The "future of brewing"
February 6, 2015 6:24 AM   Subscribe

 
Wasn't there also a good link here about how to cut-out the lid of a good k-cup and tape it onto the top of the brewer to always register good.. (under some "how to hack your coffee" type of headline .. ). Searching says no.. But here's one link about it. (Not sure where else I would have read it .. )
posted by k5.user at 6:32 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


If a whole boardroom of Keurig executives couldn't see this coming from ten miles away, they deserve the shitstorm they get.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 6:33 AM on February 6, 2015 [69 favorites]


We have a Keurig at the office, so since that's what we have I use it. I bring my coffee from home and use one of those reusable pod baskets. The boss started talking about getting a 2.0 until I explained the whole DRM bit. Even the big time fans of these things really hate this whole "you'll brew only what we tell you that you can" idea.
posted by azpenguin at 6:34 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I have a friend who has a Keurig, and as a present I would always by her those coffee pods. This whole time I thought the original Keurig was DRMed too and that that's why those pods were so expensive. Go figure.

I wonder if there would have been as much backlash if the 2.0 still had DRM, but could use old Keurig brand pods. For most consumers, is the problem backwards compatibility and their sunk costs or is it the concept of DRM?
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:38 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


We just bought a 2.0 and love it, actually. There are plenty of Keurig-approved flavored beverages that we are enjoying.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:39 AM on February 6, 2015


Our office of about 100 people is serviced by an office services company. We have a single serving system (I've seen this system deployed in a vending machine setup, add quarter, pick coffee, get coffee). It's a packet system, so we're constantly tossing little foil packets away.

I'm really surprised Senseo didn't win out in the coffee pod wars. It seemed the least wasteful of the three (foil packet, K-cup, senseo pod) with the Senseo pod being all paper. I suppose the main problem was the exposure to air; unless you have a storage unit that easily evacuates the air it's not easy to keep the coffee fresh in the paper pods for long.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 6:40 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


I can see why Kreug would do this, since they were looking at a crash in their profits. But that still doesn't mean it was a good idea. They really managed to squander their good will.
posted by happyroach at 6:42 AM on February 6, 2015


Do the new 2.0 cups work in the older machines? Or is everyone being forced to upgrade?
posted by Think_Long at 6:42 AM on February 6, 2015


Nespresso has been doing the same thing- although mostly just by continuing to modify their pods. See here. Interesting that some of their behavior got regulated away.

(I'm personally irritated because my own reusable pods worked in the machine at my old job, but don't work in the machine here.)
posted by nat at 6:44 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


At our house, we use a single scoop/one cup coffee maker. Since this machine can use any coffee I like, and makes the same quick, easy, single cup servings, I can't say I understand why I'd want to pay several times as much for little cups.

Also, there is the matter of the Keurig cold water reservoir being something that almost no one cleans (although admittedly, it can be cleaned). This means many Keurig aficionados are chugging mold with their daily brew.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:46 AM on February 6, 2015 [10 favorites]


I only brew coffee labeled with the official Nintendo Seal of Quality.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:48 AM on February 6, 2015 [77 favorites]


is the problem backwards compatibility and their sunk costs or is it the concept of DRM?

My parents don't know the phrase DRM but they are pissed as hell that their store-brand k-cups don't work in the new machine. My other parent is an environmentalist and only uses the keurig with the reusable cup that you fill with your own coffee grounds - she has to keep her old machine working as long as possible because she won't upgrade if losing the refillable cup is the tradeoff.
posted by arcticwoman at 6:48 AM on February 6, 2015 [12 favorites]


Do the new 2.0 cups work in the older machines? Or is everyone being forced to upgrade?

I would try the Scotch tape hack before doing anything - I have witnessed this work on a Keurig machine bought around Xmas '14.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:49 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


I had the original single-serve Keurig. I enjoy a good cup of coffee but not to the point of obsession, so I figured if I could use my own coffee and reusable cups it would be great but in the end nothing is easier for me than the good, old-fashioned cone. I'd been using my mom's 15-yo hand-me-down but just upgraded to a $6 Hario V60 I got at the Japanese market and it makes even better coffee.

I could see how these would be great if you had a big family with varied tastes in liquids but personally, even if breaking the DRM looks fun, in the morning I just want a cup of coffee. I don't like grinding beans and I definitely don't want to futz with foil and plastic tabs.

I'm still enjoying watching this play out, however.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:50 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I don't really think it's about the DRM, but more about how you transition people between incompatible systems without losing or pissing off customers. They seem to have done a terrible job at that.
posted by smackfu at 6:52 AM on February 6, 2015 [6 favorites]


A few years ago we bought a Keurig and it was okay until it broke a month after the warranty expired. So we bought another one and it did the same exact thing. Now we grind our own beans and make pour over coffee in the morning. It's a satisfying, simple ritual, and the taste is so much better. If we want a pick me up in the afternoon we'll use the espresso machine. We won't go back to Keurig.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:53 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


I've had two of these things, both gifts. The first one started leaking three months after I got it. It went in for warranty repair, which they refused because my water is too "soft". The second one stopped pumping water about six months after I got that one. It went in for warranty repair, and they refused it because the water I was using (absopure spring water) was too hard.

Fuck keurig. I hope they go down in flames. If it happens because of DRM and stupidity, all the better.

I went and got a single cup cheap brewer and haven't looked back.
posted by disclaimer at 6:56 AM on February 6, 2015 [6 favorites]


This whole time I thought the original Keurig was DRMed too and that that's why those pods were so expensive.

I can't speak for Keurig, but if it's anything like Tassimo stuff, like 98% of the cost is wasted on packaging. Remember the eighties, when people cared about this shit and got McDonald's to ditch styrofoam and got the record industry to get rid of those weird big cardboard sleeves on CDs and tapes, and stuff like that? Yeah, well, now we have 10 individual-use non-recyclable plastic pods inside two hi-gloss cardboard cartons inside a heavy-duty plastic bag, every piece of which is four-colour printed and has unnecessary features (e.g. perforations) to make the manufacturing process more complicated and fuel- and earth- (and money-!) burningly awful.

