I did a lot of research looking for a machine that gave great extraction and temperature, but cost less than $75.  I settled on the Black & Decker GT300 Home Cafe, which supposedly fixes all the design flaws from the earlier model.

Well, it did do that.  It’s easier to use, gives a more even temperature (In fact it gets a little too hot. I actually got a cup to brew once at 190 degrees.) and no chance of an explosion.  The flaw?

It brews water.  The coffee was weak.  I used my strongest 10 oz. pod, on the lowest water setting, 7 oz., and it tasted like watery crap.  I pre-moistened the pod, made sure it had a tight seal, everything.  It didn’t matter.  It was watery every timer.  I tried two pods in the double-pod holder and still used the 7 oz setting - that should have been strong as mud.  It was brown water.

The only way to get a decent cup was to let the first few ounces of water brew into one cup, then switch to the cup I wanted and let it finish.  If I did that with three pods (The cost!  Ouch my wallet), I get a drinkable cup of coffee.  What a pain in the ass.  I decided to return the unit.

The replacement is the Simplehuman A40 single serve coffee pod brewer.  Now this is a machine!

The Simplehuman A40 brews hot, brews fast and brews in two sizes: 5 oz. and 8 oz.  No double pods.  Just a single pod and 5 or 8 oz. of decent coffee.  It’s easy to use, looks good on the counter and stays crunchy even in milk! /ren hoek

The A40 comes with two pod holders: a brown one for deeper pods like Baronet’s 12 oz. megapods, and a green one for more normal-sized pods.  I of course had to try the green one with a megapod, and it did NOT work.  Brewing stopped about halfway through and water leaked out of the head unit.  Don’t try this at home!  10 oz. or bigger should use the brown pod holder.  Further, if you like to double up your pods, note that the A40 does NOT accept double pods and it does not work with specialty drink pods like cappucinos or hot chocolate, etc.  It exists solely to brew coffee and/or tea, which it does very well.

Some single-pod coffee makers give off a plasticy taste, so to make sure the A40 wasn’t going to be one of them, after priming the machine I ran a cup of plain water and drank it.  It tasted like hot, filtered water.  Score another one for the Simplehuman A40.

Pods should be pre-moistened with the A40.  I just run then very quickly top and bottim under the filtered water stream in the sink.  It helps seal the pod’s edges to the holder and helps the extraction process.  Otherwise you’re asking a lot of water to force its way through two layers of a dry filter in about 20 seconds.  You’ll have better results with a pre-moistened pod.

After some experimenting, I have discovered that two French dark roast pods from Java One - one brewed at the 5 oz. setting and one on the 8 oz. setting - make a great cup of coffee.  Two Baronet megapods each brewed on the 5 oz. setting make for a very good but very bold cup, and three make for a wake-up that could even animate Larry King.

The Simplehuman A40 gets my hearty endorsement...like that means anything.  :) Still, it’s a great machine, and at $129.99 it’s still a fairly reasonable alternative to the big Keurigs or Bunn brewers that start at $200.

Now to box up this God-awful craptastic Black & Decker GT300 craptacular crapfest and return it to whence it came.  And for you Google searchers, let me be clear: The Black & Decker GT300 Home Cafe is a piece of crap and brews brown water instead of coffee.  Do not buy it, it is a waste of time and money.

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