute depending on the cup size.

[b]Coffee Pods [/b]

There has been controversy over the years due to the fact that Senseo has insisted that not only was the Senseo coffee maker a patented item but so were the coffee pods which were used in the machine, according to an application which was made to the European patents office on 30 September 1998. Although this patent was granted in May 2001, a judge in Antwerp ruled against Senseo on 20 November 2004. This was after Senseo had attempted to place an injunction against other coffee manufacturers from making their own coffee pods. Senseo were ruled against on the grounds that the coffee pods had existed before Senseo had built their machine. Although the ruling does not affect any of Senseo's coffee machines, it means that the pods are now available in a wide variety of brands.

Senseo coffee comes in several different blends. The main blends include a mild roast, a regular roast, a dark roast, and a mocha. They have also produced a decaffeinated variety for those who like the coffee taste but cannot take the caffeine hit. Two of the several specialist blends that Senseo manufactures are the Colombian blend and the Kenyan blend. Launches of new varieties of coffee pods continue throughout the European Union, in selected markets.

The new generation coffee machine from Senseo was given its launch in 2007. There are several changes to the original machine including an indicator light which tells the user when there is insufficient water to make two cups of coffee. Originally this indicator light only warned of insufficient water for one cup of coffee. There is also an adjustable discharge chute with the new model and a much larger water reservoir than the previous Senseo coffee making machine.

Coffee Pods - Their History

Chloe Anderson writes a blog about kitchen appliances including the pod coffee maker and its associated ESE coffee pods.