Why K-Cups are the debil!

[josieposy]

Good one for pixy0stix

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/the-abominable-k-cup-coffee-pod-environment-problem/386501/

“I don't have one. They're kind of expensive to use,” John Sylvan told me frankly, of Keurig K-Cups, the single-serve brewing pods that have fundamentally changed the coffee experience in recent years. “Plus it’s not like drip coffee is tough to make.” Which would seem like a pretty banal sentiment, were Sylvan not the inventor of the K-Cup.

Almost one in three American homes now has a pod-based coffee machine, even though Sylvan never imagined they would be used outside of offices. Last year K-Cups accounted for most of Keurig Green Mountain’s $4.7 billion in revenue—more than five times what the company made five years prior. So even though he gets treated like a minor celebrity when he tells people he founded Keurig, Sylvan has some regrets about selling his share of the company in 1997 for $50,000. But that’s not what really upsets him.

See link for more

[aurora]

From the article:

"Once he had a design that worked, he looked up the word excellence in Danish—because “everyone likes the Dutch” —and he and his college roommate Peter Dragone named their new company Keurig."

So he's also not very bright (to think Danish = Dutch).

[MrsAxilla]

Mar 2, 2015 11:18:56 GMT -5 @majorwife said:

Mar 2, 2015 11:13:36 GMT -5 josieposy said:

Good one for pixy0stix

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/the-abominable-k-cup-coffee-pod-environment-problem/386501/

“I don't have one. They're kind of expensive to use,” John Sylvan told me frankly, of Keurig K-Cups, the single-serve brewing pods that have fundamentally changed the coffee experience in recent years. “Plus it’s not like drip coffee is tough to make.” Which would seem like a pretty banal sentiment, were Sylvan not the inventor of the K-Cup.

Almost one in three American homes now has a pod-based coffee machine, even though Sylvan never imagined they would be used outside of offices. Last year K-Cups accounted for most of Keurig Green Mountain’s $4.7 billion in revenue—more than five times what the company made five years prior. So even though he gets treated like a minor celebrity when he tells people he founded Keurig, Sylvan has some regrets about selling his share of the company in 1997 for $50,000. But that’s not what really upsets him.

See link for more

b/c people are lazy and stupid.

Mine was a gift.  I pull it out when my mom visits because her feelings get butt hurt if her gifts aren't used.  

[aurora]

Two more things : I love that the article refers to Venn diagrams (ppl who use k-cups and people who will go through lengths to recycle), and

IF YOU CAN'T THINK OF A PATH TOWARD A RECYCLABLE K-CUP BEFORE 2020 WHEN YOUR COMPETITORS ALREADY HAVE ONE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY CLAIM TO CARE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY!

[josieposy]

What about the machines themselves? That's what turned me away. We had so many problems with ours after a year or so. We descaled and cleaned and it just became a huge PITA to use. I finally gave up and went back to my regular brewer.

Someone told me I should buy distilled water for it instead of the filtered I was using. That set me off even more. If I have to buy special water for a coffee machine, I quit!

[meshaliuknits]

Yeah they seem kinda hard to clean.

We never really considered one because we are picky about our coffee & because one cup at a time is TOO SLOW.

Sent from my EVO

[ESF]

Another thing that never gets mentioned when criticizing Keurig.

Keurig has never publicly said what kinds of plastics it uses in making the k-cups. Who knows what chemicals people are drinking down when they use them.

[tacosforlife]

We have a Keurig, but I want to sell it. I've stopped using it and just use the regular coffee pot. I do want to get a fancy tea kettle with temperature controls so I can make all kinds of teas.

[AJL]

Our Keurig was a gift. We use regular coffee that we have ground for reusable K-cups. I put the spent coffee grounds in my compost bin. I can't get on board with the Keurig/K-Cup hate.

[redwino]

I read the title as diva-cup and couldn't wait to find out out why it had become a bad thing. Anyway...

I have a keurig because all my friends had one and I couldn't think of anything else for an anniversary gift. I switched to a reusable cup after reading a thread here but I'm going to keep it until it falls apart. I neither love nor hate it but I do slightly regret the purchase. We still have our old coffee pot in the garage when my keurig dies.

[Deleted]

We have 4. Love them.

[Velar Fricative]

I have one and it's great in a household where one person drinks coffee (me). But I use a reusable cup and regular DD coffee grounds, so don't be mad at me please.

[darnkatz]

Mar 2, 2015 11:22:01 GMT -5 deej said:

So much waste for what I've always found to be a substandard cup of coffee.

I think you mean a watery waste of coffee-like substance.

[josieposy]

We eventually switched to a reusable filter as well, but I thought I heard the new machines don't take them anymore. Anyone know?

Not that I care too much. We drink enough that my Cuisinart is just fine.

[penguingrrl]

I've never had a good cup of coffee from one so I have a lot of trouble seeing the appeal. It's always way too weak and tastes like chemicals.

[msmerymac]

Mar 2, 2015 11:57:11 GMT -5 AJL said:

Our Keurig was a gift. We use regular coffee that we have ground for reusable K-cups. I put the spent coffee grounds in my compost bin. I can't get on board with the Keurig/K-Cup hate.

Then what's the difference between that and an espresso maker?

I think it's BEC territory for me a Keurig right now, but it doesn't do anything that another machine can't do, just at a higher price to the environment. Sure, YOU use the reusable cup, but they've sold 9 billion K-Cups in the past year. That means most people don't. I know my mom and MIL use the disposable ones. And my mom ALSO has a regular drip coffee maker that her husband uses every single day.