What the actual fuck.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:57 AM on February 6, 2015 [119 favorites]


In the bold world of Capitalism, coffee brews you!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:58 AM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


I used to bring these in, but when I did the math making a cup every morning in my Aeropress and bringing in a travel mug was going to save me a LOT of money. If you add in the cost of the electric teakettle I bought to heat the water just the way I want it, it's still cheaper than a Keurig, and I don't have to worry that the coffee is full of creature turds or whatever.
posted by selfnoise at 7:03 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


We need a new acronym, because DRM implies you have some limited rights which need to be managed. I don't think DMCA applies because you can't copyright coffee. But we'll see how the Lexmark case shakes out.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:09 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've switched to an Aeropress and I couldn't be happier. Ironically, I still use a 1.0 (hah) Keurig machine to heat the water, which it does admirably.
posted by codacorolla at 7:12 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


I don't really think it's about the DRM, but more about how you transition people between incompatible systems without losing or pissing off customers.

It's interesting to compare this to SodaStream, because they do the exact same thing with their CO2 cartridges, but there are no alternatives*, the overall math still works out well, so it's not a big deal.

People understand the printer/cartridges economy, but buy into it because they could save money by going with dodgy refiller companies, or because they just don't print enough to feel like they're really losing money on the deal. But Keurigs, by definition, are not low-use machines, and shutting out the third party avenue takes away the sop to consumers to buy into an economic that's manifestly unfavourable to them. For people who bought into it, having that closed now just looks like naked fucking over of a captive base.

My personal reason to hate Keurig is that my tea brand, Twinings, seems to be almost abandoning traditional teabag sales to produce enough pods to become the default tea for Keurigs. Damn you, Twinings! Damn you straight to hell unless I find another way to reliably purchase Lady Grey Decaf!

* Yes, I can visit my local welding supply store, source a tank, etc. That's not within the normal consumer range of alternatives
posted by fatbird at 7:14 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


98% of the cost is wasted on packaging . . . 10 individual-use non-recyclable plastic pods inside two hi-gloss cardboard cartons inside a heavy-duty plastic bag . . .

Our office of about 100 people . . . have a single serving system . . . we're constantly tossing little foil packets away. . .

Fuck keurig. I hope they go down in flames


Yeah that office K-cup machine -- Notice how your k-cup seemingly dissappears when you're done brewing. Notice how big the machine is for what it actually does. Consider that somebody has to come in at the end of the day to empty it and haul out all those used k-cups.

Your office k-cup machine is a counter-top garbage can with a coffee maker attached to it.
 
posted by Herodios at 7:16 AM on February 6, 2015 [31 favorites]


I've been buying the San Francisco Bay Fog Chaser "K-Cups" for a few years, and have been pretty happy with them.

They're cheaper than normal K-cups, I actually tend to like the coffee better, and they use way less material (97% of which is purportedly biodegradable).

It's the same company that came up with the Freedom Clip gizmo to circumvent Keurig's DRM.

I live by myself, and don't drink a ton of coffee, so these things have always been ideal. Keurig's a nasty, evil corporation, but the 3rd-party pods actually eliminate most of the drawbacks of the system. It creates a bit more waste than a French Press, but requires way, way less effort.
posted by schmod at 7:16 AM on February 6, 2015 [11 favorites]


As a true decadent I swig only the finest printer ink.
posted by Artw at 7:19 AM on February 6, 2015 [21 favorites]


I'd never use one of those at home but they work well at the office since they require a minimum of cleanup and you don't end up drinking stale burnt coffee that's been sitting on the Bunn'o'matic heating element for four hours.
posted by octothorpe at 7:20 AM on February 6, 2015


Gee, it's DivX all over again. Who woulda thunk.

A friend of mine had two of these 2.0 machines fail on him in under 30 days.

Fuck these things and all the garbage they generate.
posted by trunk muffins at 7:20 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


At home I use a good old-fashioned stainless steel insulated french press (with water boiled in an electric kettle). It's pretty great and is just the right amount of coffee for our two-person household. I am not really a coffee snob -- sure sometimes the beans are fresh ground Dark Matter coffee, but sometimes it'll be pre-ground grocery store Starbucks or Peets or whatever.

At work, though, we have a Keurig. I hate it, and really should consider figuring out another morning coffee making method. (Making at home and bringing it in doesn't work for a number of reasons, including that I ride my bike to work.) Anyway, the Keurig makes seriously shit coffee but what bugs me the most is just how wasteful those plastic pods are. And to make it worse, I'll often use 2 pods per cup to get a decent strength coffee. Our work machine is a commercial one directly plumbed into the water system, so at least we don't have the moldy water reservoir issue, but I really wish there was a better solution for office coffee.
posted by misskaz at 7:21 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I almost bought one as a present for my wife, but luckily spotted an early article about the issue. I actually think that "DRM" isn't quite the right term for this and that I've seen other examples of companies trying to lock in consumers to proprietary systems, but regardless it's not something I want to buy into at this moment.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:22 AM on February 6, 2015


I'm happy, because I hate all pod-based brewing systems. I understand if you want instant/fast coffee, but those plastic cups are huge, horrible waste. Already waste people are saying they are a serious problem.

I know my coffee isn't that environmentally sound to start with. We don't need billions of pieces of plastic to go with it.
posted by jb at 7:23 AM on February 6, 2015 [6 favorites]


Misskaz, if you have access to the (almost) boiling water, a cone is great for the office.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:25 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


There is no better coffee than the kind you take the time to grind and brew yourself. I take a handful of beans, shove them in my mouth, and punch myself in the face until they are nice and ground and mixed with blood and saliva for a perfect cup.

At least I used to until the damn Keurig 2.0 came out. Now when I try to shove a handful of beans into my mouth, the Keurig 2.0 starts shouting and pulls an alarm and a bunch of other Keurig 2.0s come into the room and drag me away and the head Keurig 2.0 gives me a shot of that nasty coffee in my arm and I start to get all groggggggg
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:25 AM on February 6, 2015 [52 favorites]


I'll qualify this as I'm a Keurig skeptic. I'd rather buy locally roasted beans that I can run through my reusable filter than have to buy a "pod" that I have to throw away. I like brewing something for the big, tall mug my daughter made me (rather than having to go through multiple pods). I know they make reusable baskets for the machines, but, once you have that, I'm not sure what the value add is.

However, in some settings, or for some people, I can get why it would be a benefit. You can right-size your coffee production, and offer more choices.

