Keurig Question

[mgs68]

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this, but here goes:

I got a Mr Coffee coffee maker that brews the K-Cups. How many cups of coffee can I get off one K-Cup? I'll brew one cup and when I pull out the K-Cup, theres still a lot of ground coffe in there. But when I try and brew a second cup with the same K-Cup, it loses the flavor. It just seems like im wasting the rest of the coffee in the K-Cup. Is it straight one K-Cup for one cup of coffee? Do I need to use 2 K-Cups if I want to fill my 16oz travel mug?

Any info would be greatly appreciated....

[sheepy]

I just read on Pocket Your Dollars that you can take the used cup, cover the whole in it very carefully with a finger, shake it and use it one more time, getting two cups out of one K-Cup.

Personally, I get the whole love of K-Cups, but there is no way I'd actually get one of those things. I just like to use them at the doctors office and the hair salon.

[Bill Hunt]

We have used various models of Keurig units, and I bought one of the bigger ones for my wife's new office. Still, we do not have one at home, so this is from personal experiences elsewhere. One.

Way back, I tried for two, like you, but was horribly disappointed.

Now, I think that I will get my wife one of those refillable K-cups, so she can fill it with our Hawaiian coffees, plus a few others, that she loves. [Know that this if OT for your thread, and sorry.]

Hunt

[Leepa]

I just ordered one of the new Bunn units that allows K-cups and also a more regular ground coffee setup. I also got, from a different source, the EZ-cup for Keurig that uses paper filters. From all I read online, these make a really good cup of coffee. Better than Keurig's version of the refillable cup.

[law_doc89]

MP3 compresses the waves so that the finer the sound needed for say jazz or classical, the worse it is. MP3 is like instant coffee.

[law_doc89]

They do make 8 O'Clock K cups. As part of this new marketing drive, the cost is that they killed the Bokar blend altogether. Too bad, that is the coffee that kept winning blind tastings for years.

[law_doc89]

I bought a little insert for $3 at the grocery (The expensive one that Kreurig makes is no good) and it works fine with the coffee of my choice. I have this device at my office, not at home where I brew by the pot. The Kreurig is a compromise: the water never is quite hot enough so you do have to jiggle a bit more coffee into the filter for a "decent" cup.

[Isolda]

I was a Keurig hater until I realized some of the problems these things solve. Our church hosts homeless families every summer, and the Keurig allows everyone to have exactly the type of coffee he or she wants without anyone having to wash a pot, wait a long time to brew, and most importantly, contribute an unwanted flavor to the coffee maker.

The chief advantage to these single-cup makers is that people who like the flavored coffees can have them without ruining every subsequent cup for those who prefer plain coffee. I once had to get rid of a coffee maker because my brother in law brewed a pot of flavored coffee and I was unable to get rid of the taste after multiple attempts.

I don't like pre-ground coffee, so I probably won't buy one, but I've certainly thought to borrow a friend's when hosting people for dessert. For my personal use, I'm sticking with my yummy burnt-tasting Starbucks French Roast in my 5 year old drip coffee maker. A chacun, ses gouts.

[law_doc89]

Bleech! Do not re-use grounds.

I bought a little insert for $3 at the grocery (The expensive one that Kreurig makes is no good) and it works fine with the coffee of my choice. I have this device at my office, not at home where I brew by the pot. The Kreurig is a compromise: the water never is quite hot enough so you do have to jiggle a bit more coffee into the filter for a "decent" cup.

[Bacardi1]

Oh - & just an environmental aside to any gardeners out there - those little K-cups can be emptied, rinsed, filled with potting soil & nestled in drainage trays & used to start seeds. Works great - especially for quick stuff that will be planted out soon like lettuces & other greens.

[shaogo]

K-cups are so very convenient and fast in so many ways.

I've enjoyed coffee from a Keurig machine many, many times -- and find them easy enough to navigate at a hotel or a friend's home.

However, a musician friend of mine summed it up best when he said "The K-cup is to coffee what the MP3 is to music."

[Bob W]

hmmm, I'm struggling with the analogy. An Mp3 file is a perfect digital reproduction of recorded music. It may lack the hisses, pops, and other noises you might get on vinyl, but those are imperfections that are attractive to a very small percentage of audiophiles.

If anything, a K-cup is simply a weaker facsimile of a good cup of coffee.

Maybe a K-cup is to coffee what our old AM transistor radios were to music?

[CanadaGirl]

Actually, MP3s don't have the full range of sound found on, for example, a CD

[gfr1111]

We had these at work for a while, until the boss complained that for an office with four people in it, it was costing him $50 a month in coffee. You only get one cup from a K-cup, mgs68. Sorry.

