Keurig?

[Lambchop]

For years and years, I've made coffee with a Melitta conical filter holder outfitted with a conical paper filter. It's basically a French drip. You apply an appropriate amount of ground coffee to the bottom of the filter, bring water to a rolling boil, allow it to cool a smidge, dampen the grounds with it and let them swell a tad, then pour the rest of the water over gradually. Or, you can throw caution to the wind and just fill the thing right away. It all depends on what you want in a cup of coffee. It's a user-controlled process.

I use this method at work, too. It requires keeping a cup, a filter holder ($2.99), a supply of paper filters, and a container of ground coffee. It also requires an electric tea kettle, which is also good for . . . tea.

I will soon need a new electric tea kettle. We're talking roughly $50.

With that thought in mind, I investigated the Keurig coffeemaker. As you may know, this is the gadget that utilizes a one-cup serving of coffee grounds in a disposable thing. The machine makes one cup at a time.

One coworker swears by them. The coffee is perfect, she says, but then says she can't stand the coffee in the break room because it's too strong. I can't stand it, either, but that's because it has orange and black stuff growing in the water tank. It's also in the break room. And it's Folgers.

Looking for reviews on Amazon.com, I see that there have been complaints about the weakness of the coffee. "I tried every K-cup I could find, but they were all too weak. That's before I tried . . . " Following which there is the name of some char-broiled horror. (Emeril makes one, so that should tell you.) Immediately after will be disclaimers that say the CBH is bitter and flavorless.

Now, the price on the K-cups, as the unit-dose coffee things are called, is a bit much (12 for $9.99 at BB&B less 20% coupon). Also, the coffee maker itself is a bit much ($79 at BB&B less 20% coupon). I can get a special device to which I could add my own coffee, though ($11.99-14.99). Probably would have to do that since I drink coffee with chicory and I haven't seen K-cups with that.

I'm also looking to take it to work, so I would want the "personal" mini version. That has a disadvantage in that it is still pretty large. It would be a major feature of my office decor. Another disadvantage is that it makes one 8-ounce cup at a time. The "makes one" part is ok, but the 8 ounces is a little less than I typically make at one time. About half, in fact.

Getting back to the Melitta thing, it has a really cool eccentricity factor. I pretend to be a barista, expounding on coffee theory -- which I mostly just make up on the spot -- while I'm sousing my grounds in the break room. (We're working in a new area with a bunch of folks who aren't used to me, and they're tending to avoid me now. As I said, there is an advantage.)

Research indicates that the paper filter absorbs the bad oils that cause harmful coffee effects. The process isn't particularly inconvenient or messy. I can even manage the ceremony in my office, and have done so for years with only one spectacular accident involving spilled dry grounds -- really, you have no idea how far they fly -- that turned out to improve the general office atmosphere somewhat. You couldn't really see them after I kicked them under the files. Except for the ones still IN the files.

So, I'm undecided as to what to do. Stay with the Melitta or blow some bucks on a Keurig and risk . . . what? Unhappiness? Certain misery? Leakage? Premature failure? A new model coming out in a month that has all the features I'd like to have that this one doesn't?

I admit that there is an eccentricity factor attached to the Keurig, too, but . . . it's like some kind of cult. Thousands of people who search for the right coffee constrained by it having to be manufactured in a K-cup . . . these people actually SUBSCRIBE to routine deliveries of the stuff. They buy memberships to get discounts. Is this something I want to do? Do I want to become a Keurig zombie? Drinking one 8-oz cup of coffee after another? Not to mention that the thing looks like some sort of Borg device.

Opinions here are much better than anywhere else. Goodness knows, I trust them more because the spelling is correct. So, anybody have a Keurig? What do you think of it? Is there any way I can make more than 8 ounces at one time without using 2 K-cups?

[MTGuru]

Is this a pressure brewer like the Philips Senseo, or more like a 1-cup drip machine?

[Celtpastor]

Hi! Coffeemakers like these literally conquered Europe within the last decades - though here, a system using entirely compostable pads ("Senseo") is preferred (the pads are also easyer to produce and thus cheaper). Now, I see, with Keurig, You may also use re-usable steel-pads to fill with coffeepowder of Your own choice, so money and ecology isn't really the factor. In general, these machines are incredibly quick and produce a nice "crema" on the coffee - I love 'em!

[Lambchop]

Pressure, apparently. http://www.keurig.com

[brewerpaul]

I sorta think those machines are insane. Check out the price per pound of coffee in those little pods, just to buy you a little convenience.
We got something similar as a free premium. The coffee was fine but not much, if any, better than my Mr.Coffee drip. Then I went to our local grocery store to buy more pods and was astounded at the prices. We gave the machine away.

