Woman wanted Starbucks discs, settles for $250

OKEMOS, Mich. - A Michigan woman who wanted home-brewed Starbucks coffee will accept $250 to end a lawsuit over the company's decision to stop making discs for a specific single-serve coffee machine -- the one that she happened to own.

Pam Montgomery of Okemos said she bought a Tassimo brewer by Kraft Foods because Starbucks supplied coffee discs for it. But Starbucks ended its deal with Kraft and came up with its own machine. It also makes discs/pods for Keurig machines.

After Christmas last year I purchased a Keurig machine at Target as I had a $50 gift card to put toward the purchase and I like it. It works well for me. I like the coffee and I found that it actually saves me money as during the week; only drinking one or two cups before I leave for work, or sometimes liking one cup in the evening when I get home, even making a “small” pot in my Kitchen Aid coffee machine, I ended up throwing a lot out and I find it’s hard to make a pot of coffee for only 1 or 2 cups without making it too weak or too strong, although I do use my regular coffee maker on weekends.

The only problem was I bought a Keurig Vue. I bought that model because it makes lattes (with the Vue frother cups) and also tea and iced coffee allows you to choose from regular to strong and a 4 oz cup all the way up to a 12 oz travel mug. But the Vue doesn’t use the popular and readily available K-Cups. When I first bought the Vue, Target and other stores, including the grocery store stocked at least a few varieties of the Vue cups, but now the only place I can find them, except on line at Amazon, is at Bed Bath & Beyond.

I just went to the Keurig website and they don’t even list the Vue model anymore and I understand the Vue model has been discontinued, although they still sell the Vue cups.

But when I bought it, I also bought a reusable fill cup that lets me use any ground coffee:

http://www.amazon.com/Solofill-Refillable-Filter-Keurig-Brewers/dp/B00B0ZMNOU/?tag=viglink21063-20

Although that won’t make the lattes. : (

Oh well. I guess I could always sue somebody (just like the folks who bought lots of 8-track cassettes, Betamax tapes and laser disks and stocked up on a lifetime supply of 5¼-inch or 3½-inch floppy disks did).

I assume a Tassimo coffee maker doesn’t come with a re-usable pod like the Kuerig machines?

For $250, she can buy a Kuerig and a whole bunch of Starbucks K-cups, and now she has both machines in case Starbucks ever decides to change back!

That, of course, is assuming the settlement recouped whatever she spent on legal costs. Idiot.

Personally, I don’t get the attraction of these Tassimo or Keurig machines.

Convenience. You can get a wide variety of coffees, teas, hot chocolates, etc. in a little self-contained pod: no having to measure or grind your beans, get the water to just the right temperature, or cleaning up afterward, and you end up with a pretty respectable cup of coffee. Yes, the cost per cup is greater than brewing your own. That's the tradeoff for convenience.

My last workplace had a Keurig machine and a coffee pool. Rather than pay into the pool, for the most part I just used it to make enough hot water for my French press and coffee (freshly ground and brought from home). I don't mind coffee-pod systems—I think they make decent coffee—but I probably wouldn't buy one for myself. As someone who loves cooking, I feel they take away all the fun of making coffee in addition to drinking it. (And if I actually had the money for a coffee machine, I'd probably spend it on a decent espresso maker instead.)

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