I hate to say this, but this may be the most compelling reason to NOT buy single serving coffee makers. That said, Keurig is pretty ubiquitous with K-Cups available at Dunkin Donuts, Costco, etc. as well as online. Unfortunately, I've had some experience with K-Cups and find that they brew a rather un-spectacular cup of coffee that wouldn't in any way compare with your Senseo. I'm sorry that you can't find the pods anymore. It stinks when something you love is no longer available.

Have you tried refillable pods for the senseo. I've never used them, so I don't know if the crema compares, but it's worth a shot.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=reusable+senseo&sprefix=Reusable+sen%2Caps%2C273

As a former senseo owner/lover, I feel your pain. It's a reliable simple system for sure. But I stopped using it when the price of pods went up, and target stopped making an in-house version. I recently moved away from coffee machines all together, and instead use a moka pot. Not as quick as the senseo, but it's reliable, and customizable in terms of the type of coffee you choose to use.

Having tried the Keurig, I can say I'm not inspired to buy one. To me it's not as good as the senseo, though it is just as easy, and has a wider variety of coffees available.

I love my Tassimo!

I love my Keurig and have found loads of delicious coffee k-cups. For those who say k-cup coffee isn't any good, just haven't found the right kind. There are literally hundreds of brands, types, and flavors to choose from. You can also get plastic k-cups that you can put your own coffee in to brew in Keurig machines, so there's really no excuse for blaming the coffee.

Right now dealnews dot com has the Keurig B130 on sale at Office Depot for $50 delivered:
New: Keurig B130 In-Room K-Cup Brewing System for $50 + free shipping, padding
Office Depot offers the Keurig B130 In-Room K-Cup Brewing System for $69.99. Pad your order to over $75 (this sugar is $5.09) and apply coupon code "677961996" to drop it to $49.99 (excluding padding). With free shipping, that's $10 under our March mention (without padding) and the lowest total price we could find by $24. Sales tax is added where applicable.

At least this offer gives you the opportunity to try it out without putting out a lot of money.

Tassimo just had a huge recall for burning people!!! Don't buy a capsule system...get something that grinds your coffee fresh..I love my Jura machine! Best investment I've ever made!

I've found Senseo pods for sale at amazon.com at a reasonable price. I also have not tried the refillable "permanent filter" pod, but my sister has one and is very pleased with it.

If it's a single serving you're after, I'd say go with a pour over style cup-- "manual drip" style, some call it. I use mine every day-- less waste, less expensive, quick and easy no appliances, and they brew excellent coffee. If you compost veg scraps, you can compost the filters and grounds, all together. They're available in a bunch of sizes and range from plastic to porcelain to glass. Good luck to you!

I love my aeropress for making single cups. Its messier than pods, but greener.

And it makes a wicked cup of iced coffee.

Have you tried buying pods from bettercoffee.com? I've bought my pods there for years now. They have a great selection and great prices - and you can usually get some really good deals in the clearance section if they have anything there that piques your interest.

At the expense of irritating everyone, I'm going to say - please don't buy coffee machines that *only* use disposable pods. Yes, I know they're recyclable, but a) hardly anyone does, and b) recycling all that packaging still uses resources.

I've had the same $250 Sunbeam espresso machine for 6+ years now, and use it every day. I buy the beans in bulk, grind them fresh and froth the milk with the wand.

It's all in the technique; any barista worth his salt will tell you that you can make very good coffee with simple equipment, if you just learn/practice a bit.

I second the Aeropress recommendation. But if you must have a pod machine, I like Nespresso's a lot.

My parents have a Nespresso machine. Not sure about the price difference, and the pods are annoying to purchase (you have to order online), but that thing makes an awesome cup of coffee. So much better than the Keurig (which I own). You don't get the crema that the OP is looking for with a Keurig, but the Nespresso definitely delivers on that front.

The reason of lot of us like the pod machines are convenience and consistency. A coffee / espresso maker has a lot of things that need cleaning and maintenance. Also, grinding your own beans is essential for a good cup - that's a whole other machine to clean. It'll take up at least 15 minutes of your time a day and if you're not good at it or skimp on quality, you won't even get a consistently good tasting cup.

A Nespresso machine, for example, only requires you to turn on the machine and hit brew after about 30 seconds. You don't even have to throw away the pods each time since it has a built in trashcan that can hold 5 or 6 of them. If you use distilled water, the only cleaning is running the machine without a pod every week or two. The grounds are regionally farmed, hermetically sealed and most likely fresher than the month old beans most folks are grinding for their coffee makers. If you like the taste it produces, you'll be happy to know that it will ALWAYS taste that good since there's only 2 or 3 steps you need to follow.

