Capresso brews a cup of coffee or tea in 60 seconds

Apparently, there are times when brewing an entire pot of coffee is not desired. Perhaps this occurs while running late or just trying to get out of the house. (Certainly there can be no other sane reason why just one cup will satisfy.) In any event, for those rare times when just a cup will do, one countertop coffeemaker is ready to provide. In less than 60 seconds, thankfully.

The Capresso a la Carte Cup-to-Carafe Coffee & Tea Maker ($179.95) not only understands that time is of the essence when waiting for coffee, but that a nice cup of tea can be quite enjoyable, too (after the coffee drinking, of course). The double duty machine has preset brewing functions for making one cup of tea, one cup of coffee, or a whole 42-ounce carafe of either. The two single-cup preset buttons, labeled small and large, are customizable, allowing for the machine to supply a perfectly sized cup of coffee for those on the go.

The device uses a 2.2 bar Italian-made pump system to quickly heat water above 200 degrees F, and the removable brewing unit uses two separate filters -- one for coffee, and one for loose-leaf or bagged tea. While the features combine to create a well-thought-out approach to making caffeinated beverages, perhaps the real draw of the machine is when it is in daily use: the coffeemaker can brew an entire carafe in as few as 6 minutes -- the perfect amount of time to wait while sipping on that first 60-second brew.