Operating on the assumption that no one’s opinion is ‘right’ for anyone but themselves, I want to add discourse to the K-Cup Revolution! I want and expect K-cup loving people to disagree with me. Stick to the facts as I have and we will get along fine. Dispute what I am about to say and correct me if you can. I strongly believe that everything I am about to put forth is factual.
Distinctive characteristics be it about food or in this case K-cup coffee, are objective not subjective. Having personally studied, read and written about coffee, I feel that I have a basis on which to evaluate coffee. That revealed, here is my factual research on K-Cups, and it ain’t pretty.
K-cups make great lousy watery coffee. You can not argue that K-cups are great, and in no way are K-cups world class.
Matter of fact, the word "great" and "K-cup" should never appear in any honest coffee review together, although they do and to me that is a ‘no-no’.
Let’s face it, K-cup coffee is no uber-brew! So, if you lack taste, want to continue to pollute the environment and want a crappy, less than 8 oz cup of coffee pretty darn quickly and with no effort on your part, then have at a cup of stale K-cup coffee. Go ahead, knock yourself out!
Not mentioned in any K-cup advertisement for obvious reasons, I will have to hold my nose while I say this, K-cups have only a six month shelf life!!!
With that in mind, here is a quote from a roaster:
“K-cups have a 9 month shelf life. However, if each unit is sealed, the k-cups will last longer although the coffee may not taste as fresh.”
They added 3 months to the shelf life and then the truth!
The following shows the lunacy of K-cuppers, it appeared on a search engine site:
“I was checking out some of the websites and I found one which has k-cups past their expiration dates for a very good price. Is it worth the savings or should I just pay top dollar?”
The operative words are "pay top dollar".
I am a POD man. I began with it when Senseo came out and have stood with the pod and have retired my Senso for a StarBuck’s Barista Aroma Solo. I re-engineered the Barista Solo because it had a design defect which allowed water to spill out and puddle. Now, through my retrofitting I can enjoy any pod, or ground coffee I desire. I bought T-Fal bags and can make my own pods, or use the nylon perfect basket.
I own a Grindmaster commercial coffee grinder. This permits me to create the freshest coffee from properly stored beans, (liQuid heaVen). I can now fill up my Starbucks Barista Aroma Solo's durable re-useable nylon filter basket with 2, 3 or 4 tablespoons of the coffee of my choice!
Why am I mentioning this? Have you ever cut open a K-cup?
I did...
It weighed 22.8 grams or .81 oz of coffee!!
Remember, that is after it was perked and the grounds were wet.
I refuse to spend any money and actually buy a K-cup to open it dry and weigh it, it ain’t worth it people!
This leads me to this little dramatization. Play along with me...
If someone was to offer you a free bag of money, which bag would you choose?
A small bag, lets call it bag A or a large bag, we'll call bag B.
It’s a no brainer, you would pick bag B the larger bag!
It’s a no brainer, you would pick bag B the larger bag!
Yet, when it comes to enjoying coffee all the K-cup people are settling for A, the small amount of crappy coffee that permeates the tiny little cup! They rationalize to themselves and to the gullible that it is great coffee, when it is not!
I often wonder with this K-cup explosion and popularity, just how many previous Senseo owners and single cup coffee pod people are among this wayward group.
You see, when the single pod first made its entrance along with the Senseo pod brewer, many people where complaining that the pods from Dewy Egbert were weak and not any where near their own ground coffee that they enjoyed.
Also remember, pods were weighing in at 9 grams plus and one was out there at 10.5 grams! And yet a huge amount of people complained back then! Could it be that they are now K-cup enthusiasts? That leaves me with this final question... WHY?
Its not just me, here is what others have said about K-cups...
From: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/other-talk/546120-keurig-coffee-makers-some-advice.html
My advice would be: avoid the Keurigs altogether, and go with a pod coffee maker. Two main reasons: coffees I've had from every K-cup machine I've used (a few commercial models, with a variety of coffees) ALL taste weak and thin (regardless of coffee volume selected), except for a couple of extra-bold varieties (Sumatra was one, forget the brand), which were barely passable. And those stupid k-cups take up a lot of room to store. Silly design.
OTOH, the pod machines make a much better cup of joe in my experience. There are several levels of machines to choose from,and a huge variety of pods. The pods are flat and easy to store (imagine that!) in individual foil packets.
I would seriously recommend trying coffee from both types of machines before buying. I just don't understand how people who like coffee find k-cups acceptable.
Also, there's lots of good info (even from people who prefer k-cups, go figure!) at singleservecoffee.com.
Oh yeah, and by all reports, the 'reusable k-cup filter' sucks loads. Don't plan on using it if you go that route.
Its not just me, here is what others have said about K-cups...
From: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/other-talk/546120-keurig-coffee-makers-some-advice.html
My advice would be: avoid the Keurigs altogether, and go with a pod coffee maker. Two main reasons: coffees I've had from every K-cup machine I've used (a few commercial models, with a variety of coffees) ALL taste weak and thin (regardless of coffee volume selected), except for a couple of extra-bold varieties (Sumatra was one, forget the brand), which were barely passable. And those stupid k-cups take up a lot of room to store. Silly design.
OTOH, the pod machines make a much better cup of joe in my experience. There are several levels of machines to choose from,and a huge variety of pods. The pods are flat and easy to store (imagine that!) in individual foil packets.
I would seriously recommend trying coffee from both types of machines before buying. I just don't understand how people who like coffee find k-cups acceptable.
Also, there's lots of good info (even from people who prefer k-cups, go figure!) at singleservecoffee.com.
