What would you say if a very nice person marketing Bosch Tassimo T20 coffee brewers emailed you and was all, Hey, do you want a free coffee maker for yourselves and one to give away on your blog? You'd be be all, heck yes! Send it over!
Yeah, that's what we said. We live in Seattle, after all. We love our coffee. And we covet shiny, new brewers.
So, a few days before Christmas, a large box containing a gorgeous, gleaming, black machine showed up on our doorstep. Complete with two hefty packages of T-discs.
This is where the needle bounces across the record though, because neither of those packages happened to be decaf. Scriiitttccchhh.
We are the weirdos who can't have caffeine, lest we jitterbug ourselves through the day and a whole night, too. Because we are delicate daisies who are super sensitive to stimulants. Don't get us wrong, we ADORE coffee. The ritual, the smell, the flavor. We like it black and strong. But we have to have unleaded.
Before we could break in the new brewer, we had to set out to find decaf T-discs. And, while many of our favorite companies support T-discs, like Starbucks and Seattle's Best, the only decaf we could find at one of several local stores we tried was Maxwell House. Hmph. Okay. Maxwell House is drinkable. We'd go with it for a couple weeks.
And that’s exactly what we did.
In all honesty, we have mixed feelings about this Bosch Tassimo T-20.
Pros:
• It's pretty. And did we mention shiny? And it doesn't take up much counter space.
• The T-Discs are convenient as all get-out. You just pop one in, and, when you’re done, pop it out and throw it away. No filters to fumble with. No sloppy coffee grounds to compost.
• It's quiet. And fast.
• The water tank is large enough that you don't have to fill it after every cup or two. One tank should be good for at least five 10-ounce cups.
• The cup stand is adjustable so you can brew a small amount of coffee or a large, 16-ounce mug full.
• The Tassimo T20 is not limited to simply making coffee. You can make hot chocolate, espresso, cappuccinos, tea, lattés, and, get this, caramel macchiatos.
Cons:
• Lack of decaf T-Discs, at least locally.
• Plastic T-discs. We like convenience as much as the next person, but not at the expense of adding more to landfills.
• There's virtually no way we know of to make your own T-Discs with your coffee of choice.
(With Senseo, at least, which has it's own list of pros and cons, believe you me, you can make your own pods (with paper filters) and it's much cheaper and better tasting than being a slave to the store-bought pod.)
• Our husband said the latté, made via a clever set-up wherein you use a milk disc and an espresso disk to brew lattés, tastes like "machine coffee". It is machine coffee, of course. But we can dream.
Our reservations aside, a whole lot of folks love the Tassimo T20. All you have to do is the read the reviews on Amazon to see for yourself.
So, since Bosch has kindly offered a Tassimo T20 to one Half Assed Kitchen reader in the U.S. (sorry, no exceptions), leave a comment on this post by Wednesday, January 12th at 10 p.m. PST to be entered to win.
Transparency statement: I received my Tassimo T20 in exchange for a review and all opinions expressed in this blog post are my own.
Good luck! We'll choose our winner at random and announce who it is on Thursday, January 13th.
Updated: The winner of the Tassimo T20 is Amyella. I'll be emailing you shortly.
