Posted on 03/04/2015 10:10:35 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
For one, 'they're kind of expensive,' John Sylvan says
(Newser) If anyone would brew his morning joe using K-Cups, you'd think it would be the inventor of the K-Cup himself. But John Sylvan, whose single-serve pods revolutionized the coffee landscape, sticks with making coffee the old-fashioned way. "I don't have [pods]. They're kind of expensive to use," John Sylvan tells James Hamblin, writing for the Atlantic. "Plus it's not like drip coffee is tough to make." But besides being steeper in cost, the plastic-and-foil pods that made up most of Keurig Green Mountain's $4.7 billion in revenue last year have been called out for being environmentally unfriendly. According to a 2014 article in Mother Jones, Green Mountain made 8.3 billion of the non-biodegradeable, mostly non-recyclable K-Cups in 2013—"enough to wrap around the equator 10.5 times." "I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it," Sylvan admits to Hamblin about his invention.
The Green Mountain K-Cups' lack of, well, green-ness has led to environmental advocate backlash: A 2010 New York Times article said Green Mountain's sales growth, boosted by the K-Cup, ran "counter to its reputation" as an "eco-friendly" company; more recently, a Canadian production company created a "Kill the K-Cup" video that went viral on YouTube. Keurig promised in its 2014 "Sustainability Report" that by the year 2020, "100% of K-Cup packs will be recyclable." But that's five years away—and Green Mountain's competitors are already using reusable, biodegradable pods. The company's chief sustainability officer tells Hamblin, "I gotta be honest with you, we're not happy with where we are, either." Sylvan, who sold his share of the company in 1997 for $50,000, says he has come up with a "much better way" of packaging and transporting the coffee, but that the powers-that-be at Keurig "don't want to listen." (Someday you'll be able to make Coke via something similar to a K-Cup.)
I’m thinking that our definitions of strong coffee might be a tad different.
>>I thought the headline had to do with bras.<<
Al seems to agree: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3264151/posts?page=45#45
As for beer... I may not know good beer, but I know what I like :) Alaskan Oatmeal Stout, Moose Drool, etc. But no American pilsners.
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I might amend that to mass produced American pilseners. some of the microbreweries make pilseners and they’re not too bad.
Stove top percolators don’t need electricity.
;-)
Sounds complicated, but operation of this setup is pretty easy. As I drink only one cup per day, in the morning, this works for me. I don't have a one-cup machine - not because it is expensive (it isn't) but simply because I can't explain to myself why I would need one.
Female.
Old.
Unnecessary.
You should check into Cold Brewed coffee....
Convenience costs.
....”We prefer it from a percolator”.....
There is much better flavor from perked coffee than any other way.
I learned this when visiting a friend who has a beautiful home and all the trimmings yet uses the tin coffee maker you sit on the burner!......and he grinds his own coffee as well.
I would not have believed such a difference...ever...as I tasted then...nor since It was truly heavenly coffee indeed!
My D-in law got one and I agree...I hate the coffee no matter which type selected....nasty stuff! Not to mention you have to wait for a second cup. So I bought a coffee maker for when I visit.
I am thinking about getting an electric peculator next time and in fact will begin checking them out very soon.
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A pot of coffee lasts 30 minutes in your house?? Well, there’s your problem. ;-)
It's not circuitry, it's actually just a simple optical reader in the 2.0 machine that looks for the Keurig trademark printing around the rim of the K-Cup. Detractors call it Digital Rights Management (DRM) for coffee, and it's quite unpopular. YouTube is filled with "Keurig hack" videos with various schemes for both defeating their 2.0 DRM as well as hacks for getting access to the full menu for the machine (e.g., for brewing larger cups & karafes).
Regardless, their new DRM system on the 2.0 is easy to defeat. Easiest is to cut off the top from a used K-Cup and tape it onto any old K-Cups you still have around (or 3rd party K-Cups that don't want to pony up license fees to Keurig) to defeat the optical reader.
You can also order a free "Freedom Clip" from http://www.rogersfamilyco.com/index.php/revolution-begun-starts-now-fight-keurig/ that simply snaps into your 2.0 brewer to defeat the DRM system.
I ordered one a few weeks back (it was free) and it just came in the mail the other day. I snapped it in, and now I can use any K-Cup I want. It also makes dispensing hot water for tea or hot chocolate a lot easier because you don't have to hold the button down for that anymore.
The Freedom Clip is just a permanent clip with a colored paper disk that sits right in front of the optical reader. Regardless of whether the machine is empty or what's in it, it makes the machine think there's a valid trademarked K-Cup in the machine all the time. Works great, and easier than taping officially sanctioned foil lids on old K-Cups to defeat it.
BTW, love K-Cups - especially since myself & my wife drink flavored coffees almost exclusively, and never enough to make a whole pot (of boring unflavored coffee :P) worth it.
Thanks for this very informative update.
We have two Keurig machines. Actually one is an 4 year old single cup model (Mr. Coffee) we use in the RV.
I now know that when I go to get another one, I’ll get one that is not the 2.0 version. Even if I have to buy used.
I have a nice 12 cup drip maker and guess what? You can make 1 cup of coffee in it too....just as easy as a Keurig and it tastes better. We have a 4-5 cup stainless steel Farberware percolator I pack right in my suitcase wherever we go. The hotels never have enough coffee in the rooms for us and even they have the Keurigs now and if we visit someone who doesn’t drink coffee were set!
I gotta have my coffee and I like it real. The k cups just don’t taste as good as a drip coffeemaker.
Same here. We have a grind and brew and take along 8 O'Clock Colombian whole beans wherever we go.
I have a top of the line electric percolator that my grandmother gave me 45 years ago.
When I traveled for business by car a week at a time, I would pack it in bubble wrap and take it to the hotel and then instead of the hotel crap-pot coffee, I would have coarse ground, whole bean premium coffee in my percolator that made the whole morning smell wonderful for the first three hours when I did paperwork, getting ready and phone calls between 5:30 and 8:30.
I still have it at my cabin and probably will use it again even though I use electric drip at home. The aromatics are hard to beat.
For single-brew coffee makers, I prefer Nespresso vs, K-cups, as it will make a proper shot of espresso. I've had them in hotel rooms in Europe.
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