I use a mix of ground coffee and coffee bags as I love to try different brands and flavors. First I tried standard ground coffee and a paper filter and wow -- a clear difference. The coffee maker consistently made rich coffee across several different bags of coffee, whereas my previous one was rather picky. And then the coffee pods. Holy wow, the difference is significant. Whereas in other machines, pods will be often be slightly more watery and even bitter/sour, the Ninja makes them full and more like standard ground coffee. This was surprising, as I've used brand names who specifically cater to coffee pods and they don't come close to how well the Ninja handles pods. An absolute recommend if you're a dynamic coffee enjoyer or want your pods to be up to par with, well, non-pod coffee.