Friday, February 19, 2010

Investigating Millstone Coffee Pods Before Buying

Though the name itself is not all that well known, Millstone Coffee Pods are rapidly making a name for themselves. Considering all the options, you have to figure any popular coffee pod has some sort of merit. Coffee pods are not cheap, though, so learning about a brand before throwing money at a coffee pod retailer is always a good idea. Let's examine Millstone Coffee Pods, and see if they're likely to be what you're looking for.

What Company Produces Millstone Coffee Pods?

Millstone, which was founded in Everett, Washington, began life more than 25 years ago. The company was the pioneer of the idea of selling whole, un-ground coffee beans to retailers, which is pretty ironic since they're very well known for single serve coffee pods nowadays, which is about as opposite of whole beans as you can get. Although the original owner still runs a coffee company in Everett, now called Cascade Coffee Company, he sold the majority of Millstone, along with the name, to Proctor and Gamble in 1996. The names Folgers and Millstone were put together and spun off to create The Folgers Coffee Company. Later in the same year, The J.M. Smucker Company merged with The Folgers Company, although all of the labels have been retained.

Millstone Coffee Pods In A Coffee Pod Maker

Millstone coffee pods should work with no issues in almost all pod coffee makers on the market. As they use the Home Cafe coffee pods moniker, they can be considered a generic coffee pod, which means they'll fit all but the oddest coffee pod machine. Lots of folks use Millstone pods with K-Cups machines with adapters as well. As with any coffee pods, you'll get better results if you massage the grinds a bit and wet the pod before putting it in the machine.

What One Can Expect From Millstone

Believe it or not, each of the owners who have held the Millstone name has made an effort to maintain its quality. For instance, The J.M. Smucker Company obviously considers Millstone to be their gourmet coffee pods. You can expect better, fuller taste as a result. Since these particular coffee pods fit well in Senseo machines, you'll often see them compared directly to Senseo coffee pods, and almost always favorably. There are decaf coffee pods among the more than 30 flavors available. Unfortunately, if you're wanting espresso from your pod coffee maker, you'll need to keep looking as Millstone does not make ESE coffee pods at this time.

Finding Millstone Coffee Pods

Millstone coffee pods can be hard to find in low population areas. Since they own the Folgers brand, which is a much better known name, The J.M. Smucker Company tends to shy away from trying to sell Millstone in areas that are less likely to purchase expensive coffees. However, Millstone coffee pods are easily obtainable through a variety of online resellers and, because of the way they are packed, coffee pods do ship exceptionally well.