All that being said, the DRM lock in offended me in a way even greater than printer ink. The model clearly takes aim at folks who would use the little basket (so they can sell more "blades"). The sunk cost of the machine, as opposed to a razor handle, makes switching a hard pill to swallow.

The upside is that I can't see how they could combat the "pirates." Since it sounds like anyone can kludge it with an old pod, and these aren't networked, they can't push an update to undo the "jailbreak." While they could go after folks who might sell something to do the job under DMCA, you can't stop each individual customer.

The only real option is to create Keurig 3.0, with a different DRM, and perhaps a patching capability. But that'd be a hard sell, and clearly cynical profiteering.

And no one in a capitalist society goes for cynical profiteering, right?
posted by MrGuilt at 7:28 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Fucking *farm machinery* has DRM now: New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers
posted by Artw at 7:32 AM on February 6, 2015 [14 favorites]


What an asshat move on the part of Kuerig.

I love this sentence in the linked article: Indeed, the 2.0’s Amazon reviews overflow with caffeine-deprived fury, the idiosyncratically capitalized wrath of people who bought 2.0 machines only to find that their old cups don’t work.
posted by marxchivist at 7:32 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I feel like jessamyn's post in the previous thread addresses the usual "my coffee is better than your coffee" derails perfectly and I hope we can avoid turning this thread into the same.
posted by almostmanda at 7:36 AM on February 6, 2015 [21 favorites]


It’s the most open caffeinated beverage there is

Imma let you finish, but tea.

My personal reason to hate Keurig is that my tea brand, Twinings, seems to be almost abandoning traditional teabag sales to produce enough pods to become the default tea for Keurigs. Damn you, Twinings! Damn you straight to hell unless I find another way to reliably purchase Lady Grey Decaf!

Two notes on this:
  1. fatbird, are you having trouble finding Twinings? Because I'm not having any trouble at all and can help hook you up if needed.
  2. Anyone using a Keurig to make tea is crazy or stupid. For one, it's a magnitude more expensive. 12 K-cups for $10 or 20 bags for $3.50. Additionally, plastic, at therefore the Keurig dispenser system, pretty absorbs a coffee taste that it imparts to any tea brewed using its system. If you are not a coffee drinker, it taints your tea/cocoa/not-coffee beverage. (I've had the same issue with plastic lids on travel mugs, so it isn't Keurig's fault.) It's the equivalent of cigarette smoke to a non-smoker (or maybe cat/dog smell to a non-pet owner?). For the smoker it's fresh and clean because they smoke outside. To the non-smoker, their clothes still reek of cigarette smoke.
posted by maryr at 7:45 AM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


To the non-smoker, their clothes still reek of cigarette smoke.

Their entire being, even their essence... their very SOUL, reeks of cigarette smoke.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:51 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


Justified snobbery about Keurig's quality aside, DRM'd coffee is a boldly idiotic idea.
posted by duffell at 7:51 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


In other news, my $20 Mr. Coffee drip machine still works exactly the same as it did when I bought it 5 years ago (and the one I bought 10 years before that), and I can buy literally any brand/variety/grind of coffee I desire and make it at home for a tiny fraction of what I would spend for the same amount in K-cups, not to mention the initial outlay for the Keurig device.

I don't understand the market for Keurig's technology, but then again I don't comprehend why an otherwise intelligent adult would ever pay more than $2 USD for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, either.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:53 AM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


It was pretty clear that Green Mountain Coffee/Keurig were following the printer ink racket (printer ink is shown to be more costly than vintage champagne) when I easily got a replacement machine sent to me for free when one stopped working, as long as I kept the k-cup popper thing. Except you don't need that if you use the refillable k-cups

My wife and I have an older machine and happily use a refillable cup, and use it to brew tea. I know, I know, it's an insult to both coffee and tea, but it's so convenient when we only want a cup at a time.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:00 AM on February 6, 2015


As a true decadent I swig only the finest printer ink.

Someone should do a remake of 'Withnail and I' featuring office supplies instead of alcohol...
posted by ennui.bz at 8:00 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I don't comprehend why an otherwise intelligent adult would ever pay more than $2 USD for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, either.

They don't. A double espresso is still under $2 almost everywhere. Perhaps a bit more some places.

Your otherwise intellligent adults are paying over $2 for hot milk and HFCS in various forms.

Now if we could just get Starbucker to serve it in ceramics cups.
 
posted by Herodios at 8:01 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I take a handful of beans, shove them in my mouth, and punch myself in the face until they are nice and ground and mixed with blood and saliva for a perfect cup.

You know, you could change your user name to robocop used to be bleeding if you just gave up this practice....
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:02 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


I don't really think it's about the DRM, but more about how you transition people between incompatible systems without losing or pissing off customers. They seem to have done a terrible job at that.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's both!
posted by jeremias at 8:03 AM on February 6, 2015


Strange Interlude: I don't understand the market for Keurig's technology, but then again I don't comprehend why an otherwise intelligent adult would ever pay more than $2 USD for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, either.

Single-serving convenience, brand recognition and product reliability.

Herodios: Now if we could just get Starbucker to serve it in ceramics cups.

Bring your own cup. This rage over k-cups is silly, considering how many coffee cups and hot drink sleeves are produced and thrown away for store-bought coffee. I try to bring my own mug whenever I want coffee made at work or on the go. Then again, I also bring my own take-home containers to restaurants.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:04 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


The one application of Keurig that I found useful was on RAGBRAI a few years ago when I was with a group that all had different coffee preferences, and the K machine was efficient at dispensing whatever each person wanted, in rapid succession, in an environment where we were lucky to even have a power outlet, never mind messing around with coffee and filters and whatnot.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:07 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I rarely drink coffe and am in no way a connoisseuer; I am perfectly happy with my Mr. Coffee and some Chock Full O' Nuts (which I buy because it's cheap, still comes in metal cans, and has a fun name which I originally remember from Wacky Packs) Having said that, I have never had a cup of Keurig coffee that I liked. Always seems too watery, and the fact that some people use the pods for more than one cup certainly wouldnt make that better. They seem a little more convenient to use, but I have never found using a drip brewer that burdensome. If I want more than one or two cups the old method seems easier. The one thing that had me considering a Keurig was the fact that it can be used for other things like hot chocolate and spiced cider. Now I have no idea (and won't bother to find out) whether those pods are 2.0 compatible and have completely written off the idea of a Keurig.

