Posted on 12/15/2005 8:33:20 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
A half dozen production lines operate 12 hours a day, cutting small filters and stuffing them into tiny cups, dropping in 2 or 3 grams of coffee and sealing them before whisking them into boxes.
The scores of little coffee containers, known around Green Mountain Coffee Roasters as K-Cups, rolling off the line every few minutes represent what the small specialty brewer hopes will be a revolution in the way Americans brew their favorite roast at home.
The diminutive cups are a self-contained coffee brewing system that can be popped into a relatively new brand of coffee maker to produce a single cup of steaming java. Gone, promoters of the systems say, are the days of a full pot of coffee slowly burning before it's thrown down the sink.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. isn't alone. Brewers large and small, as well as appliance manufacturers, are getting in on the act and pushing the brewing systems as an ideal gift this holiday season for a population addicted to convenience.
"It's an instance of quality meets convenience," said T.J. Whalen, marketing vice president at Green Mountain Coffee. Green Mountain and other small specialty brewers like it are trying to capture the higher end of the market with their more expensive brews and their fancier brewing systems. But companies from Procter & Gamble Co.'s Folgers brand to Sara Lee Corp.'s Senseo and Kraft Foods Inc.'s Maxwell House also are trying to capitalize on what a number of companies believe is an emerging trend in the home kitchen.
The machines have taken off in offices, but a critical mass is only just beginning to be reached where consumers might consider buying them for their homes. Companies as diverse as Mr. Coffee, Black & Decker, Krups and Keurig now make systems that can brew single cups of coffee in as little as 30 seconds using coffee pods -- pockets of grounds that look like oversized tea bags -- and individual cups manufactured by the roasters and food companies.
"We know from different market research that there is a reasonable potential behind this segment," said Lars Atorf, a spokesman for Procter & Gamble's coffee products, including the gourmet oriented Millstone brand. "We can definitely see where awareness is rising in the U.S."
The major brands are hoping that the connection with the gourmet coffee industry can give them an entree to that lucrative part of the market.
The 2005 National Coffee Drinking Trends survey by the National Coffee Association of USA found that more than 172 million American adults consumed coffee and 15 percent -- some 32 million -- said they drank gourmet coffee daily. That's grown from 9 percent six years ago.
That survey also found that nearly two-thirds of consumers were aware of single-serve brewing systems, but only 2 percent reported owning one and 14 percent said they were very or somewhat likely to buy one.
Jon Harris, vice president of Sara Lee Food & Beverage, said the machines are not intended to replace Starbucks stores or the corner coffee shop. He said Sara Lee's hope is that the Senseo brand will complement the ubiquitous coffee houses around the country.
"People are looking for that experience at home," Harris said.
The brewing systems have only been mass-marketed for the past couple of years and there are skeptics about whether they'll take off. Peter Greene, vice president of the NPD Group home appliance marketing research firm, believes they'll never replace the familiar automatic drip coffee makers.
"I don't think your everyday coffee drinker and the majority of the population are going to go in this way," he said. He noted there are limitations to the technology and no uniform pod or cup fits all machines.
And the machines are more expensive than the typical automatic drip system.
A basic Senseo brewing machine is being sold online for $69.99. The higher-end Keurig machine is being sold for between $99.95 and $279.95 for a version that's also marketed for office use.
The coffee that goes into them isn't cheap, either. At a Safeway supermarket in Washington, D.C., this week, a package of Senseo pods good for 18 cups was $3.99, a 13-ounce vacuum-packed brick of Folgers coffee went for $3.95. A box of 24 of Green Mountain's K-Cups is available online for $13.95, while a 12-ounce bag of beans goes for $8.19.
Still, NPD Group's market tracking has determined that a little better than 4.5 percent of the estimated 27 million coffee brewing appliances sold this year will be single-serve systems, up from roughly 1.5 percent of the market last year.
"It all depends on how you define success," Greene said. "I'd say these are going to be a success, but only 5 percent of the market."
But some of the disadvantages of the systems can be especially amplified in homes where people often expect a superior brew, said a coffee reviewer. One are the machines themselves. There's no industry standard, at least not yet, and the coffee pod or cup that works in one machine often isn't compatible with another.
And the other issue, a bigger one for a coffee aficionado like Ken Davids, editor of Coffee Review, is the coffee that goes into the machines. Quality varies widely, he said.
"Some of these coffees taste flat-out stale," Davids said late last month as he was halfway through blind tastings produced from the single-serve machines.
Davids is not impressed, although there are some decent coffees available.
"It's a cafe-at-home if you consider powdered milk, sugar and instant as a cappuccino," he said. "If you consider freshly brewed espresso and fresh-frothed milk a cappuccino, it's not."
The problem is that opening up frozen beans condenses moisture on the surface of the cold bean - unless you roast them right away the water absorption will start to kill the bean, and you certainly don't want to refreeze them. You could freeze in small, daily batches but that's a hassle.
It's far better to buy a high-quality vacuum-sealer; I use the adapter to vacuum-seal roasted beans in Ball canning jars if I don't use them within a few days after roasting.
The quest to maintain quality, and attempt Peet's French greatness, is what got me started roasting at home. That was almost 6 years ago, and I've never looked back. It's fun, the quality is superb and the price ends up about $5.50 per roasted pound - 1/3 of Peet's price. Plus, green coffee beans are rugged; you can store them in your garage for several years with no harm done as long as they stay dry.
Funny! Truly.
I'd like to buy that squirrel a drink.