Oh yeah, and by all reports, the 'reusable k-cup filter' sucks loads. Don't plan on using it if you go that route.
- Honesty can be a brutal thing, and I just gotta be brutally honest with y'all....the Keurig B100 is the WORST coffee maker sold in America, and the WORST VALUE to boot. You can buy cheaper coffee makers, you can buy flimsier coffee makers --- but you can't buy a WORSE one overall.
- I use a Keurig B2003 ("B" stands for "behemoth") on a frequent basis, since my company's facilities manager got duped into wasting our money on one a couple years ago, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole K-cup scam, which is why I would never have bought something as utterly useless as the B100 model.
- Unfortunately, somebody over at the Hyatt hotel chain isn't as smart as you or I, and they got duped into buying a whole slew of these coffee makers to put in hotel guest rooms. My review is based on my disgust at having one foisted on me by Hyatt on a recent business trip. The experience is enough to make me want to stay in a Hilton next trip!
- Why the Keurig B100 is a STUPID Device to Buy for the Home...
You'll find Keurig coffee makers in malls, or even in online stores. My advice is simple: stay away from them!
I've already told you about the bad coffee that they make and about the tiny portions (at work, we use 2 K-cups to fill our typical ceramic mugs). There's another reason to avoid Keurig coffee makers like the plague: they are a HORRIBLE value.
The bad value proposition starts when you start shopping around. You pay dearly for the Keurig name. The machines are typically priced at about 5 to 10 times what they're worth. They've got a basic model that I've seen at Target for $100, and you can move up to the smaller, less featured B100 for a mere $250.
Compare that to the cost of mainstream brands of 4-cup coffee makers that you can buy as cheap as $12, or fully loaded for around $30-40, and it doesn't take a whole lot of neuron power to start seeing the holes in Keurig's value argument.
The bad value proposition starts when you start shopping around. You pay dearly for the Keurig name. The machines are typically priced at about 5 to 10 times what they're worth. They've got a basic model that I've seen at Target for $100, and you can move up to the smaller, less featured B100 for a mere $250.
Compare that to the cost of mainstream brands of 4-cup coffee makers that you can buy as cheap as $12, or fully loaded for around $30-40, and it doesn't take a whole lot of neuron power to start seeing the holes in Keurig's value argument.
Buying the machine is just the tip of the iceberg though.
Adding insult to injury, you'll also start getting socked with the cost of buying K-cup packaged coffee. Today, I stopped my friendly local Target to see what it costs for a box of K-cups. 5.75 ounces of Green Mountain coffee cost $19.99.
Just in case you failed basic math classes (a highly likely scenario if you think Keurig coffee makers "are worth it"), that works out to roughly $60 a pound!!!
Now I don't know what kind of prices you pay for coffee, but where I live, I can get a pound of crummy coffee for around $3-4, I can get pretty decent gourmet roasts at my local grocery store for $6.99 a pound, or I can buy top-line brands at a coffee specialty store for around $10-12 a pound. Even your basic Starbucks coffees can be had for around $7 for a 12-ounce bag.
$60 a pound!! The mind is boggled. Especially when I factor in that Green Mountain coffee is NOT as good as Starbucks, and is a huge step down from the better coffees that I'd normally use.
In Keurig's defense, it is possible to avoid the cost of store-bought K-cups. You simply buy the reusable filter for another $15-20.
If you do so though, then you've nullified Keurig's one supposed "advantage" of not needing to throw away coffee grounds and filters (am I the only person in the world though who never thought that was a particularly tough thing to do???)
Bottom Line... Keurig coffee makers are the biggest waste of money in the kitchen gadget store. They're hideously expensive, rely on outrageously overpriced consumables, and they produce bad tasting coffee to boot. Their supposed "advantages" are of no real value, and K-cup packaged coffee is not sold everywhere, making it inconvenient as well.
If you're the kind of person who wants to know just where the pentagon buys their $5,000 screwdrivers so you can get one too, then the Keurig B100 is right up your alley. To everyone else though, I say "avoid this overpriced money pit."
Just in case you failed basic math classes (a highly likely scenario if you think Keurig coffee makers "are worth it"), that works out to roughly $60 a pound!!!
Now I don't know what kind of prices you pay for coffee, but where I live, I can get a pound of crummy coffee for around $3-4, I can get pretty decent gourmet roasts at my local grocery store for $6.99 a pound, or I can buy top-line brands at a coffee specialty store for around $10-12 a pound. Even your basic Starbucks coffees can be had for around $7 for a 12-ounce bag.
$60 a pound!! The mind is boggled. Especially when I factor in that Green Mountain coffee is NOT as good as Starbucks, and is a huge step down from the better coffees that I'd normally use.
In Keurig's defense, it is possible to avoid the cost of store-bought K-cups. You simply buy the reusable filter for another $15-20.
If you do so though, then you've nullified Keurig's one supposed "advantage" of not needing to throw away coffee grounds and filters (am I the only person in the world though who never thought that was a particularly tough thing to do???)
Bottom Line... Keurig coffee makers are the biggest waste of money in the kitchen gadget store. They're hideously expensive, rely on outrageously overpriced consumables, and they produce bad tasting coffee to boot. Their supposed "advantages" are of no real value, and K-cup packaged coffee is not sold everywhere, making it inconvenient as well.
If you're the kind of person who wants to know just where the pentagon buys their $5,000 screwdrivers so you can get one too, then the Keurig B100 is right up your alley. To everyone else though, I say "avoid this overpriced money pit."
