Keurig coffee brewer

fishman · Dec 3, 2004

Some time back there was a short discussion of the new coffee brewers that are on the market. My experience with them is limited to the one at the orthodontist's office and this is the brand they have. The difference between it and the others I see is that the coffee is vacuum sealed in a cup resembling a large coffee-mate. To my unschooled taste buds, the coffee is out of this world. I've never had a better cup, and that includes several forays in gourmet coffee shops.

It's very convenient in that it will brew you a single cup of coffee in about 15 seconds, and there is no mess to clean up.

I was wondering if anyone else has any experience with this or other brands of single cup coffee brewers. The Keurig is aweful expensive (around $200), but holy ^$%# is the coffee good. Maybe our resident coffee expert will step in with some words of wisdom. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Bob_Skurka · Dec 3, 2004

Find BOONDOX, he works at Green Mountain Coffee and to my knowledge they are the only ones who have a consumer version of the K-cup. In the past few months I've had commercial versions of the K-cup presented to our company's foodservice division, but couldn't figure out the economic payback for the applications we place equipment into.

A similar (but different) concept are the new coffee pods.

I tried several versions of the consumer "coffee pods" from a couple different machines, the most commonly seen is the Senseo machine. Coffee pods are supposed to be the next greatest thing since sliced bread and they are expecting sales of the pod machines to be big Christmas sellers. To me, the best of the pod machines are the Senseo modified machines only available from Baronet Coffee Company out of Hartford, Conn. The pod machines all leave a foam on top of your coffee, it is supposed to be similar to the crema that a properly set up espresso machine produces, but my experience is that it looks like a bad crema and adds nothing positive to the coffee. Baronet modified the standard Senseo machine to virtually eliminate the foam. All that said, the $59 coffee pod machines make a decent cup of coffee, and are probably better suited for home use than a K-cup, but for people who want a k-cup there is no substitute I can see.

BillG_in_TX · Dec 3, 2004

Fishman,

Here's a link to the K-cup brewer.
Only $169 /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif with free shipping and free coffee. Just in time for Christmas. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Here's the Senseo machine. As Bob said, much less expensive, but no free coffee - although that $20 rebate will buy a 72 pack. Looks like about $0.25/cup, vs. the 0.55/ea for the K-cups.

edit - It looks like the distributor is out of stock on the Senseo machines.

heehaw · Dec 3, 2004

i get a lot of my coffee from a business in town, because their coffee is so good: so i bought a couple of their vacuum sealed folgers packs, and brewed a couple pots at home, using the ole elcheapo coffee maker...no comparison..and we are on the same city water line...i even got bottled water, and distilled water and tried them...still no comparison...they are using a bun coffee maker, and that seems to make the difference...i haven't tried any others..
heehaw

Boondox · Dec 4, 2004

Jeez, I wish you guys could spend a day with me in the lab. We have all the brewers set up on a bench side-by-side for comparison as well as all our competitors' products be they K-cups, pods, or other forms of single serve coffee products. We'd all have a blast and at the end of the day would be thoroughly caffeinated! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Keurig is good, no doubt about it, IF you start with fresh coffee. And that seems to be the issue with our competitors in that market. The Keurig grind is exceptionally fine, which means if you can't package it quickly after grinding it goes stale very fast. Package it too quickly, however, and you get lid failures. So the trick is to find the sweet spot. BTW, we're gearing up now for a heavier K-cup (about 30% more coffee per cup) so look for that line in the near future if you like a hearty cup o joe. Keurig is the king when it comes to high quality single serve; there are other less expensive options out there.

Pods are another issue. Bob addressed that well. Again, we're coming out with our pods very soon. All will be Fair Trade Organic coffees and having tested the competition I believe ours are worth waiting for. Again, it's the freshness thing. In looking for that sweet spot we've produced a lot of little packets that swell up like balloons and burst out of the cases! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif It's actually pretty funny watching a pallet of product swell up and explode into thousands of little pods like popcorn all over the shop floor...then the engineers shake their heads and reexamine their data.

As for the pod brewers, there is one that stands out among those we've tested. Can't remember the brand off the top of my head, but the difference between it and the others is it preheats the pod holder. All of them heat the water to the right temp, but in the others that hot water then hits cold metal and the quality of the brew takes a huge hit. I'll look it up on Monday when I go back to work. This time of year there is NO WAY I'm going near the plant lest I get sucked in to work!

Pete

fishman · Dec 6, 2004

Boondox,

Never having actually looked at one of those "pods", I have to confess ignorance as to how they are constructed. Do they also seal in the freshness like the K-cups? It seems to me that the K-cups would be better in that area.

Are there other brewers that use the K-cups?

Bob_Skurka · Dec 6, 2004

A coffee pod is simply a compressed puck of coffee sandwiched between 2 pieces of filter paper. They must be packaged quickly in a vacuum container to remain fresh. Only a few facilities here in the US have the technology to do it well.

Coffee pod technology is an offshoot of espresso pods, which are generally looked down upon here in the US as substandard for use in espresso bars, but are actually very popular in parts of Europe, particularly Italy.

There is another technology out there using liquid extracts. Flavia is the brand name for consumer use, but I've seen a couple different packages for food service applications. Flavia machines for home use run about $99.

MikePA · Dec 6, 2004

There was a Consumer Reports segment on the local news recently and they reported the Senseo machines were kind of a pain to use and didn't produce that good a cup of coffee. I didn't see the report, but my wife did and asked me NOT to get one. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

With “pod” models, you're doing more, paying more, and getting less. Pods use pressurized water and packets of coffee made for each machine. (Conventional single-serve machines just use smaller water reservoirs and filters than regular drip machines.)

But pod machines can be a pain to use. They also cost more than the conventional types--$50 to $70 vs. $15 to $30--and their coffee is more expensive than most supermarket brands. Given the inconvenience and price, we can't give pods the nod (see Pod coffeemakers).

Boondox · Dec 6, 2004

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Boondox,

Never having actually looked at one of those "pods", I have to confess ignorance as to how they are constructed. Do they also seal in the freshness like the K-cups? It seems to me that the K-cups would be better in that area.

Are there other brewers that use the K-cups? )</font>

John -- How about you just PM me your mailing address and I'll send you some? You're correct, Keurig has a greater potential for freshness than pods. Our pods are nitrogen flushed, never vacuum sealed, but still the K-cup is king for single serve freshness.

Keurig is proprietary, so while there are three manufacturers of the K-cups, it takes a Keurig brewer to use them. There are other single serve cups out there in a mix of ground and liquid forms, but it's hard to beat the K-cup.

Pete

fishman · Dec 6, 2004

Thanks Boondox, I'll take you up on that. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Did you get a chance to find out the brand of pod brewer that came out tops in ya'lls testing?

Thanks to all that replied. I suspect that there is more than one way to come up with a quality cup of coffee. Yumm. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Now for my sad story. I'm actually very sensitive to caffeine. Therefore, I can't drink coffee very often, and I absolutely love it. After years of on again, off again caffeine use, I am now free of it's evil clutches. I can drink a caffeinated beverage about once every three days and remain "unaddicted". I don't want to go through the cold sweats, shakes, and blinding headaches any more. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I'm waiting for the naturally decaffeinated coffee plants to start producing. Now that will be a good day.