King Gillette really screwed things up, didn't he?
posted by TedW at 8:08 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


They don't. A double espresso is still under $2 almost everywhere. Perhaps a bit more some places.

Your otherwise intellligent adults are paying over $2 for hot milk and HFCS in various forms.


Ah, I stand corrected. It's been probably a good 15 years since the last time I set foot inside a Starbucks. My point still stands that the people driving the demand for "coffee" actually want to drink fancy milkshakes instead of the real bean-juice.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:09 AM on February 6, 2015


Misskaz, if you have access to the (almost) boiling water, a cone is great for the office.

For my money, the Espro press is an amazing option for kettle-only situations. All the convenience of a French Press, but none of the grounds-in-the-teeth problems. A press with the filter finally figured out. Makes fabulous coffee, comparable to our Technivorm. A bit spendy perhaps compared to a Bodum, but hey this is coffee we're talking about.
posted by bonehead at 8:10 AM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


Notice how your k-cup seemingly dissappears when you're done brewing. Notice how big the machine is for what it actually does. Consider that somebody has to come in at the end of the day to empty it and haul out all those used k-cups
Good point. One of our satellite offices has a larger machine; the foil packets drop into a pull out drawer. Everytime I go there, I pull out the drawer and empty it and at least one person in the break room is surprised that this little can is where the packets disappear to.

The one we're using now requires you to remove the old packet by hand before inserting a new one. Less machinery but those packets pile up in the trash.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 8:11 AM on February 6, 2015


BTW - if you have the issue, Kuerig's customer service is in full-press salvage mode. I had a bunch of old coffee that did not work with the new machine and when I called (I think the phone number popped up on the error screen), they asked me how many types of old coffees I had and sent me coupons for free boxes of DRM-laden replacements.
posted by rtimmel at 8:12 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


PAY PER SWING HAMMER GETS CLOSER EVERY DAY
posted by lalochezia at 8:15 AM on February 6, 2015 [4 favorites]


There was a post yesterday about forcing everyone into pay-per-use self-driving cars. You know the first thing that would happen in that future would be rights restrictions.
posted by bonehead at 8:17 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Want to get to Grandma's? With Hertz you can!
posted by bonehead at 8:18 AM on February 6, 2015


For my money, the Espro press is an amazing option for kettle-only situations.

That looks great. I like French press coffee but lord, I do not trust myself to not crack any more glass carafes.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 8:22 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


Anyone using a Keurig to make tea is crazy or stupid.

At one point I actually visited an office that had two coffee Keurigs and, on the other side of the breakroom, a dedicated tea-only Keurig to prevent the weird coffee aftertaste from showing up in the tea.

The tea was mediocre.
posted by pie ninja at 8:24 AM on February 6, 2015


The stainless thermal carafe is what attracted me in the first place, but the espro filter is what sold me on it. It's amazing.
posted by bonehead at 8:25 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


The tea was mediocre.

Yeah, there's also the fact that Keurig uses tea dust and steeps it less time than a bag. Plus the water temp is optimized for coffee, not tea.

It's one step above microwave tea. Barely.
posted by maryr at 8:31 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


Or maybe, just maybe, it's both!

I suppose. I feel like a lot of the complaints in the article would apply equally well to a form factor change in the pod, even if there wasn't DRM on the new ones. People who can't use their old pods don't really care why exactly that is.
posted by smackfu at 8:33 AM on February 6, 2015


This new HP coffee maker/printer I just bought is fantastic! It only uses official HP coffee cartridges, and it only prints in one colour, but I love it anyway.
posted by sneebler at 8:35 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


fatbird, are you having trouble finding Twinings? Because I'm not having any trouble at all and can help hook you up if needed.

I can still find a few types of the basics, but in every grocery store in Vancouver that we frequent, the wide brand selection has gone away for Twinings while others now get four feet of frontage so they can display twelve different varieties, while Twinings has Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Fortunately we have a regular ordering arrangement now with our grocery store.

Part of my annoyance with this is that Twinings offers 100 bags of Earl Grey in a sack in addition to 20 in a box, and I'd love to buy Lady Grey Decaf that way, but they don't seem to make it (if you see these, maryr, let me know). They also sold through their website once, but no longer, and I blame all this on them betting heavily on Keurig and wanting to be the first tea represented there. I can understand the logic of the business decision, hateful as it is to me on several levels.
posted by fatbird at 8:39 AM on February 6, 2015


If hot water is incompatible with your coffee then something has gone very, very wrong for you.
posted by GilloD at 8:39 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


If the coffee is simply licensed to me and I don't actually own it, I'm in the clear for mailing them back my poop, right?
posted by werkzeuger at 8:43 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


A cat litter box with DRM, worth reading for the phrase "bricked shithouse"
posted by exogenous at 8:46 AM on February 6, 2015 [11 favorites]


FTFA:
It’s the most open caffeinated beverage there is; all you need is beans and hot water and, I guess, a vessel to brew it in.

I would really like to introduce the author to tea, since he apparently hasn't heard of it.
posted by workerant at 8:51 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


If the coffee is simply licensed to me and I don't actually own it, I'm in the clear for mailing them back my poop, right?

So how does that Monsanto Coffee taste?
posted by Room 641-A at 8:55 AM on February 6, 2015


YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A LATTE
posted by Enemy of Joy at 8:56 AM on February 6, 2015 [33 favorites]


what if coffeemaker, but too much
posted by Spathe Cadet at 9:02 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


We used to have a k-cup store in my town. Like, you could go browse and make a selection of a variety of flavors. It was like a pick-a-six of coffee pods. I don't think it lasted a year.
posted by Biblio at 9:02 AM on February 6, 2015


Tea I've found in most offices is mediocre. There's no boiling water, the hot spigot on the coffee machine seems to top out at 190 which I don't enjoy as tea water, needs to be 210, plus the tea bags most places use aren't great. I was for a while seriously considering a zojirushi water heater but realized I have no place to actually put it :(.
posted by Carillon at 9:04 AM on February 6, 2015


The tea was mediocre.

