Educate me on single-cup brewers.

[fuzzybabybunny]

My mom is going to have a new doctor's office with a waiting area and I think it would be nice to install a little Keurig-type device so people can drink coffee or hot chocolate while waiting.

1. What's the difference between a bigger machine and a smaller machine? They all start with the same k-cup and force hot water into it, right? So the taste shouldn't be different right? I'm thinking of just going for something like this:

http://www.keurig.com/brewers/officepro_brewing_system

48 oz reservoir

2. The k-cup form factor is standard, right? So we can always source cheaper alternatives.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

all keurigs make the same mediocre coffee, and all take the same k-cups.

in my family, we have 3. 2 act weird, 1 died without warning.

 

[sdifox]

they suck. no need to get big ones. people can wait for the single serving ones.

OR she can have coffee service, they do Keurig too. Except they can rent you commercial Keurig line, which have faster cycle time but other than that, still shitty coffee.


we have this one at work

http://www.keurig.com/brewers/b3000se


basically it has hot water reservoir, you just pop it in and brew. I don't know how big the hot water reservoir is, but I have seen it brew 4 in a row without stopping.


There is also one of these

http://www.keurig.com/brewers/b155_brewing_system

but there is no hot water reservoir, you brew one and you wait.

 

[zerocool84]

Or instead of having an expensive coffee maker like that, buy a normal coffee maker and save tons of money and still be able to have coffee for customers.

 

[sdifox]

Or instead of having an expensive coffee maker like that, buy a normal coffee maker and save tons of money and still be able to have coffee for customers.

in waiting room type situation, singer serving is not a bad idea.

 

[JamesV]

In a waiting room, a vending machine is not a bad idea.

Not to make money, but to let people that want coffee have it. If you want to improve their quality of visit, have up-to-date magazines that aren't all Woman's Day and Golf Digest, and allow them to actually change the channels on any TV so they aren't forced to watch soap opera crap (I have to leave my aunt's doctor office because I feel my brain melting from that tripe).

 

[Zeze]

Rabid coffee snobs who won't settle for anything less than a $3000 machine or french press in 3...2...1....

 

[sdifox]

Rabid coffee snobs who won't settle for anything less than a $3000 machine or french press in 3...2...1....

I am perfectly happy with my 10 year old white proctor silex 12 cup drip coffee machine at home :biggrin:

 

[ultimatebob]

Yeah, all the K cup machines work basically the same. The only real differences are the water capacity, and how quickly they heat up.

They also have something called the Vue system that also lets you adjust the strength of the coffee being brewed along with the size of the cup, but only Keurig makes those so far and the Vue cups are patented. In general, anything licensed by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters with a Keurig logo is going to cost more.

The patent on K cups has expired, so there are bunches of places making generic coffee cups for it now. That said, many of the cheap ones are filled with instant coffee and taste horrible. Be careful what you buy.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Nice advantage with the Keurig over the Tassimo is the ability to just run hot water through it. Great for tea drinkers like my wife.

 

[Leros]

The 48oz resevoir will run out all the time. They make business level machines that you can plumb to a water line.

 

[BoomerD]

Looking forward to the FBB thread:

My mom put a Keurig in her doctor's office and everyone keeps stealing the K-cups

 

[sdifox]

The 48oz resevoir will run out all the time. They make business level machines that you can plumb to a water line.

That's what FBB is for :awe:

 

[waggy]

In a waiting room, a vending machine is not a bad idea.

Not to make money, but to let people that want coffee have it. If you want to improve their quality of visit, have up-to-date magazines that aren't all Woman's Day and Golf Digest, and allow them to actually change the channels on any TV so they aren't forced to watch soap opera crap (I have to leave my aunt's doctor office because I feel my brain melting from that tripe).

best advice in the thread.

 

[Leros]

Rabid coffee snobs who won't settle for anything less than a $3000 machine or french press in 3...2...1....

At home sure.

I'd be pretty happy with Keurig in a waiting room. It's cleaner/fresher than a communal coffee pot and generally better quality than Folgers. It's also a heck of a lot better than the nothing that most places have.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

In a waiting room, a vending machine is not a bad idea.

Not to make money, but to let people that want coffee have it. If you want to improve their quality of visit, have up-to-date magazines that aren't all Woman's Day and Golf Digest, and allow them to actually change the channels on any TV so they aren't forced to watch soap opera crap (I have to leave my aunt's doctor office because I feel my brain melting from that tripe).

The waiting room is really small. We only have space on top of an end table to put whatever machine we decide on.

 

[OverVolt]

Rabid coffee snobs who won't settle for anything less than a $3000 machine or french press in 3...2...1....

Which is funny because a french press is so rudimentary and simple and a $3000 machine is likely overly complicated and pointless. They just can't use a Mr. Coffee like everyone else. Its the most popular way because its the best.

By the time my Keurig can heat up my drip maker can make 2 cups. You can set either to brew when you wake up. I don't really get it.

For the "oh ahh" type of deal a Keurig in a lobby makes sense. The banks around here do that.

 

[preCRT]

Patients would rather be seen sooner than sip a cup waiting.

 

[Perknose]

Forget Keurig. Get the Two Girls, one cup design. It makes a dark, moist product that melts in your mouth in the most unforgettable way.

 

[KidNiki1]

Forget Keurig. Get a gross comment snipped because ew.

really gross and unnecessary.


OP, we have a Vue machine for our small office. It seems to work out well. We used to have a small coffee brewer but people would never clean it. With the Vue, people can get a pretty nice cup of coffee in whatever flavor / strength they want and no one really has to worry about cleaning it out first or dumping out old coffee from the pot, etc. Plus, you can get tea and hot chocolate as well.
For a small office, I think a Keurig is a good idea. I like the Vue machine better, but the Vue cups are a little less prevalent. Bed Bath & Beyond carries a good selection, but there aren't a lot of different flavors / brands, like a Dunkin Vue cup or things like that.

 

[boomerang]

Seems unusual for a Doctors office to be offering patients beverages the choices of which are a stimulant or a sugar laden stimulant. Kind of hard to counsel a patient to cut back on the caffeine or sugar intake when you're offering it up out in the waiting room.

 

[Capt Caveman]

For Holistic Medicine, I would install a hot/cold water dispenser and provide tea.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Forget Keurig. Get the Two Girls, one cup design. It makes a dark, moist product that melts in your mouth in the most unforgettable way.

 

[Nintendesert]

Forget Keurig. Get the Two Girls, one cup design. It makes a dark, moist product that melts in your mouth in the most unforgettable way.

I agree, a bowl full of Hershey's always brightens someone's day.

 

[Broheim]

at my old job we had a pretty fancy one, you'd full it up with whole beans (and milk or milkpowder, can't quite remember) and it would grind the beans fresh for every cup (I think the beans were pre-roasted though), supposedly it made pretty damn good coffee (I don't drink that stuff though, I already have enough unhealthy addictions).