Hello, everyone! Devon and I are testing out a new article for the Inspired Bride, and we’d love your feedback, regardless of whether you love or hate it. Every now and then (not regularly) we’ll test out items for your registry and give real reviews of them. Sometimes samples may be provided to us, but we’ll never be influenced by whether or not it was provided to us. This will never be a financially compensated article; we just want to help you guys out in a more practical (as well as inspirational) way. We’ll also never review any items we wouldn’t personally want to try out ourselves.
Again, we’re just testing this out – if you don’t like it, we’ll drop it. Let us know – drop me a line at hello (at) inspiredbride.net.
Devon and I were provided with a Senseo SL7810/65 Coffee Machine to test out. I’ll be honest and say I’m not a huge coffee drinker. In fact, I don’t drink coffee at all. In theory, this is really an ideal machine for us because Devon is a coffee addict and I’m not in the least. Rather than spend $5 an pop on a Starbucks coffee in the morning, I’d love to be able to have him brew up a cup without having to waste a whole batch. With that, I bring you to the point.
I opened up the Senseo. It’s pretty easy to unpack, and I always appreciate something that comes without any assembly, particularly when I’ve just moved to a new house and just want things to be easy. When you first unpack it, you need to flush the system out first before starting your first cup. If you’re a big morning coffee drinker, I’d take note of that because the last thing you want is to be craving some caffeine and have to wait for it (I’d recommend setting it up the night before and flushing it then). I had a little bit of an issue with the instructions on flushing the Senseo – I went by the instructions on a peel off sticker that was affixed to the machine, and it didn’t mention locking down the lever on the lid of the machine. The sticker was almost like “instructions lite” – and unfortunately as I result I ended up with water all over my counter when it began flushing (woops).
Seeing how well not reading the instruction book worked out for me, I decided to test how intuitive the system was and tried it without reading them again. Totally smart. Can you sense the sarcasm there? I ended up pressing the single cup button, not realizing that meant you only got four fluid ounces of coffee out of the machine. I don’t know anyone who’s ever want four ounces of coffee, but I suppose it’s handy for someone who is having a small cup at night and needs a little push to keep them up later (but not enough so that they’ll never get to sleep). Lesson of the Day: just read the book. And that’s what I did. Subsequent cups went a lot more successfully, although to be honest I’m still having a little bit of an issue closing the lid latch when I start brewing, but I think I’m just still getting adjusted to it.
Since I’m not a coffee drinker, I had Devon taste test the coffees. He tried out the Kona and Dark Roast, both which came with the unit. His preference was the Kona blend, which to him was more flavorful and rich. The coffees were overall on the weaker side, which isn’t Devon’s preference, but it’s a matter of taste (my parents, for example, would be happy with that).
Here’s the bottom line:
PROS: one cup settings are great; you’re not wasting a whole pot if it’s just one or two people drinking coffee. Generally pretty easy to use. Coffee is naturally frothy, which you don’t get with instant coffees. Better quality than Keurig pod coffees (in Devon’s opinion), and the machine is more affordable than Keurig. No metallic or plastic aftertaste. Clean up is easy. Pod refills are easily accessible at your local Target or through Amazon.
CONS: instructions for flushing machine on machine sticker do not match up with instruction booklet, causing confusion. Slightly deceptive that for a standard cup of coffee, two pods are needed (one pod makes four ounces). Not a huge price difference between a cup of coffee made with a Senseo and a cup of Starbucks Via (which has better flavor, though it lacks the frothiness of the Senseo).
WHO SHOULD REGISTER: couples who only have one coffee drinker in the house or tend to drink their coffee at different times – avoiding a sitting pot or wasting coffee would be a huge perk. Coffee drinkers with preference for coffees that aren’t too strong and are on the frothier side. Coffee drinkers who want their drinks quickly, but don’t want to pay coffeehouse prices and don’t trust instant varieties’ quality.
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WANT TO WIN A SENSEO?
We’ve been given the opportunity to give one away to one lucky reader. To enter, tell us about the sweetest thing your significant other has ever done for you. For an additional entry, tweet about this contest on Twitter (make sure to mention @inspiredbride!) and leave your user name here. The contest will end at 5PM Central Time next Friday, October 1st. I’ll announce a winner the following Monday. Good luck!
I am horrible about putting gas in my car. My boyf has driven miles at 6 am in the morning to rescue me with a gas can. thats love.
The sweetest thing my fiance ever did for me happened when I was REALLY sick.
I don’t know what it was I caught (I still claim it was ebola) but I was up all night with fever dreams, tossing and turning and practically dying all night.
Despite the fact that my fiance had to be up to get ready for work at 5am, he stayed up the whole night with me. He kept a cool washcloth on my head and every time I so much as whimpered he was right there asking “Are you ok!? Can I get you anything!?”
That’s love.
The sweetest thing my fiance did for me was drive 7 hours after work (we were long distance- he lived in Nashville, I lived in Indiana) on Valentine’s Day to come and see me. He showed up at my door and surprised me with roses at 11:45pm that night and said- I made it with 15 mins left! Happy Valentine’s Day! Twitter username- @alyssaallen.