Dear god, why would you even try that?
posted by Artw at 9:10 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


I got a Keurig for Christmas a couple of years back. I used it a lot in the first year of my daughter's life, but was never too wild about the coffee itself. Just the how it was essentially instantaneous. The machine started to act funny and not pour out enough water, and rather than sticking with it, I switched to a $25 stovetop espresso maker and I buy cheap Lavazza coffee. It is so much better. I cut it with a bunch of hot water and put in a teaspoon of sweetened condensed milk and sorry Keurig, it's over.
posted by Hoopo at 9:11 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is this one of those things you'd have to like shitty coffee to understand?
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:13 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


Good: Enabling caffeine addicts to get their fix.
Bad: In any way interfering with caffeine addicts getting their fix.

Everyone knows this.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:19 AM on February 6, 2015 [11 favorites]


At my work place the Keurig is basically the single serving kettle. We have one of those large coffee makers that fills up a whole carafe, but the "hot" tap on it is barely lukewarm. All the tea drinkers use the Keurig to make hot water. I don't think any of them would notice if we got a 2.0

Herodios: Now if we could just get Starbucker to serve it in ceramics cups.

For all that I am pretty meh on Tim Horton's coffee, one thing I do like is going out for coffee and getting actual mugs for the coffee and actual plates for the doughnuts. I've been doing the coffee and doughnuts thing with my parents since I was a little kid and it was a treat after hockey games (we didn't have a Tim's in my home town, so after away games we would swing by). Those mugs are such a fixture of my nostalgia for childhood, I don't think I would even go into a Tim Horton's if they got rid of them.
posted by selenized at 9:47 AM on February 6, 2015


I'm down with the $20 Mr. Coffee machine. Mrs. Bastard and I buy the cheapest pre-packaked espresso-ground coffee available, and use about 1.5 the recommended amount per pot. That we agree on what makes perfect coffee is a big reason we are still married. We were at a friend's house a couple of years ago and tried their weird weak-ass coffee-pod stuff and smiled politely. We still make fun of them. It's how we bond.
posted by Cookiebastard at 9:51 AM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


As a device to use daily, and in the case of an office dozens of times a day, I'm just flabbergasted.

Plus side: Operating it feels like loading a very small artillery piece. Relatively mess free.
Downside: Everything else.
posted by Artw at 9:51 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


If you really enjoy a nice single cup of coffee, those super-automatic espresso machines are pretty sweet. I've had mine for several years and love it.
posted by hellphish at 9:56 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


It seems that it's only selling point is that it's much faster/easier to use than a regular pot, to which I feel like the cost of the cups negates just going to Dunkin Donuts if you care more about convenience than price.

It's more like it's in the middle. A legit K-cup runs around $0.50-0.75 a cup on Amazon. Bulk coffee is a bit cheaper than that. Dunkin Donuts is probably twice as much ($2 for a large.)
posted by smackfu at 10:05 AM on February 6, 2015


Fucking *farm machinery* has DRM now: New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers

This is how the robots will eventually rise up to kill or enslave us all. Some future autonomous farming vehicle will be programmed like so:

Priority 1: Farm vegetables.
Priority 2: Do not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human to come to harm.
Priority 3: Protect proprietary hardware and software from tampering.
Priority 4: Break down and require expensive repairs after the warranty expires.

A stray cosmic ray will strike some memory chip and change no. 3 to top priority, some well-meaning human will try to adjust the engine timing, and the AI will conclude that humans are a threat and must be eliminated.

It's not as easy to imagine the same thing happening with coffee machines, but I'd be careful not to put them too near the cupboard with the mercury, saltpetre, and oil of vitriol.
posted by sfenders at 10:09 AM on February 6, 2015 [8 favorites]


Can someone help out a confused European?

How do these Keurig machines work? The article seems to use 'cup' and 'pod' interchangeably and it's making it very hard for me to understand what it's talking about. We have Nespresso here when we want coffee-inna-pod, and those machines just take a coffee pod and make the drink in any cup you want. Is it the Keurig cup that's DRMed, the pod, both??

Thanks!
posted by daisyk at 10:12 AM on February 6, 2015


Can someone help out a confused European?

The "cup" and the "pod" are the same thing actually, it is just that in the case of a Keurig the pod looks like a little plastic cup, and are called "k-cups" as a proprietary name. You plunk the "k-cup" in your machine, the machine shoots hot water through it, and dispenses coffee into your mug. Same principle as a Nespresso.

The DRM is on the "k-cup", analogous to if your Nespresso pods had some magic mark on them so only Nespresso approved pods could be used in their machine.
posted by selenized at 10:21 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


daisyk, a K-Cup is a plastic pod containing stale and awful ground coffee. You load it and push the button and awful stuff dribbles out of the spout into anything you choose to hold under it. At least, that's my experience at my Honda dealer.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:21 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


I have an older model with the capacity to brew my own. Choke on it, corporate fascists!!
posted by Renoroc at 10:22 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]



the "hot" tap on it is barely lukewarm. All the tea drinkers use the Keurig to make hot water.

Lukewarm water = no tea
Hot water = no tea
Boiling water = tea
"'Pour boilin' woattah oveh the tea'
How simple and clear can instructions be?"
Herodios: Now if we could just get Starbucker to serve it in ceramics cups.
one thing I do like is going out for coffee and getting actual mugs for the coffee

Thing is, I'd been habituating places that served arabica coffee and espresso for years before I'd ever heard of Starbucks. When they showed up and started supplanting all the local coffee houses, I was more appalled by the fact that you could not get a non-disposable cup ever than the usual complaint, that their beans are over-roasting.

Plus side: . . . Relatively mess free.

Yeah, but it's not mess-free. There is still a mess, but k-cups allow you to externalize your mess, just like Dupont and Dow Chemical do.
 
posted by Herodios at 10:25 AM on February 6, 2015 [9 favorites]


Thank you, selenized and RedOrGreen. I'll have another try reading the article now I understand that. :)
posted by daisyk at 10:28 AM on February 6, 2015


I feel like jessamyn's post in the previous thread addresses the usual "my coffee is better than your coffee" derails perfectly and I hope we can avoid turning this thread into the same.

I agree, but only because my coffee is the best, so anyone else's claim is noise.
posted by zippy at 10:41 AM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Holy shit. I assumed the pods were recyclable, but they aren't:

Currently, our K-Cup® packs are not recyclable for a couple of reasons, which we are working to overcome. First, the plastic packaging must be separated from the lid and filter in order to empty the cup and then recycle the plastic. Since the filter is sealed to the cup, it makes separating the lid, filter, and cup difficult. Second, the filter material is a blend of natural fibers and plastic, which prevents it from being recycled conventionally

One of our targets for 2020 is to make 100% of K-Cup® packs recyclable.