They are very convenient, not messy, but the cost is highway robbery.

[yayadave]

"They are very convenient, not messy, but the cost is highway robbery."

I liked that previous post by ferret that said the patents have run out. Maybe things will get competitive.

[dpan]

Keurig combines two things Americans like - convenience and love of gadgets. Seriously, $100+ for something that heats up water to filter through a one time use plastic container of coffee? For my money, my $30 french press is infinitely better for the coffee I get from it.

[yayadave]

Take a look at this gadget.
http://www.amazon.com/ABID-CO-LTD-C-7...
No silt in the bottom of the cup.

[Bob W]

And i hope your point is nothing beyond YMMV. As bagelman points out below, time is money.

[CanadaGirl]

Using one of the refillable cups that are widely available eliminates the costly pre-filled K-cups.

[bagelman01]

Time is money. I am an attorney. Even my lowest paid staff member's time is billed at more than $75 per hour. It is far cheaper to have a Keurig setup in our office waiting area and breakroom, than to have employees make coffee for clients/visitors and spend paid time washing and brewing pots of coffee. 50 cents per cup is a very reasonable amount to spend, when the labor cost to make and clean a 12 cup pot would easilly cost the firm more than one dollar per cup. AND we would have to have pots of both regular and decaf available for clients all day, brewing fresh and discarding old brew.

[MonMauler]

Agreed. I, too, am an attorney. The galleys on each of our floors (5 floors in my office) all have 2 Keurig machines and six different flavors of k-cups. I'm fine using a dark roast and getting about 10 oz out of each one. Making pots of coffee for the 40+ people on each floor would be a full-time job. Just making sure the k-cups, coffee cups, lids, sugar and cream are fully stocked, and making sure the keurig machines are clean, is almost a full-time job as it is.

I have a keurig machine in my home and find it very convenient. It's expensive, and the taste lacks as compared to my French press, but throwing in a k-cup in the morning saves me valuable time I spend in bed.

[ferret]

As you've pointed out, these are relative measures. The Keurig in our house replaced my wife's need to stop at Dunkin Donuts every morning. So 40 cents, relative to $1.59, is a good value for us.

[Bacardi1]

I used to LOVE Dunkin Donuts' coffee, & am thinking of trying their K-cups (although I believe you have to get them at a Dunkin Donuts store - haven't seen them at any stores around here). Does your wife use the Dunkin Donuts K-cups, & if so, does it taste the same as their in-store coffee?

[chloebell]

I've not tried the DD coffee, but I've seen it in my local stores. I will add, that I love the "8 o'clock" coffee. And I always wished they would make it into K-cup......cups. They did. I was excited. Then, I tasted it. Nothing like the real stuff. :(

[Bacardi1]

Gee - I too am an "Eight O'Clock" fan, & I find the K-cups true to form. In fact, I just replenished my supply with 2 boxes. Are you making it with filtered water?

[ferret]

No, she likes the Coffeee People Donut Shop blend and also the San Francisco Bay Fog Chaser.

[Ruth Lafler]

I think that having a Keurig for clients/visitors is definitely one of the legitimate reasons to have one. But somehow, before they installed the Keurigs, our office with more than 40 people per floor managed to keep the coffee made.

I just don't get the benefits for home use, though, especially compared to having that hulking machine and boxes of k-cups cluttering up the kitchen.

[Bacardi1]

"Hulking machine"? Perhaps back when Keurig was first marketing their product to primarily commercial offices, but my Keurig Platinum isn't any larger (in fact it's smaller) than my old Mr. Coffee.

In addition, I have all my K-cups stored in a large tall plastic canister, which has a footprint of about 8". Certainly not a problem.

If you don't like Keurig, you don't like it. But don't make it into something it's not to try to verify your dislike.

[Ruth Lafler]

Pardon me for not keeping up with the newest Keurig models. I think they're pointless and I'm entitled to my opinion, just as you are. No need to be hostile about it.

[ferret]

Better to state that they're not for you than to dismissively call them pointless then. Not every household is like yours.

[yayadave]

I think the new Vue Keurig is designed for larger and stronger cups of coffee, including travel mugs.

[goodhealthgourmet]

It is. Mom has one, and you can choose brew strength and cup size, though the largest setting - "travel mug" - is only 12 oz. I somehow forgot to pack my Aeropress for my visit (ack!) so I've been brewing the darkest roast on the "strong" setting for my morning cuppa. Not wonderful, but drinkable.

