I an a bit of a philistine when it comes to coffee - I’m not at all attracted to the mochas, lattes macchiatos or even cappuccinos.
Give me an espresso, a cafe allonge or occasionally a flat white. Or, in the UK, an Americano with or without milk.
Now, I’ve got a cheap grinder (with spinning blades) and a couple of cafetieres. Perhaps what I need is a better grinder to improve the quality of my coffee (and a little experimentation with different coffee beans).
However, I have seen this little machine, the Phillips Senseo Original, that can make one or two cups of coffee from a ‘dosette’ bag, a coffee bag, and I was wondering if it might make an good addition to the coffee corner in my kitchen. The promotional video makes it look good - but don’t all promotional video do that lol.
What do you think? You thoughs and opinions would be welcome. 
Hello from a fellow Philistine - I always used to be happy with Kenco Millicano instant coffee (which to be fair does contain a modicum of actual ground coffee).
Anyway on a whim a few months ago I bought a Philips L’Or Barista machine on Amazon - it was about £70 IIRC - which takes Nespresso pods, as well as L’Or’s own XXL (double dose) pods.
I am very happy with the coffee it makes and am steadily working my way through the many varieties available.
I chose this type of machine because the XXL capsules make it easy to make a full mug of coffee (to which I add milk) for my morning “hit”, rather than just a teeny-weeny espresso, and because it takes standard Nespresso pods as well (which are out of copyright) there is a huge range of third-party pods available.
After my first mega shot of caffeine from the XXL pod I then use standard-sized Nespresso pods and run them through twice (once on “Lungo” and again on “Espresso”) to give me a full mug’s worth but not as strong as using an XXL pod would be.
One snag with Senseo, Vertuo and Dolce Gusto pods is that those are new designs of pods which are still proprietary to their manufacturers, so there is a narrower range of poddery available.
Plain old Nespresso style pods are made by many suppliers including supermarket own-brand (I like Sainsbury’s Decaff pods) so they are cheaper and come in many flavours.
Before the eco-warriors get on my case, I recycle my pods via the “Podback” service - I fill a bag up with used pods and drop it off at the ever-glamorous Morrisons supermarket in Woking.
I think you can get reusable Nespresso pods if you want to go full eco but I haven’t tried those myself.
For me the L’Or Barista / Nespresso system is a good compromise between the convenience and speed of instant and the quality of “proper” coffee, without the faff of grinding beans and using one of those expensive steamy things. 
Also I think it looks extremely smart in the red livery.
My only criticism is that the machine is quite deep because its water reservoir sticks out at the back. But other than that, 10/10.
We stick to a proper espresso machine, none of this pod/dosette stuff works for us. There was a senseo in a gite we stayed in and it was drinkable, but no more than that.
Good for you, I’m sure it’s nicer - but as I am an impatient devil I think I would need a full-time caffeinista on the staff to operate the equipment, which I don’t have at the moment.
Us too. If you pick up a box of those pods and think about it, most of the weight is plastic and cardboard. There’s scant coffee in it. We use proper expresso machines. I buy them (Italian and Spanish) used, usually leaking, on LBC and fix them. Or just let 'em leak out in the garage on the workbench.
Once you have tried it a few times I reckon it is no slower at all. Takes seconds and the hopper holds enough beans for several days so no fiddling about.
I have had bean-to-cup machines and, while they are great, they fail too early and are impossible to repair economically.
The good espresso machines seem very expensive, but if one enjoys coffee made that way, then it’s worth it.
I bought a similar machine to @ChrisMann’s - it might even be the same model - when I found that I could buy home-compostable pods for it. The coffee it produces is great.
I’ve got a Senseo machine tucked away somewhere, but its rarely used these days asthe bean to cup delonghi makes great coffee (once you find the right beans😉) and I only ever drink it strong and black/espresso.
Once you have tried it a few times I reckon it is no slower at all. Takes seconds and the hopper holds enough beans for several days.
I wish they would make one (at a reasonable price) that could be plumbed in - like a fridge water supply
We had one for about 4 years, before we moved to Nespresso Vertuo. It did OK, better than normal drip filter coffee as far as we were concerned, but with fewer varieties of coffee types available than with our current Vertuo.
I have a bean to cup coffee machine and had it now 10 years. A DeLonghi. It is just as easy to use as a pod machine and although it is more expensive, it pays for itself in a few years because beans are so much cheaper than pods. There are currently some very good sale deals in the supermarkets for DeLonghi bean to cup coffee machines. I would recommend a Magnifica S which you can get for about €250.
Had mine 10 years now and you can still buy spares for it, every piece. And at sensible prices. I replaced the brew unit last year for around €30.
Mine packed in after about 6-8 years. Repaired at the service centre (Ramsgate of all places ) bit finally it became to expensive. Really good coffee whilst it did work.
Pods, plastic or aluminium with hot water or acidic coffee is deemed not good to consume so for me thats game over.
French press is good if you dont press! Yes leave the plunger up and just let it filter, much nicer cup.
What I miss is the crema layer which you only get with high pressure espresso machines. I bought a bean to cup cuisinart filter machine but havent used it yet because it was cheaper than a burr grinder on its own, it was a spare machine never been used by a company at bargain price. My other grinder is a blade machine which can grind/cut into suitable grains, I listen for it to just run quiet for the grind of the right size or it can clog the french press.
My La Pavoni is coming up to its 40th birthday and spares are readily available. You can get everything from a wiring loom to a new boiler.
The pressurestat on mine has just failed and a replacement is about 25€.
We have a Techni Vorm Moccamaster filter machine that makes great coffee - I find tiny espressos annoyingly short . It replaced our Senseo as the breakfast/morning machine but I still use the Senseo for a quick post-lunch mug.
I’ve had some very average own brand dosettes but Senseo brand are often to be found on a good offer. We’ve also got reusable plastic dosettes that you can put whatever ground coffee you like in, which work well too.
Well I ‘pulled the trigger’ on an Espresso Barista model Sublime, which is currently on sale at €74.99 (regular price is apparently €124) and this includes 100 capsule thingies plus a free gift (in my case I chose 8 additional capsules) delivery included.
It should arrive in the next few days, I’ll give an update when I’ve used it.
Thanks to all for your advice 
Well done.
Can I recommend you try Saula capsules, which are compostable?
Good choice! I hope you got the red one.
Yes I got a bunch of free pods with mine IIRC.
Have fun trying out all the different flavours! I do like the L’Or XXL ones (which you can either buy direct from L’Or or from Amazon, depending on who has a deal on) but as I mentioned above I also grab the regular sized Nespresso pods in the supermarket when there are deals going on those or I just want to try a different coffee.
In that respect I quite like Sainsbury’s Decaff pods, but in terms of what would be available in France I enjoyed Lavazza Espresso pods; the Starbucks pods I tried (can’t remember the specific type) I was not impressed by, but YMMV.
Or you can send your aluminium pods back for recycling, which is what I do (UK Podback scheme).
French version:
ETA: I think you can also put them in the yellow recycling bin, but that may depend on local policy.