[emmline]

I have used them twice. Once at a B&B in Asheville a couple years ago, and once at my sister-in-law's in NYC. It's her significant other's toy, and he very carefully introduced me to its proper usage.
The coffee was good, though I was a little appalled by using and tossing 4 or 5 little plastic tubs in the process of generating the amount of coffee el esposo and I typically drink in the morning. So that would be a drawback for me, but if what CP is saying about the biodegradable option being available applies over here, then that would be better, imo.

I'm kind of with you Lamby on the experiential pleasure of using the Melitta filter, and for just one person I think I'd go with that.

[Joseph E. Smith]

So, uh, the French Press fad has subsided? Damn, I'm always the last to know!

[emmline]

So, uh, the French Press fad has subsided? Damn, I'm always the last to know!

I'm sure the press still has a following. Special device with an elegant sort of elan, easy to make single cups, European cachet...what's not to like?

[Infernaltootler]

$50 for a kettle? - get out of town!

I can get one for £12 UK pounds at Tesco. But I'll charge $38 to ship it!

[I.D.10-t]

So, uh, the French Press fad has subsided? Damn, I'm always the last to know!

We use a Press pot for camping Great cup of joe, and some how doesn't taste like steel, but a pain to clean. Some are questioning if the paper filters help remove harmful oils, so they might be losing ground.

We have had coffee made in the Melitta filter holders, and it is just like drip coffee in my opinion, without having hard to reach nooks to clean, no percolating device that can get clogged with stray coffee grounds/lime deposits/calcium, etc. nice thing to is not having to have one heat source. You can microwave the water, use a pan over fire/range, use a hotpot etc. and you are not adding a square foot of electronics to the counter top (and latter the landfill) just to boil water in a different way. The filters are common (and inexpensive) everywhere, and you can make/get fabric filters or mesh wire filters that are reusable.

Really, unless you have coffee made from this Keurig machine and know it is better (possible to barrow it for a day?) I would be real hesitant to switch over. It looks as though you would have to use their coffee at the strength that they premeasure.

[izzarina]

So, uh, the French Press fad has subsided? Damn, I'm always the last to know!

I LOVE my French Press, and refuse to go with the status quo. You'll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hand

I, too, have a huge problem with those little plastic cups. I'd have to go through way too many in a morning. I suppose for one person it wouldn't be as big of a deal. And I balk about the use of pre-ground coffee....but then I'm a coffee snob, so I would. I suppose in the end, I'm wondering why change? If the Melitta is still working well for you, and your coffee is still as tasty as it ever was, why not just keep that rather than getting something new? That's what I would do.

[jsluder]

My old coffee maker (10-cup Braun) died a few months ago. I happened to have one of those little Melitta filter holders and a box of filters in the cabinet (left over from a car-camping trip a few years ago), so I started using it "...temporarily; just 'til I get a new pot." I'm still using it. It'll be inconvenient when we have coffee-drinking friends over, but for my daily use it's great. (I'm the only coffee drinker in the house. I don't count my M-I-L, since she prefers instant <shudder>). So, in my opinion, you should stick with the Melitta filter holder. It's easy to use, the filters are inexpensive, and cleanup is simple. If you like the flavor you're getting, why spend the money on a more complex setup?

[Sliabh Luachra]

They have one of those machines at the radio station I volunteer at. I hate it. It's expensive, the coffee is crap, and it's weak, weak, weak. Plus, you have to dispose of all those little cup thingies.

Viva le French Press!!!!!

Get a new kettle, a french press (one of the single serving 12 cup varieties is best, I think) and a grinder. Buy whole beans. If there ain't a quarter inch of mud on the bottom of my cup, it ain't strong enough. Though, I usually walk around with my eyes like saucers from caffeine intoxication.

[MTGuru]

Yes, the Keurig looks like the Senseo. I think the key point is that it's not just a different kind of coffee machine, but it actually produces a different kind of coffee, European style. If that's what you want.

I happen to really like French-German style coffee. It's not as strong as Italian espresso, but stronger than American drip. Celtpastor has it right. Pressurized hot water is forced quickly through the ground coffee, and the result should have a nice creamy froth on top. Usually served in small 4-5 ounce cups, and drunk fairly quickly. Taken black or with sugar, but not milk or cream. Not really suitable for mug o' coffee type coffee consumption, IMO. But I suppose you can fudge it by choosing lighter blends, making 2 at a time, etc.

It sounds to me like you'll probably be happier sticking with the Melitta drip, and the satisfying, magical ritual that goes with it. But by all means, as I.D.10-t says, try before you buy!

[I.D.10-t]

Right now I am wondering about trying a cold brewing system. I probably will not go out and buy something like Toddy Cold Brew System, it just seems like you mix cold water with coffee (5:1 by weight) let it steep for 12 hours and filter it to make a coffee concentrate. Mix 2:1 and heat or add ice.