Mr. Peel and I got the Keuring Coffee Machine and we brew each cup of Coffee ("K" Cups) individually. Means he can have his dark java, and I can have my flavored coffee without any wastage. Good coffee, too!
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."
"I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about "cold brewed" coffee. "
That may be because you are the only person in the world who does that:)
There's no need. They're already being beseiged by your counter arguments.
That's when I started looking elsewhere for my coffee. You can mask the flavor with raspberry syrup all you want, but why? I like the flavor of fresh, properly prepared black coffee.
I heard that is GREAT for people that are sensitive to the acid in normally brewed coffee. I have yet to try it.
Lol, maybe they were sleeeepy eyes?
>>Some of us roast our own in small batches before brewing.
Heresy! (j/k) I usually give the beans a day or two to peak in flavor after I roast 'em. Though fresh roasted straight to the grinder fills the kitchen with such a nice aroma, it is sometimes hard to resist.
Last place I worked had this setup. Coffee was excellent. They decided it was smart to start charging engineers $0.25 a cup, even though we were wroking 60-80 hours a week, often thousands of miles from home.
When I quit, I told them charging me for a cup of coffee was stupid. The offered me another $10,000 a year to stay, but the corporate philosophy of "screw the cash cow" just didn't play with me any more.
And no, I'm not bitter.
My coffee roaster is a stir crazy / convection oven variac controlled roaster.
P*ssies drink the dreck in quick stops and think it doesn't taste like goat pee.
You have to understand. Starbuck's is another American business success story. They're big. They're ubiquitous. Therefore, they suck. Just like Wal-Mart, GM and Microsoft they're keeping the little guy down. Just the other day I saw a press gang of baristas, greeters, programmers and assembly-line workers beating a little old lady and stealing her pension check.
Mr. Peel and I got the Keuring Coffee Machine and we brew each cup of Coffee ("K" Cups) individually. Means he can have his dark java, and I can have my flavored coffee without any wastage. Good coffee, too!
I also go through Sweet Maria's. I have a Fresh Roast 8 and it does a great job for my smallish roastings.
My favorite origin coffee so far has been an Ethiopian Harrar they had for a while (not their usual "Horse"). Still have 5lbs of it, which is the great thing about green coffee beans. Once you find one that you really like, you can buy a decent amount and store it without too much concern about loss of flavor.
My husband was looking at one of those instant hot water things. How well does it work? Is it as fast as advertised? Do you have an expensive one? Is the water at a boiling temperature? : )
(I am sick of my electric kettle, and we are boiling water constantly for tea and oatmeal.)
Thanks!!
Here's what I use, from Franke. It cost me about $400, I think, but it's the only really high-quality one I could find. My sister's tried $200 units from Home Depot and is already on the second one - mine's been fine for almost 6 years.
It works very well; I calibrated it to 195 degrees with an accurate thermometer (it's adjustable up to 205 or so) and it's held perfectly ever since. 195 is perfect for coffee drip extraction.
It's fast, because it holds 2 quarts of water (I have a carbon-filtered water loop in my house for icemaking and this thing) always ready to go. Pull the handle, it's hot.
For drip coffee, tea water, hot chocolate, oatmeal these things are absolutely great; you'll love it if you get one. Just don't get a really cheap one - they won't last.
Google "hot water dispenser" and you'll find lots of tips and info.
"Just the other day I saw a press gang of baristas, greeters, programmers and assembly-line workers beating a little old lady and stealing her pension check."
LOL..That'll teach her not to buy coffee she likes.
Chock Full of Nuts...Now there's something everyone can agree upon. I'm not referring to the coffee, I'm referring to this thread. Whenever the word "Starbucks appears in a post, the nuts come out of the coffee can. In fact, if you look closely at the photo of the can, you can see poster Hank, the FR Coffee Guru, poking his head out.
Does that mean that you're buried in the can?
I'm sitting in a coffee shop, listening to the CoffeeGeek Podcast, and enjoying a cup and a cinammon roll. Oh, and they are roasting coffee RIGHT NOW...
Perhaps I should check to see if they will sell me a pound of the stuff they are roasting. =)
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