As for suggestions to the question:

(1) If you like your machine so much, buy an "Ecopad, the Refillable Coffee Filter for the Classic Senseo" and use your own ground coffee. This will extend its use for life.

(2) Upgrade to a Nespresso Machine - I think the flavor from these machines and their pods are WAY better than any T-Disc (Tassimo) or K-Cup (Keurig) alternative.

I used the refillable pods for years. A little messy until you get the hang of it, but much more economical in the long run. I found that the crema isn't as rich, but there's still some there. Good luck!

I have used my Francis Francis X5 for 10 years now and absolutely love it. It uses pods, but they are paper filtered pods, not plastic and they go right into the compost bin after. OR if you prefer, or run out of pods, you can fill it with coffee and tamp it in. It's not cheap- but like I said- I've used mine for over 10 years now at least once a day. We love the Illy pods but you can get whatever kind you like. The Illy, however makes a lovely crema.

@breezie - trust me, it takes me nowhere near 15 minutes each day to make a coffee, or I wouldn't be having one.

I get that some people just want a pod machine, and that's fine, but it really is not the huge hassle that you're making it sound. People just get used to doing things the easy way.

Many espresso makers will give you a good crema on top without all the wasteful "pods". I bought mine at a thrift store for $3.

It's been mentioned before, but it's not particularly onerous or difficult to clean them. I just pop the disc of spent coffee out with the back of spoon. If I'm being honest, this happens just before making a fresh pot in the morning.

I agree that you can get great (seriousy, great) crema with a fairly simple machine. I've never used the Presso manual machine, but it seems to pull a nice shot and it's electricity free, which is always a nice feature for any at home coffee-makers.
Here's a video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiefiu4X8XI

I use a Chemex with the Kone filter from Coava Coffee. It's a very smooth cup every time and it only takes a couple of minutes (about as long as it takes me to put my dog out in the morning). Plus, since the filter is perforated steel, it's reusable and I'll never have to buy a paper filter again. It's a seriously lovely cup of coffee.

@ CHARLIE26

We can break the process out "on average":

2.5 Minutes: Measure and heat up water. Note you want it to be the exact temperature that is ideal for the brew so this will require measuring and checks since we're comparing with a calibrated Nespresso machine. Some machines do this for you, some don't but we're taking an average here so I'll range 0-5 minutes.

2 Minutes: Measure, pour, and grind coffee beans (includes opening and putting away container). Were those beans fresh? You know once roasted, they are technically considered stale after a month. Replace if needed!

1 Minute: Warm up cup - the new Nespresso machines do this.

2 Minutes: Time to brew coffee: Extraction time varies based on machine with French Press being generally the longest. I'll leave this conservatively at 2 minutes but keep in mind you'll need to sit and wait there since a few seconds actually throws off flavor.

3 Minute: Washing and disposal. Clean up grinder cup. Remove tray and wash. Having this accumulate the oils from old beans will throw off flavor for future cups. Depending on the machine, chances are you'll have even more parts to wash here such as a French Press or an Aeropress. We'll range this 1-6 minutes.

1 Minute: Put away whatever you used to heat up the water, toss out used grinds, store grinder unless you leave on counter, etc. If you compost your grinds, or use a washable filter, it'll be longer.

0.5 Minute: Once all your stuff is dry, put away.

This is an average process time with the max being French Press that requires more cleaning, longer extraction times, and more water checks and the min being more automated machines that require less cleaning and water temp checks.

Based on this, it’ll typically be ~12 minutes to enjoy that cup of coffee for "most" people where as a pod machine is:

Turn on, wait 30 seconds, hit brew, eject pod into built in trash = less than 1 minute.

I won't argue quality and taste here because that's subjective but I will bring up again consistency. The multi-step process involved in replicating day to day a good cup of coffee is no easy task as seen here. Espresso - even harder. However, if you genuinely like the taste of your pod, there's no worry that today’s cup will be any worse (or better) than any other day.

I have the perfect answer! Hamilton Beach has a coffee maker that makes one serving of coffee. You just put a scoop of any kind of coffee you want in it -no pods needed. I bought it online and I love it!!

Our tassimo makes great espresso with crema. I'd look into that!

@breezie - Okay, I'll run you through the cup of coffee I just made.