[chloebell]

This Christmas we got a Bunn....small, cute, and can use K-cups, coffee pods, tea bags & water all in one. Takes up a lot smaller area on counter top. And my 4th keurig is out the door!!!!!!!!! Piece of crap (keurig).

[FarFar]

I have a Keurig Vue and I usually brew my bold/dark coffee on 14 oz and strong settings. Tastes great to me. I think the travel mug setting is 16 oz, but it takes a special "travel mug" k-cup. The volume settings go all the way up to 18 oz.

[goodhealthgourmet]

I didn't know the volume settings went any higher than 12! Since that says "travel size" I assumed it was the biggest. The mugs at the house can only hold 12 anyway so that worked for the week. It's fine for pre-ground coffee, but I prefer my beans freshly roasted, and ground just before brewing.

[CanadaGirl]

I really like my refillable cup "My K-Cup". Way cheaper than using the prefilled, and less wasteful environmentally. I have extra filters for it, and use two for my travel mug.

They do make travel mug sized cups, but I have no experience with them.

[bagelman01]

Unfortunately, the refillable K-Cup defeats the no need to clean benefit of a keurig.

[CanadaGirl]

True. I use mine at home and have a few spare filters, so it is no effort at all to throw the dirty filters in the dishwasher. Obviously, that isn't the case when the Keurig is used in an office.

[bagelman01]

My daughter uses a 16 oz travel mug. She buys the boldest blend she can find (Often Emeril's extra bold?) and runs the Keurig twice through the K-Cup using the medium size setting and is very haoppy with the results: 16 oz mug of a medium blend coffee.

I have also found that it varies greatly based on which brand and blend of coffee one buys. Some of the cheaper or milder blends make a medium setting cup, but are too weak to make a satiosfactory large cup. Other blends such as Timothy's Columbian, I can run once on large and a second time on small to make a good tasting mug.

I have a Keurig B60 machine that is 3-4 years old

[Florida Hound]

Your daughter found a solution that works for her and her 16 oz mug. But for me, this points up an ongoing down side to the whole Keurig fad- one little pack of ingredients is the same raw material whether it goes into a 6 oz standard tea-cup sized cup of coffee, or an over-sized ceramic mug or her 16 oz travel cup. My over-sized mug is destined to have a weaker result in it, unless I fiddle and fiddle with stronger coffees the way your daughter did.
"Some of the...blends... are too weak to make a satisfactory large cup." Well said, bagelman. I have read everyone's posts (also, on a similar thread a few months ago), have tried some K-cup-made coffee at friend's homes, and for all of it, I can see no advantage. But the appliance certainly has its fans.

[bagelman01]

reading your reply, while drinking a cup of Van Houtte French Vanilla made in my Keurig (yes, I'm in the office today getting a filing ready that must be in court before 2012 ends). I love the Van Houtte coffees from Canada, but get ill from the Green Mountain brand (too much acid).
Last night there were 8 at my conference table working on an appeal. 6 different varieties were consumed. I'd hate to have to brew multiple posts, and it certainly was less expensive than take out.
There is a time and place for Keurigs, they don't make sense for everyone. I am the only coffee drinker living full time in our home. Older daughter is away 70% of the time, so it makes sense for me. When we entertain, I brew a large Farberware urn of coffee, and use the Keurig for special requests, such as MIL's dark roast extra bold decaf.

[Cachetes]

Can't you just run 8 ounces of water using one k-cup, change out the k-cup for a new one, and then run another 8 ounces? It use two k-cups, but wouldn't you normally use more coffee to make 16 ounces of coffee anyway?

I agree that Keurig is not for everyone, but this is an option, it seems.

[CanadaGirl]

Yes. That's what I do for my travel mug.

[kseiverd]

They're ONE cup things. SIL swears by hers, but I think it tastes a bit instanty?? Said I should get one... coffee for one and all that. Coffee maker I have probably takes up LESS space that the K-thing she has. Sister bought husband one... she doesn't drink coffee and he likes it just fine. K does make a cup you can fill with your own grind... costs something like $15-20, but is reusable.

[ferret]

This company sells K-cup compatible capsules at a much better price than the K-cups, and it's great coffee.

http://www.amazon.com/San-Francisco-B...

The K-cup patent expired in September so you're likely going to see more competition on price in the future.

[ferret]

There will be the same amount of ground coffee in there if you use it once or 100 times. You're extracting the flavors and oils from the grounds, they don't dissolve.

[iluvcookies]

Exactly... K-cups are filled with ground coffee, not instant coffee.

[Samalicious]

Unfotunately it's one K-cup per cup of coffee, so it's a high priced convenience. I did see where they are now offering a refillable one.