I’ve become a coffeeholic over the past few weeks, and that has encouraged me to do some research into the single-cup coffee-making revolution that’s sweeping the nation! Here’s what I was able to find!

In the world of single-serve coffee makers there are three basic styles from which to choose: the Coffee Pod, the K-Cup, and the T-Disc.

Coffee Pods are easy to find in supermarkets and are growing in popularity!

While Senseo may be the most popular pod coffee machine, there are many, many other machines out there that can use pods. In fact, coffee pods are probably the most popular single-serve coffee solution in use today! I’m pretty sure pods don’t involve licensing fees of any kind so they’re like the open-source of the coffee world. Anyone can make them, and anyone can make makers that can brew coffee pods.

K-Cups are used exclusively by coffee makers made by Keurig.

Each K-Cup contains a pre-measured amount of coffee or tea as well as a filter. The coffeemaker pokes a hole in the top and bottom of the sealed k-cup and forces hot water through, giving you a fresh and consistent cup of coffee every time. The variety of k-cups available is staggering and growing every day. Unfortunately they’re not widely available outside of the Internet.

T-Discs are the newest kid on the block and also the most interesting!

T-Discs look similar to K-Cups but offer much more promise! Designed to work only with Braun’s Tassimo drink machines, they work on a similar principle as K-Cups. However! The Tassimo was designed to be a “Hot Beverage” machine, not a coffee machine! Each T-Disc contains a barcode that tells the machine exactly how to to brew each drink! So whether it’s a columbian dark roast or hot chocolate it’ll always come out perfectly. The downside is that T-discs are a little more expensive than your other options, and you’ll wind up using multiple discs to make more elaborate drinks. You’d need to use an espresso T-disc followed up by a milk T-disc to make a latte, for example.

I think you probably can’t go wrong with any of these choices. Coffee pods are hot right now, but they don’t offer the consistency of K-Cups or the variety of T-Discs. It’s an exciting time to be a coffee drinker, that’s for sure!