Marley Coffee - Lion's Blend

For my first non-Senseo brand, I tried Marley Coffee's Lion's Blend. It's considered a Medium Dark coffee. As I've said I lean towards the bold or robust spectrum of coffees and this is on the low-end of bold.

Different is a rather vague term to use, but this coffee is just that, different. Not drastically so, but in a mild, gentle spice sort of way. I don't love it, but I don't hate it either. It is definitely a step up from the Senseo pods flavor-wise, but not so bold to put off a regular coffee drinker.

The box of 15 pods runs about $1-$1.50 more than the typical box of pods I see on the coffee sites.

Brewing took a bit of work on my end. I'm not sure of the .oz size, but the pods are larger than a Senseo pod. If you use the 1 pod insert it's a very tight fit. If you use the 2 pod insert it's too loose and the water may go around the pod and you'll get a cup of very week coffee. More of a meow rather than the Lion roar indicated by the name.

My solution, as I've been experimenting with different pods is to use the 1 pod insert, moisten the pod, pour off any excess, place it in the brewer and rather than let the lever do the work of compressing the pod, push down on the brewer before pushing down the lever. That way the arms the come out and pull the head down are not under the stress of compressing the pod.

Hopefully I'm not damaging the brewer, but it works for me.

If you do not moisten the pod first, the water might not come through and either stay in the brewer or squirt out the sides.

I use the 1 cup, 3rd level setting (5 .oz) for my water level.

Senseo Pods

When I got the Senseo from my wife on Christmas I got a variety of Senseo pods. While they weren't that bad, they weren't that great either. I can't give detailed notes at this point, since I went through them awhile ago, but I will update this post as I will probably re-try them.

Regular - ok
Kona - ok - sorry but there is nothing like 100% Kona. Most blends you find are 10-15% Kona coffee and this pod is no different.
Kenya - bold and probably my a fave of the Senseo flavors so far.
Sumatra - was pleasantly surprised - I usually don't like Sumatra blends from other premium brands and this wasn't bad.
Dark Roast (French Roast) - Not as flavorful as a typical French roast, but not bad compared to the other Senseo flavors. When I see this in the grocery store I usually pick it up, since I rarely see pods in the grocery store.

The big benefit of these pods is that they fit the Senseo brewer perfectly. As you will see in the subsequent reviews the "pod fit" has a great deal to do with the ease of use and quality of output.