[LoveTrains]

Mar 2, 2015 12:13:34 GMT -5 darnkatz said:

Mar 2, 2015 11:22:01 GMT -5 deej said:

So much waste for what I've always found to be a substandard cup of coffee.

I think you mean a watery waste of coffee-like substance.

Right? And it never brews enough. I drink my coffee from a big ass mug at work, and if  I use the k-cups it is only about half way full. Not worth it, bad for the environment, who knows that kinds of chemicals are leaching into my body, etc etc. I never got a kcup brewer for home use and I don't really intend to. 

[AJL]

Mar 2, 2015 12:15:48 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Mar 2, 2015 11:57:11 GMT -5 AJL said:

Our Keurig was a gift. We use regular coffee that we have ground for reusable K-cups. I put the spent coffee grounds in my compost bin. I can't get on board with the Keurig/K-Cup hate.

Then what's the difference between that and an espresso maker?

I think it's BEC territory for me a Keurig right now, but it doesn't do anything that another machine can't do, just at a higher price to the environment. Sure, YOU use the reusable cup, but they've sold 9 billion K-Cups in the past year. That means most people don't. I know my mom and MIL use the disposable ones. And my mom ALSO has a regular drip coffee maker that her husband uses every single day.

Well for one, I don't have an espresso maker. I wouldn't have a Keurig either if my MIL hadn't gifted one to us.  *shrug* 

[AJL]

Mar 2, 2015 12:22:18 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

"Once he had a design that worked, he looked up the word excellence in Danish—because “everyone likes the Dutch"

lol wut?

Bwahahaha!  Those poor Danes. Getting mixed up with the Dutch for centuries. lol.

[lauralala]

Mar 2, 2015 11:57:11 GMT -5 AJL said:

Our Keurig was a gift. We use regular coffee that we have ground for reusable K-cups. I put the spent coffee grounds in my compost bin. I can't get on board with the Keurig/K-Cup hate.

This is exactly our situation. It works well for us because our schedules never line up during the week, so one cup at a time is fine. We are just not that picky about our coffee, either - I'm sure the cups I make would not win any awards, but I don't mind them.

We use a regular coffee maker on the weekends when we are home at the same time and know we will drink more.

[heyjude]

It's good for the office for that occasional cup of coffee but the coffee itself is terrible. What's great about it though is the easy acces to hot water at work for oatmeal and tea, non k cup uses.

[meshaliuknits]

Mar 2, 2015 12:25:20 GMT -5 heyjude said:

It's good for the office for that occasional cup of coffee but the coffee itself is terrible. What's great about it though is the easy acces to hot water for oatmeal and tea, non k cup uses.

Our office maker has a hot water spout on it for this stuff.

My office is waaaaay to cheap for this. Us making a pot of terrible coffee is cheaper for them, I'm sure. Especially when we've got folks bringing in decent coffee instead of using the stuff they stock anyway.

Sent from my EVO

[simpsongal]

I don't get the appeal. I had a single cup maker in college before K cups - you just scooped coffee into a built in filter. Cheap and easy.

We have a percolator now - no filter required, and we recycle the grounds in our garden.

[rosebud]

I use it at work, at home its all by the pot.

[wambam]

Mar 2, 2015 12:15:01 GMT -5 josieposy said:

We eventually switched to a reusable filter as well, but I thought I heard the new machines don't take them anymore. Anyone know?

Yep. I had to buy a 2.0 for work a couple months ago. No reusable KCup and no cups that are not Keurig labeled.

[pescalita]

I don't have the time to fight the behemoth this is going to become today, but I am not on the KeurigH8ter bandwagon. Ours was a gift, we never would have thought of it ourselves, but we don't drink a full pot on weekdays and the convenience is nice. We use the 97% biodegradable ones. Yes, I know they don't biodegrade, but between that and overnight disposable diapers, we don't fill more than a 16-gallon trash cart/wk.

I think people miss a whole lot of giant-house, gas-guzzling, conventional-meet-eating forest for the Keurig trees.

[meshaliuknits]

I don't understand you people who drink one cup of coffee. LOL

Sent from my EVO

[zelda25]

You all know that you can make as little coffee as you want with a full-size coffee pot, right? Just because it's a 10 or a 12 cup pot doesn't mean you have to brew that much. Every time a K-cup thread starts, there's always a bunch of people saying they only want a couple of cups, as though a single-serve machine is the only way to make a small amount of coffee. I don't get it.

A regular coffee maker with a thermal carafe--or pouring it into an actual thermos--will make much better coffee and keep that shit hot for hours.

[AJL]

Mar 2, 2015 12:38:07 GMT -5 wambam said:

Mar 2, 2015 12:15:01 GMT -5 josieposy said:

We eventually switched to a reusable filter as well, but I thought I heard the new machines don't take them anymore. Anyone know?

Yep. I had to buy a 2.0 for work a couple months ago. No reusable KCup and no cups that are not Keurig labeled.

Problem solved - www.gourmet-coffee.com/Keurig-DRM-Freedom-Clip.html

[pixy0stix]

Mar 2, 2015 12:40:31 GMT -5 tillie said:

I think they are great if you just want one cup of coffee, and they are also great for the office. We use the dark roast K-cups to get the coffee a bit stronger.

You said this last time. You say this every time these threads come up. Every single time you completely miss the point of the article and the thread.