Single-serve coffee systems and one cup coffee makers were first introduced in the late 1990s, and have become more and more popular with each passing year. If you are considering a one cup coffee maker for your house or office, there are a number of things you should consider in making your decision.

Types of Single Serve Coffee Makers

These days, a one cup coffee maker is more than a just a miniature drip coffee maker. There are many different kinds of coffee makers that only make one or two servings of coffee at a time. They include some of the oldest types of coffee makers in the world - the French press and the steam mocha pot, for instance. However, when most people refer to one-cup coffee makers today, they're talking about automatic coffee makers. These fall into two different types of machine - a drip coffee maker that serves up one cup of coffee at a time, or the so-called single-serve coffee systems that use pods, cups or some other sort of special delivery system for coffee.

The first thing to consider when deciding on a single cup coffee maker is whether you're willing to be limited in your choice of coffee. The major brands of single serve coffee makers - Senseo, Tassimo, and Keurig - all require that you use coffee that is specially packaged for their machines. If a wide selection of coffees is important to you, or if you have a specific favorite, you'll either want to be sure that the coffee maker you choose offers your favorite brand of coffee or choose a standard drip coffee maker that brews a single cup at a time.

What to look for: One-Cup Drip Coffee Makers

There are only a few considerations if you're choosing a one-cup drip coffee maker. They include:


  • Does the coffee maker require paper filters, or does it use a permanent filter?

  • Does the coffee maker dispense coffee into a regular sized mug?

  • Can the height be adjusted for a larger mug or does it come with a thermal travel mug for easy dispensing?

  • Can you make two or more cups immediately after one another?

  • Can it be set to start your coffee automatically on a timer?


What to look for: Single Serve Coffee Systems

All single serve coffee systems have a number of things in common - they all have a reservoir to hold water, a boiler or heater to heat water, and some sort of specially designed coffee-and-filter combination through which the water is either pumped or dripped to extract the coffee. The major difference between the brands is in the coffee holder/filter mechanism. Each of the major brands uses a different kind of system.