(from their site)
posted by kitcat at 10:49 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I gotta say, I don't drink coffee and my work has an actual electric kettle for those of us who prefer tea that keeps the water boiling at all times. So I was eyeing the discussion with interest, but also a side of "eh, who cares, I'll keep in mind how to jailbreak the damn things if I ever want to use one for hot water."

Then exogenous linked the DRM catbox, a product I have genuinely contemplated buying, and I went "FUCK THAT FUCK IT STRAIGHT TO HELL I'M GOING TO COMMENCE SNEERING AT THAT THING IN THE PET STORE AND WORK OUT HOW TO JAILBREAK THE DAMN THING OUT OF SHEER SPITE."

....I'm a little taken aback at the sheer intensity of my kneejerk rage, here.
posted by sciatrix at 10:54 AM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


I have both a Nespresso machine and the above-referenced cat box. Ask me anything.
posted by bizwank at 11:01 AM on February 6, 2015


Have you actually tried asking for a for-here cup at Starbucks? I worked there a few years ago -- in NYC, so very limited space, but we still had plenty of ceramic cups and plates for customers. They're in the overhead cabinets behind the signs, just waiting for someone to ask.
posted by booksandlibretti at 11:01 AM on February 6, 2015


Yeah that office K-cup machine -- Notice how your k-cup seemingly dissappears when you're done brewing. Notice how big the machine is for what it actually does. Consider that somebody has to come in at the end of the day to empty it and haul out all those used k-cups.

So you're the person who never empties it! So help you when the rest of us in the office figure out who you are...
posted by dances with hamsters at 11:03 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


This shit drives me crazy. Having a similar "lock-out" with a non-Apple charger/cord I bought on Amazon that will not charge my iPhone anymore. Apple has taken thousands of my dollars over my lifetime, they can't let me save a few bucks on a backup charger for my office? Grrrrrrrrrrr.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:07 AM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


<slightDerail>
(Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates: "I like French press coffee but lord, I do not trust myself to not crack any more glass carafes."

(or for half the cost of the Espro you can get this Thermos-brand French Press which I purchased after breaking my umpteenth Bodum 7 years ago and is basically indestructible)
</slightDerail>

posted by rouftop at 11:42 AM on February 6, 2015 [3 favorites]


You know what's a really awesome system for coffee?

ESE compatible espresso machines - I love them to the point that I risk sounding like an advertisement. I can get packs of Lavazza for less than 50c a pod, and it's an easy-clean-up, open system that produces arguably less waste than Keurig, and has a TON of variety. I have yet to see one that doesn't have the ability to make single/double espressos from your own ground coffee as well, it's generally a matter of changing the filter out.

I actually only recently discovered the ESE pods, they have been around forever - I had been a snob about it for years, but decided to check it out when I started making decaf from time to time. I almost aways roast my own coffee, so I'm typically of the mindset that purchased pre-ground coffee is worthless - It's never fresh enough, and you lose all the nuance. Decaf isn't an option for me as a home-roaster (at least not one I want to mess with) and I typically don't use enough of it to justify purchasing anything fresh - It will age out quickly. I had briefly considered something like a keurig for that, but I hated the waste, I hated the plastic cups, and 2.0 put them squarely in the "will never purchase" quadrant.

The ESE system changed addressed every complaint - I can roast my own coffee for pour-over and drip and consistently be better than all but the professional local roasters that sell fresh. However, the ESE pods consistently make a better espresso than any of my own roasts have - yet, there's nothing stopping me from trying whatever I want. And you can get this for less than a keurig 2.0! It's what I've been recommending to everyone who has been interested in the convenience of a keurig lately - as long as you are willing to order your coffeepods. You aren't typically going to find ESE compatible stuff in a US grocery...
posted by MysticMCJ at 11:57 AM on February 6, 2015


I love my DeLonghi. I can use any ESE pod or tamp my own when I'm in the mood for so.
posted by asra at 12:15 PM on February 6, 2015


I moved from the Senseo to the Keurig a few years ago when my then-wife bought me one after it started to get hard to find the Senseo pods. I started with the single-serve machines because I only drink a cup or two at a time and hated throwing out the rest of a pot. Also, when I'm fresh out of bed, stumbling to the machine bleary eyed, it's about the shortest time to reducing the amount of blood in my caffeine system in the least complicated way possible with acceptable coffee.

I get the Newman's Own because that's what they carry at the price club. I think I'll switch to those San Francisco ones linked up-thread because I do worry somewhat about the waste of the plastic cups.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:16 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


It's interesting to compare this to SodaStream, because they do the exact same thing with their CO2 cartridges, but there are no alternatives*, the overall math still works out well, so it's not a big deal.

So funny, because I was thinking the exact opposite thing! It seems to me like making your machine marginally hackable would ultimately sell more and obviate the need to back pedal and apologize. There are all kinds of adaptors for the SodaStream you can order online. If you can get yourself to a refilling station regularly, it could save you some cash. Or you can go all out and get a big tank and install it under your counter and only have to refill once a year or whatever. That makes it appealing for people, like me, who enjoy a little DYI and the feeling of beating the system. Of course, it may take some time to figure out which adapter is best, plus where you can do the refills, and I don't even drive so it's actually a lot more convenient to just pick the SodaStream refills at the mall. But the potential for getting one over on the man is still there!

(Actually, mine just sits idle because I'm supporting the boycott, but the idea is still the same.)
posted by looli at 12:16 PM on February 6, 2015


I love my aeropress so much. I'm really not a coffee snob, and I probably can't taste whether it actually makes good coffee, but it's ridiculously quick and easy and takes up next to no space. It's the perfect coffee maker for someone who lives alone and has a small kitchen.

We have a Keurig at work, and it seems to make people happy. There's going to be mass revolt if they try to replace the current one with a DRMed one, though, because most people use the refillable k-cups and would be furious, on environmental, cost and philosophical grounds, if they had to buy disposable k-cups from Keurig.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 1:01 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


It seems to me like making your machine marginally hackable would ultimately sell more and obviate the need to back pedal and apologize.

