• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Coffee drinkers, help my GF, Keurig alternative?

Zeze

Zeze

Lifer
I don't drink coffee, but GF does.

She doesn't drink much, but a single cup is a must daily. This makes her think of Keurig for their single cup brewing. But I've read here that people think they're overpriced garbage.

What do you recommend for single-cup brewing? Provide some links?

I heard K-cup's trademark ran out, so you can buy alternative brands...
 
We bought my mother a Keurig for her birthday in early June and she loves it. She only has a cup a day as well. We bought here the filter thing so you could use your own coffee, works out cheaper buying the coffee you want and the filter then buying the k cups (she loves Dunkin Donuts coffee and a 1lb bag from the store that cost like $8 last 2 weeks now where as like 12 kcups of the same coffee cost around $15).

I'm not a coffee drinker but from what my mom has told me, the Keurig is great.
 
GF's reasoning is that K-cups are sealed and only opened per use = therefore fresh.

If you buy a bag of beans and open it. And don't use it for few weeks (no matter how much you close it afterwards), they noticeably go stale, don't taste as good.

Is that true? That's her speculation, and I doubt it. What do you think?
 
KaOTiK said:
We bought my mother a Keurig for her birthday in early June and she loves it. She only has a cup a day as well. We bought here the filter thing so you could use your own coffee, works out cheaper buying the coffee you want and the filter then buying the k cups (she loves Dunkin Donuts coffee and a 1lb bag from the store that cost like $8 last 2 weeks now where as like 12 kcups of the same coffee cost around $15).

I'm not a coffee drinker but from what my mom has told me, the Keurig is great.
Click to expand...

We're literally reading these 'live'.

Tell us more about the 'filter thing' which allows you to brew your own. Link?
 
Beans degrade over time, but it's still good even after a few weeks. Kcups are convenient, and I like the coffee(I got my mother one, and she loves it), but they're extremely wasteful. Personally, I'd get a French press for single cups. More hassle, but less wasteful, and I think oldish coffee would be fine.
 
Aeropress Instructions

You can pick one of them up from Amazon, they create a brew similar to a French Press, but imo significantly less ground coffee makes its way into your cup, since once you reach the bottom of a French Press, you get a decent amount of 'silt' in your cup.

The Aeropress can only make one cup at a time and cleanup is pretty easy. If you want a more flavourful cup, you can pick up the reusable metal filters, but otherwise the paper filters work quite well too.
 
Zeze said:
We're literally reading these 'live'.

Tell us more about the 'filter thing' which allows you to brew your own. Link?
Click to expand...

This thing. It is basically a k cup with a filter basket, you put your own coffee in it and put it in the keurig and it treats it just like a normal kcup. Afterwards you take it out and just throw the used coffee grounds out and give the kcup and filter a quick wash. That is it. It does not use much coffee and because of that the coffee you buy from the store last much longer (my mom said that a normal thing of dunkin coffee she'd buy at the store lasted a week with all the other coffee machines shes had, but with the kcup it last 2 weeks)
 
Thanks.

Can you give me a general guideline on the following?

1. When you buy a 1lb coffee bean (ungrounded), when does it go bad or taste worse noticeably? Few weeks?

2. How about for a 1lb of ground coffee bean (which is for Keurig)?

She's liking this Keurig + own ground bean option. But since she's never drank coffee at home, she wants to know the 'taste life' of these bags of beans once opened.
 
Zeze said:
Thanks.

Can you give me a general guideline on the following?

1. When you buy a 1lb coffee bean (ungrounded), when does it go bad or taste worse noticeably? Few weeks?

2. How about for a 1lb of ground coffee bean (which is for Keurig)?
Click to expand...

Beans will last longer than ground(always grind just enough for each use). I've never had coffee longer than a month, but it's kept fine in that amount of time.
 
There are plenty of coffee makers our there that are great for single cups. French press, Moka Express, Vietnamese phin, Aeropress are just a few off the top of my head. Be aware though, these coffee makers make European sized cups, not a true 8 oz cup. So for a single serving, a three cup French press is perfect. They also use varying degrees of coffee as well and the results are slightly different but generally make a stronger brew.

Personally, I think a French press is the most versatile because you can use it for teas as well as coffee.

As for the beans staying fresh, I would say then that you should think about grinding your coffee as you need it. The whole beans will keep longer but as long as you are drinking coffee more or less once a day, I doubt you will keep a bag of coffee along long enough for it to go stale.
 
Some people love Keurig, I think its coffee tastes absolutely vile. In fact, it's among the only coffee I cannot drink. It just tastes disgusting.
 
Another Q: So Keurig's patent runs out this Sept.

Does that mean we'll see much cheaper machines using the same K-cup very soon? (On or around Sept) or many months after?
 
Zeze said:
Another Q: So Keurig's patent runs out this Sept.

Does that mean we'll see much cheaper machines using the same K-cup very soon? (On or around Sept) or many months after?
Click to expand...

It means that Keurig is introducing a new kind of cup and machine.

No seriously, they did.
 
in before Fren... damnit. :|

I actually don't hate my Keurig. I'm thinking about getting rid of it, but only because I've been drinking a lot more coffee lately (when I bought it, I was drinking 1-2 cups/week; now it's more like 1-2 cups/day). the expense adds up versus buying beans and grinding them.

not a huge fan of the french press, though. it's just a bit too pain-in-the-ass for me.
 
Zeze said:
Thanks.

Can you give me a general guideline on the following?

1. When you buy a 1lb coffee bean (ungrounded), when does it go bad or taste worse noticeably? Few weeks?

2. How about for a 1lb of ground coffee bean (which is for Keurig)?

She's liking this Keurig + own ground bean option. But since she's never drank coffee at home, she wants to know the 'taste life' of these bags of beans once opened.
Click to expand...

1. If you keep it sealed tight after each removal of beans, you should be good for a month.

2. If you grind all the beans and then use it daily, but seal it up carefully, I would gather a couple weeks before you notice they get a bit stale.


I would recommend only grinding what you need for her daily brewing.

We have a keurig at work and others like it. Me, not so much. I buy Sumatra beans at Costco in the 3 lb bags and I make a daily pot at 3PM for anyone that wants a cup with fresh ground beans. That 3 lb bag of beans lasts around 3 weeks and there's not any staleness when I finish the bag and go to the next.

I know someone who puts it in the freezer and pull it out when they use it. I don't know if this is a good or bad practice. He is a weekly, Saturday morning coffee drinker. I guess it may make it last longer if it takes months to use up a bag.
 
320px-Zubereitung_mokka.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top