Hmmm…how to choose? There are so many times when I’ve felt my fiance did something really sweet for me. Definitely on that list, though, would be when he proposed! He worked so hard to ensure that I would be truly surprised, and planned a wonderful weekend for us in the city.
my man was going away with his friends for the weekend but didn’t tell me he actually wasn’t going to he could surprise me – he showed up on my doorstep in the pouring rain but did ring the door bell but instead he phoned me from his cellphone and i thought he was phoning from the “guys trip away” he said i should really look out my door – i thought he was nuts – i opened the door and there he was standing 🙂 I was so excited to see him 🙂 the next day he took me for a walk on the beach at sunset and looked for somewhere pretty to sit on some rocks – while staring at the ocean from the boulders we were sitting on he proposed to me with a gorgeous ring 🙂
aaah I heart him so much!!! 🙂
Betty Bake
There are so many amazing things that my fiance has done for me. One of my favorites came in college shortly after we started dating. To set the stage, he played linebacker for the PSU football team so as you can imagine he is a pretty big guys guy. Our first Valentines Day together we decided that any gift to each other had to be handmade. Because I am always cold, he handmade me a fleece blanket and even hand stitched my initials into it! I always chuckle when i think of him sitting in his dorm hand making it for me 🙂
The sweetest thing that he ever did for me was take care of me when I was sick. He made me soup and fed it to me because I was too weak to even pick up a spoon!
The sweetest thing my significant other has done for me was when he cleaned our apartment top to bottom one day when he was at home and I was working. You’ve gotta love a man who isn’t afraid to bust out the cleaning products!
I tweeted about the giveaway – @SheLikesRuffles http://twitter.com/SheLikesRuffles/status/25544887685
Just the simple act of having dinner ready for me when i come home from work is enough for me. He always does tons of little, sweet things like leaving me love notes, etc, but i just love when he cooks for me!
My husband is military so he went to build a bear and bought me a bear so that I could sleep with it while he is gone.
I tweeter. @brideonbudget
First of all, I do like this new article idea of posting registry reviews. I love researching items before I commit to them, so hearing the pros and cons is really helpful. Secondly, I’ve been with my significant other for a really long time now and he has done a lot of sweet things, so it is hard to remember the absolute sweetest. But I’d say it was when we were long distance and he surprised me with a visit just randomly walking in where I worked. It was very sweet.
My fiance took me on a surprise carriage ride in Central Park before proposing- so sweet!
one of the sweetest things he’s done is have roses and a beautiful note set for me after my first grad school class! 🙂
My sweetest memory actually involves sweets and an I do!! Since we’ve been together (2.5 yrs now) we have never been apart for more than 3 days. About a year ago his new job had him fly out to San Francisco for game/tech confrences for 4 days. Of course I was sad and a litte jealous because San Francisco is one of our most FAV food cities. So while he was gone he went to all of our fav food spots and over-nighted treats to me at work (chocolates from Recchiuti confections was my fav MMMMM)with cute notes such as “this way me you can be a part of the trip.” My heart melted each day when someone would let me know I had a package. I mean what girl doesn’t love sweets? It always brightens up your day!The day he returned I thought I would try to surprise him with a picnic after picking him up from the airport. Well, it was my intention to surprise him after all the wonderful treats and he surprised me with the most beautiful words of growing old together, life, love, and a beautiful ring. 🙂
The sweetest thing my other half has done is be there for me for eight years! He has always been there for me no matter how things get. I’m not always the easiest person to please but he sure does! =)
The sweetest things he’s ever done for me is to be himself, each and every day. From the second I met him he’s been the truest, most comfortable-in-his-own skin person I’ve ever met. His character allows for me to myself 100% of the time, good, bad or indifferent. And on top of all that, he makes me laugh every single day. I have quite the catch.
My fiancee and I had just moved to a new town and as soon as we moved I got a really bad cold. I felt so misrable after coming home from work one day I just layed down on the couch and didnt want to move. He made me dinner and then made sure I took a shower before going to bed because he knew that would make me feel better. After my shower I just layed down on the bed and he kept telling me I needed to dry my hair but I felt so bad I told him I didnt want to.He knew I would just get more sick so he came over and dryed and brushed my hair for me so I could go to bed. All my friends love for me to tell that story and think its so sweet.
The sweetest thing my fiancé (husband on Saturday!) ever did happened on a day when I was really in a funk. Dave took one of his coveted blank Fluxx Cards and wrote the action “smile” with the instructions “Grey skies are going to clear up. Put on a happy face!” It was a little silly but so sweet and definitely got me to cheer up.
PS – I also tweeted the contest!
The sweetest thing he’s ever done? Picked me up at the airport when I wasn’t expecting it. WITH my favorite cup of coffee. He knew I was going to be stressed and just having him show up made me forget about all my worries. For a couple of minutes, anyway. 🙂
there’s been many moments, but all I can think about right now is when he proposed to me our first night in the Bahamas. It was just us right before we were heading out to dinner and I had never seen him get so serious and so cute as he was at that moment. It was adorable, sincere and meaningful and I’ll never forget it!
He also brings me home chocolate covered pretzels from his office on days he knows I’ve had a hard day 😉