I don't know if they lose money on the machines, like printers, but most of Keurig's profits are in the pods, so anything that helps people avoid paying full price for them and only them, is self-defeating.

A competitor to Keurig should step up while this is burning them and say "we sell machines, not pods", and charge more for it, and have no DRM or other bullshit, and even offer instructions or kits for using other pods or ways of making beverages.
posted by fatbird at 1:30 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


Similar to the "all phones must have microusb charging sockets" thing, we need legislation against this kind of e-waste creating garbage. I realize a coffee maker isn't exactly a computer, but these things are in the same sense a printer is.

I really, really hate this company though. And not for coffee snob reasons. The non-recyclable cups suck, but the actual company sucks too. I worked at a chain coffee shop when they were first coming out. They'd introduce a new series of models, and then issue an edict to everyone who was an official distributor apple style saying a "you need to pull all the model 60s, we're selling model 80s only now) sort of thing. The difference is that most companies will buy back, or take a return of, or something the old models and then use them for refurbs or sell them from the factory store at a discount or whatever. Keurig? "fuck off, that's not our problem, but you can't sell it".

They offered them to the employees for RIDICULOUSLY cheap. No one wanted them, because we all feared well... basically this, them shifting the standard of the cups and shafting everyone who had the old model slowly. Or some other tomfoolery. Also, fuck the disposable cups. If i'm going to use a refillable one anyways... why not just use, you know, a home espresso machine?

I have no idea what they did with them. Probably wrote them down then loaded them all in to a landfill with all the little plastic filter cups.

People are going to look back on this sort of thing in 100 years with the "jeeze" headshake of like, foot xray machines at shoe shops and lead paint. The difference is that we know it's stupid right now.

I also don't believe, for a second, that the majority of people who use these machines don't just use the disposable cups. Especially in offices/waiting rooms/etc which is where i see most of them.
posted by emptythought at 2:29 PM on February 6, 2015 [7 favorites]


YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A LATTE

I don't, but, ahem, a friend has...
posted by Samizdata at 2:36 PM on February 6, 2015


I also don't believe, for a second, that the majority of people who use these machines don't just use the disposable cups. Especially in offices/waiting rooms/etc which is where i see most of them.

It's a weird thing in a lot of offices that there really aren't communal foods anymore. Not just the Keurig or whatever-brand individual coffee machines, but all the other things available in the break room are individualized -- my office has a wall of tea, hot chocolate, iced tea, etc. all in individually packaged single servings. Even the communal coffee comes in pre-measured foil bags (one bag per carafe, which is better than a wee plastic cup per mug I guess).

I think it is part of our weird office culture: all that stuff is expected, but we also don't trust each other not to "contaminate" the foodstuffs.
posted by selenized at 3:10 PM on February 6, 2015


My wife and I have an older machine and happily use a refillable cup, and use it to brew tea. I know, I know, it's an insult to both coffee and tea, but it's so convenient when we only want a cup at a time.

You don't just use a tea bag in a mug? We make single cups of tea all the time. You just put one tea bag in a mug and steep as long or short as you like.

Bring your own cup. This rage over k-cups is silly, considering how many coffee cups and hot drink sleeves are produced and thrown away for store-bought coffee.

I always do, which is good as I work in a coffee shop and would use 3-4 cups a shift otherwise.
posted by jb at 3:10 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


The one thing that had me considering a Keurig was the fact that it can be used for other things like hot chocolate and spiced cider

Ah... I think I've just realised one reason why people in American offices might like pod brewers. You don't have electric kettles! (or they are much less common than they are in Canada and other commonwealth countries).

In Canada, every office/work I've ever been at has had an electric kettle at a minimum; they are more likely to have a kettle than a microwave, and more likely to have a microwave than a coffee maker. If you bring in the stuff, you can make so many different hot drinks with an electric kettle: any kind of tea or herbal infusion, hot chocolate, instant cider, bovril, or coffee (instant, French press, Aero press, pour-over), You can also make instant oatmeal or instant noodles (thus the popularity of pot noodles in Britain, which has even better kettles).

Once I lived for a month in a bedsit where I had no kitchen access; I lived off one pot on a hot plate and a kettle, and I would have given up the pot before I gave up the kettle.
posted by jb at 3:20 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I even had a kettle in my locker in high school, for those tea/oatmeal emergencies.
posted by jb at 3:20 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


This whole time I thought the original Keurig was DRMed too and that that's why those pods were so expensive. Go figure.

I believe they originals were expensive because of patents on it; the expiration of which lead to the development of 2.0.
posted by MikeKD at 3:20 PM on February 6, 2015 [2 favorites]


I'm kind of flabbergasted at the selection now. On their site they list almost 300 variations, and that's just coffee.

I gave my old one to a friend who owns a tutoring business and she loves it for her students and the parents. I also went to a huge Xmas party and the host had one and people loved it. He also appreciated not having to deal with each guest's drinks. The proprietary K-cup DRMA aside, I think they serve a purpose for low usage and/or certain business situations. Now that I rarely use my printer I don't get nearly as mad about the cost of ink.
posted by Room 641-A at 3:33 PM on February 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


I like good coffee a lot. This is not good coffee.
posted by mazola at 3:34 PM on February 6, 2015


Huh, just realized that my drip coffee maker, used daily, is now 19 years old (a freebie for a Gevalia trial offer. Terrible coffee, but I still have the freebie).

Went through chopper grinders at a rate of about 1 every couple of years. Got a cheap burr grinder 7 years ago and it's still going strong.
posted by porpoise at 4:03 PM on February 6, 2015


Lukewarm water = no tea
Hot water = no tea
Boiling water = tea


Where are all the green tea drinkers? A halfway decent Dragonwell or jasmine pearl wants water at something like 85C.
posted by jet_silver at 4:42 PM on February 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


Seconding schmod's endorsement of these BrandX Keurig K-Cups. They are about half the cost of official licensed K-Cups, which brings the price of a cup of Keurig-brewed coffee down to about what it costs from beans from your local coffee shop. Their freedom clip is hilarious and awesome and I applaud them for throwing it right in the teeth of Keurig's stupid DRM system.

