Flavia Fusion Drink Station

Rating:
We live in a society that values its time — Faster, Cheaper, Better tends to be the mantra that we follow with unrelenting fervor. We have seen “instant coffee”, we have seen pseudo-coffee (International Delight), and as of late — a plethora of new single serve coffee machines.

Single serving coffee, the hope and dream of the coffee lover on the go. Real coffee, served up in a fast and easy fashion. Today we continue our review of the Single Serve Coffee market by examining the Flavia Fusion Drink Station

When you think of Flavia, most people have visions of their larger office coffee centers. People will wax on dreamily about their favorite coffee combinations.

Like the previously reviewed Tassimo, the Flavia Fusion uses self-contained filter packs. And like the Tassimo, there is a wide variety of drinks that can be made with the Flavia Fusion, such as:

• Coffee
• Fresh Leaf Tea
• Wellbeing Tea (Tea w/Vitamins)
• Latte
• Cappuccino
• Hot Chocolate
• Mix & Match

One important thing to note, is that Flavia Filter Packs are only available online. Twenty Sumatra filter packs will run you $8.69, while one hundred will set you back $40.95. Not exactly cheap, convenience it would seem comes with a price.

With Filter Pack(s) in hand, its time to brew some coffee. To open the Flavia, its as simple as rotating the Top ring a quarter turn counter clockwise. The manual includes a huge warning about not attempting to open or close the Pack Door itself, we can only assume this can lead to damage of the machine.

The Filter Pack is then pushed into the Brew Head. Its important to push it until you hear a “click” — An associate of mine man a cup with unfortunately results, we attribute that to the pack not having been fully “clicked” into place.

One of the nice features that Flavia has included on the top of the unit is a “Beverage Volume Control” knob. Essentially this lets you tailor the beverage size prepared on the middle button setting (Coffee, Tea, and Wellbeing range). For instance, the smallest setting will brew 3 oz. while the largest setting will brew 8 1/3 oz.

Flavia also has included a button on the left side of the unit to allow for height adjustment. While a small feature it is very welcome, my mug sizes tend to be on the larger size and having such an adjustment feature is a welcome addition.

Once the Filter is loaded, and the front door closed, pressing the selector button on the top of the unit will start the brewing process.

Setting the Flavia for a particular beverage type is done via three beverage selection button located on the top of the unit:

• Left – Choco/Other – Hot Chocolate/Other (Future Drinks)
• Middle – Coffee/Teat – Coffees, Teas, Wellbeing
• Right – Frothy/2 Pack – Frothy 2 Pack Beverages (Cappuccino (Creamy Topping then Coffee), Mochaccino (Choco then Coffee), Chococcino (Creamy Topping then Choco), Chai Latte (Creamy Topping then Chai Tea)

When brewing a 2 pack beverage, at the end of th first brew the right hand indicator light will Flash. Open the pack door at this time and insert the second filter pack, close the door and press the flashing red light to start the second phase of brewing.

Provided the filters are pushed all the way into position, there is almost no cleaning that is necessary. Everything is self-contained.

Another interesting feature they have included with this device is what I like to call an “after-brew clean”. The Flavia will blow hot air through the filter following the brewing cycle to dry out the filter. A feature like this, while not needed

How is the Coffee?

In comparison to the Tassimo, which we found to be abysmal, the coffee made by the Flavia is like night and day. The flavored coffees were liked the least, while the French Roast and Sumatra had the best coffee taste in our opinion. If you prefer flavored coffee you might be better off adding flavoring after the coffee if brewed.

A good sign in my opinion for a review is when you are left wanting more. In the case of the Flavia, the question everyone asked was if we could buY more packets. A good sign for sure.

The Flavia retails for around $100.00 and can be purchased online at myflavia.com or at stores like Macys. Of the single serve coffee makers that we have seen, the Flavia Fusion is the best we have seen.

While we still feel that the single serve coffee makers fall short of conventional automatic drip makers, and well below a traditional espresso maker, the gap is slowly closing, and for someone who has to have their coffee immediately, the Flavia Fusion may be just what you are looking for.