Press button on machine. Fill coffee cup with hot tap water to heat it. (1 minute)

Beans ground from yesterday (I grind enough for 2-3 cups each time), so just scoop them out and tamp them into the filter basket (=30 seconds)

Make espresso, froth milk (2 minutes total)

Dump grounds, rinse filter basket, handle, tray, and frother attachement and leave in sink to be washed up with everything else at end of day (=30 seconds)

= 4 minutes total.

Do I get a consistently perfect cup of coffee every time, as I would with a pod machine? Nup. I'll admit it. But honestly, big deal. I get a great cup, with a good crema and smoothly-aerated milk, with a couple of minutes' extra effort (which people with a pod machine spend doing...what?).

We're all in a rush in the morning, and we all like a good cup of coffee. I hate products that consume extra packaging on an ongoing basis, and I consider it worth the trade-off.

i live in israel and here we have caffitaly coffee makers.

excellent pod espresso. dont know if its available in the us...

I have one of these and sadly didn't realize they were no longer making the refill packs stateside. I have a couple dozen bags bought on sale awhile ago....but it was only a matter of time. First the descaling issue, then other things. They never caught on mainstream like the Kerig. I would suggest one of those though. Mr. Coffee makes a version for under $100. Its got a small footprint and uses Kcups which come in tons of types. You can even buy 3packs to sample from Bed, Bath and Beyond in many flavors.

I have a Nespresso and am saving up for a fully automated machine. While Nespresso is fine, I find the amount of crema on an espresso to be disproportionate and can't help but think they cheat. I can't believe their pressure statements (18 bar or something in such a flimsy machine - come on - there's a reason real espresso machines have sealed steel chamber.) There's something wrong with just putting a pod in a magic hole and having espresso ooze out a few seconds later... Damn you, convenience.

Look for any of the CBTL models (Caffitaly in other countries) I have the Kaldi; fantastic crema, great roasts (and the machines are pretty attractive, colors are unusual) much better than any other pod machine I've tried.

I own a Nespresso machine. I bought the D-100 model four years ago and I loved it. When I moved to a new place I sold it and bought the newer model Pixie, which I love even more. I don't think the capsules are too expensive. I pay $6 or a box of ten. If there is a Nespresso boutique near where you live you can purchase them there, if not, order them online. They deliver in 3 days max and their shipping rates aren't high. Their customer service is very good too.

People are having this problem for months now. If you want refillable coffee pod, Eco Pad can be a good choice. You can find it on amazon for $12.98 . But, you'll have to see will it fit your coffee maker, since it's not perfect for all senseo models. Still, I think that disposable pods work better. You can get a 200ct box of Easy Cup Coffee Pods for $18.00 on Amazon. As far as I know, they work great in all senseo models. Hope it will help!

I am from Holland where Senseo was made by Philips. Luckily my friends mail the pods to me. Senseo became part of Sara Lee and they just destroyed the market. Philips is working on manufacturing a similar product; not sure if it will reach the US market since it is pretty much saturated. I would like to have another Senseo coffeemaker as a back up since the Dutch made version runs on a different voltage. So if you or any other readers have one , like new, in white or aluminum color, please contact me at seesee@earthlink.net
Thank you!

Hello Senseo lovers. Am from Holland originally too and I saw a lot of Senseo pods for sale at Amazon lately. They are packed in 36 or 48 pods and Senseo also has a new line called "Lungo". This contains more coffee in a pod without the bitter taste. (My mom sent me a pack to taste, very yummy). They also sell flavored coffee, like Caramel&Vanilla, Chocolate&Vanilla. There is also a Dutch brand called Perla. Cheaper than Senseo and I find hardly any difference. Worth the try as they are on sale! The Company is called AMS and they sell various things but I think they just started with coffee. Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=me%3DA39EHDR1945PPL&field-keywords=

We LOVE Senseo, and use Melitta pods, they are made for use in the Senseo. More stores are carrying it lately. We get them at Walmart for $4.78 (18 pods) and Shoprite have them for just over $5 a pack.

Why hunt down pods or switch machines? Try this on for size:

http://www.brew-yet.com/

Fall in love with your coffee machine all over again!

www.iloveoma.com
We are a Dutch Import Store located in Canada.
We have a HUGE selection of Senseo Coffee imported directly from Holland.
Yes, we ship coffee and please get in touch with us, for a shipping quote.
aranea@shawbiz.ca

For all you Senseo users...I just found a replacement for the Senseo coffee pot. Its called Hamiltan Beach Personal cup pod brewer. Its much cheaper and uses the Senseo pods. Originally I made around $79 for my Senseo coffee pot when it first came out but now I see the cost is over $200. Ridiculously over priced!
If you can't find the Senseo coffee pods locally, try their web site.
Carmen