There's no question these Keurig coffee makers are a compromise. It's not the best coffee, but it's convenient and good enough for me and better than what I used to do. (Make a good pot, then microwave leftovers later in the day or tomorrow.) I'm a snob about some foods but not American drip coffee, apparently.
posted by Nelson at 1:13 AM on February 7, 2015


This lame move by Keurig was to me, very similar to the obnoxious move by Apple to the "lightning" connector for iPhones starting with the iPhone 5. Here was a great new connector that did exactly what the old one did, and added exactly one additional feature: it could be plugged in inverted. Of course the USB end was still standard USB, so the search for the superposition continued as it ever did. The price for this stunning innovation was the full obsolescence of all your previously purchased cables and docks, as well as $20 per new cable and don't bother buying an aftermarket cable because the cable is designed with a chip in it to ensure that it's been properly licensed, and an unchipped cable will be detected by the phone and rejected. This is all the chip is for, to ensure Apple's margin. And all this even though a perfectly equivalent design existed already, and had been standardized among virtually all other phone manufacturers: micro USB.

This is why after two iPhones, I moved to android. If apple is going to give me a more expensive option that comes with tangible competitive benefits, that's one thing. But if they're just going to change shit in order to boldly grab more money with no added benefit, then they can fuck off. As can Keurig.
posted by Pliskie at 6:42 AM on February 7, 2015 [8 favorites]


I wonder if part of the reason for the super fast adaptation of Keurig machines in the office environment has to do with the fact that few offices still have the secretary/office manager type role that includes keeping the break room up and running efficiently. We all know that it doesn't work to expect people to make a new pot of coffee when they empty the previous one, or wash out the pot at the end of the day. So inevitably someone in the office (I'm gonna say it - probably a woman) took it upon themselves to deal with that stuff.

Our office manager type person retired not long ago and our kitchen suffered as a result until we found a way to distribute and assign all the little things she did that we all took for granted. Ordering the coffee and other supplies, filling the soda vending machine, emptying out the fridges so they could be cleaned by the cleaning staff, running the dishwasher at the end of the night and unloading it in the morning, calling building maintenance when the sink inevitably clogs.

Thankfully despite all it's flaws we do have a Keurig (which won't work if the used pod bin is full so everyone has figured out how to empty it.) So the coffee problem was "solved" with minimum effort.
posted by misskaz at 9:20 AM on February 7, 2015


The Melitta filter cone. Boil water. Pour over 2 scoops of coffee-of-your-choice (ground fine). Wait 20 seconds. Enjoy.

I've used mine for 20+ years. Awesome coffee, highly reproducible, every time.
posted by kaymac at 9:37 AM on February 7, 2015 [3 favorites]


This is why after two iPhones, I moved to android. If apple is going to give me a more expensive option that comes with tangible competitive benefits, that's one thing. But if they're just going to change shit in order to boldly grab more money with no added benefit, then they can fuck off. As can Keurig.

There are very tangible advantages to the lightning cable vs. the old 30 pin iPod connector in that it's much much smaller than the 30 pin iPod connector. The smaller size means Apple can make their iPhones thinner while also packing in more battery. Any additional revenue Apple might make from people buying additional lightning cables is little more than a blip in the revenue Apple makes from selling iPhones that are thinner and with better battery like.
posted by gyc at 10:02 AM on February 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


It would probably be smart for Keurig if they had a program where they sent a couple of free machines to offices and then the office could reorder their supplies online, either as needed or as an ongoing standing refill order.
posted by Room 641-A at 10:25 AM on February 7, 2015


(Like Gevalia used to do.)
posted by Room 641-A at 10:26 AM on February 7, 2015


bringing it in doesn't work for a number of reasons, including that I ride my bike to work

40oz of coffee (yes, that's my bike)
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:51 AM on February 7, 2015


There are very tangible advantages to the lightning cable vs. the old 30 pin iPod connector in that it's much much smaller than the 30 pin iPod connector.

Surely the relevant comparison is between a lightning and usb.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:52 AM on February 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


jet_silver: Where are all the green tea drinkers? A halfway decent Dragonwell or jasmine pearl wants water at something like 85C.

If that! I have green tea for which the first pass is 65 C. And I plan to try lower, even.

My old work had a Keurig and I tried tea in a little reusable basket a few times but it never quite worked.
posted by mountmccabe at 4:25 PM on February 7, 2015


My personal reason to hate Keurig is that my tea brand, Twinings, seems to be almost abandoning traditional teabag sales to produce enough pods to become the default tea for Keurigs. Damn you, Twinings! Damn you straight to hell unless I find another way to reliably purchase Lady Grey Decaf!

Your tea brand has been known to have a lot of pesticides. The gal who bought tea for my old office introduced me to Numi, which is pesticide-free.
posted by limeonaire at 9:14 PM on February 7, 2015


kaymac: "The Melitta filter cone."

Melittafilter: Highly reproducible, every time.
posted by Gordafarin at 2:45 AM on February 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


Thankfully despite all it's flaws we do have a Keurig (which won't work if the used pod bin is full so everyone has figured out how to empty it.) So the coffee problem was "solved" with minimum effort.

Not where I work. We have a new level of laziness with the asswad who can't be bothered to remove their used K-cup from the machine. Like, how HARD IS THAT TO DO??!

Talk about diminishing returns.
posted by kinetic at 7:51 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


I love my aeropress so much.
Melittafilter: Highly reproducible, every time.

^These. Why let machines complicate your life and tie you to somebody's marketing scheme when you can pay less and live more simply?
posted by sneebler at 7:59 AM on February 8, 2015


Why let machines complicate your life

I assume for a lot of people it's the ritual as much as the final cup of coffee.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:28 AM on February 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Surely the relevant comparison is between a lightning and usb.

Well the lightning connector was so superior to the microUSB connectors on the market at the time of introduction that the USB consortium proposed the USB type C connector, which is much more like the lightning connector. The first device that uses the USB type C connector finally came out earlier this year.
posted by gyc at 9:38 AM on February 8, 2015


MetaFilter: I assume for a lot of people it's the ritual
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:52 AM on February 8, 2015


40oz of coffee (yes, that's my bike)

I knew someone would nitpick this. It's not just that I ride my bike, it's that I ride my bike to work and THEN shower and change in the locker room and only after I am at my desk ready to start the day am I interested in coffee. Adding time to my morning routine just to make it at home and then let it sit [even in an insulated container] for over an hour just isn't practical for me.
posted by misskaz at 11:02 AM on February 8, 2015


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