2. Beats instant coffee. Only soldiers can tolerate THAT swill.
I rightly enjoy my morning's glycerol ester of wood rosin...;)
WORST tasting coffee I've ever had. AND......each little packet is a buck.
I'll take a cup of Cafe Bustello anyday.
LOL! Yes, you are.
What kind of smiley is that? Covering your eyes, are you? -)
Ok, I'm about to sound like a paid advertisement, but here it goes. I've got the high end model of the Keurig single cup coffeemaker. The coffee "pods" that work in it come from a variety of companies. I buy my pods on-line and can pick and choose the brands I want. There is Timothy's, Green Mountain Roasters, Gloria Jean's coffee beans, and many other brands to pick from. You can also get tea pods to use in the machine. Green teas, black teas, flavored teas, herbal teas, you name it, they have it. The coffee pods are airtight little self-filters, so to speak. The coffee I have purchased so far has not ever been "stale". Nor the tea. They taste great. Now, I've run into a couple of flavors that I didn't like the taste of, so I duly note it and don't purchase those flavors anymore. The machine makes about 8-9 cups of coffee/tea before it needs to be refilled w/water, that boils up in about 10 minutes and the machine is ready to go again.
I had Thanksgiving at my condo this year, and there were 9 in attendance to eat the bird. It was so nice to not have to prepare the coffee ahead of time, and pour it into multiple carafes, have to toss the grinds and clean the pots out. I just tossed a pile of pods (both coffee and tea, and both decaf and regular) into a basket, passed it around, and had everyone choose their own pod. They had a lot of fun going through the various flavors (I had a bunch of different ones) and picking out their favorites. I popped the pod in, pushed a button and out came a fresh cup of coffee. They queued up and I did them one by one, sending them happily off w/the likes of Southern Pecan, Columbian Decaf, Cappucino, French Roast, Blueberry Lemon Tea, Earl Grey tea, Hazelnut coffee, Dark Roast, etc. etc. And even more fun, when they wanted another cup of coffee, they got to choose something new and different the second time around.
No cleanup involved, just toss the used pod, and plunk in a new one. It pops a small pinpoint hole into the pod, both top and bottom and then serves as it's own filter as the water runs through the pod. There is no mixing of flavor tastes, as no part of the machine is left with residue of either coffee or tea on it, so when switching between coffee and tea, never the twain meets. I love my machine, my guests seemed to get off on it bigtime, and it sure was a lot less work.
The Keurig machine, while more expensive, has the best and most amount of pods from good companies to choose from. They've come out with a cheaper version machine than mine was (the new one is somewhere over $100 as opposed to the over $200 I paid, when they first came out). Moral of the story is I should have waited a bit longer, as the new and cheaper version is a good one and gives you a choice of sizes of cups of coffee (large or less large), whereas mine only makes one size cup. It doesn't bother me at all, but a choice of cup sizes might be more attractive to many.
There, did I talk you all into it yet? Did my sales rap make inroads? I hope so. I'm an advocate for this kind of machine. It was great at a party, and it's great for me in particular at home, as I am single. I get to choose from a gourmet variety of coffees (and teas) and it's like having a coffee shop in my home. And, as I live in the frigid tundra of Chicagoland, that's a good thing as I don't have to truck through a pile of snow to get to my specialty coffees. Finis, for now.....
Dang!! I never noticed that in there. Just looked at the ingredients further. Mmmmmm, wood rosin, lol!
I'm the only one in my household who drinks coffee. After reading the reviews of the pod machines, I bought a $200 Bunn pod machine -- and it's worth every penny. It delivers a single fresh, hot cup of coffee on demand. (I buy my pods from coolbeanspods.com.)
That idea from #82 sounds good. I used to buy coffee from a chain of stores called Trader Joe's. They had a type of coffee they called, Heisenberg's Beans of uncertain origin. It was a mix of whatever. What was really cool is that your coffee never tasted the same. EVER. Named after Heisenberg's Undertainty Principle. I thought it was clever... They haven't carried it for a while, and I still miss it. I ask for it, but it has been so long, the employees look at me like I don't know what I am talking about...
I'll bet he doesn't drink Safeway coffee. Peet's coffee is great and if that's what you like, wonderful. I prefer Starbucks. Why is my coffee preference not OK with you?
I used to love seeing the orange pulp in the drink when it was bottled in the green glass bottle. Still see it - but not as often. Something changed when they went to plastic - now there's an oily taste that didn't used to be. I suppose it's the forming oil residual from the bottle mfgring process.
Anywho - there's nothing like a Sundrop.
I stopped drinking Starbucks (sadly) when I learned they helped sponsor the Gay festival in SF. There's an article on FR about this somewhere.
"what other should or should not people enjoy."??????
Your preference is fine.
Your dogmatic attachment to their coffee is absurd. If you only get your beans from them, how do you know what anything else tastes like?
It is possible to get used to charcoal...
"what other should or should not people enjoy."??????
I occasionally write in neo-ebonics style. Normally, I would have written "what other people should or should not enjoy."
If I may ask, how do you roast your own beans? Is there a ready source for unroasted beans of different types of coffee? Who offers them, and at what price? This sounds like something I wouild like to try. We have a burr grinder and a good (the b est at least that I have ever bought) Starbucks Barista coffee maker (automatic, with filter), which makes very good coffee in a thermal carafe.
We ALSO have TWO Keurig one cuppers at home, and my wife gives them regularly as gifts to important friends.
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