Switched to Keurig Coffee Makers at Work

[Paul McGaha]

At my work they changed the coffee makers from the large Bunn machines to Keurig.

Have to try to time it to get my coffee when there isnt a line for the machine. Have to wait about a minute for the cup to brew but something to be said for always leaving the galley with a cup thats just seconds old.

No plan to switch what we do at home but I'm begining to see why people use them. Always fresh, probably 0 waste. No idea what the cost might be compared to what we use at home. Guessing it would be more.

PHM

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Paul, at work it was far less expensive than pouring an almost full carafe of coffee down the drain, and the coffee is always fresh. We are a 24/7 operation with only a few people per shift.

I drink tea, and it makes awful tea so we still have a kettle.

It's about 40 cents per cup if I remember correctly............Regards, Rod.

[David Weaver]

It's a lot more (at home). 50-60 cents a cup from what I've seen, though you can always go swiss with things and try to find it on clearance. Our work cost with regular bunn machines is about 20 cents per cup, though as you say, we have spoilage on the last pots.

We had a flavia machine where I worked previously and it was great at first, but somehow, the flavor wore on a lot of us (it wasn't quite right compared to good drip coffee).

The best compromise I've seen is a bunn type machine with an air pot. Then, the coffee never gets smoked, and it always tastes fresh and hot. It also seems to have better flavor than the instantaneous machines.

[Matt Meiser]

David you can do a lot better than 50-60 cents by buying online or at Costco. Or I've even stocked up at Kohls when they were on sale and we had a coupon for an extra % off everything. Buying K-Cups at the grocery or big box store is by far the most expensive way to go.

[Paul McGaha]

We have it pretty good at home. We use a Bunn and most of the time only brew 1/2 pot. A Bunn can do that in about 2 minutes. This makes enough coffee for my wife and I to have a pretty big cup each and if we want more then we brew another 1/2 pot. The coffee we use is one of the Costco brands, ground at the store.

PHM

[Warren Johnson]

Really like ours. Received it as gift in March or April. Like making one cup as needed and wife uses it for tea(so far no complaints). Bad thing is that it stopped working Friday. Did the trouble shooting-no change. Called Keurig, they asked if I did that-yes, how about that-yes. OK no problem, we send one out to you at no charge. All you need to do is send back the little insert where the coffee packet sits.
Waiting on Fedex for todays delivery.

[Lex Boegen]

My only complaint is the huge waste of plastic in all those disposable cups. I am aware that there are "refillable" cups that will take ground coffeee, but how many people use those? No one I know that has one of those machines.

[BOB OLINGER]

Last time I did the numbers, the cost per cup was 2-3 times more expensive. I'll stick with my Bunn.

[Ted Pitera]

I thought the Keurig was OK for work as far as taste but it does generate a lot of trash.

At home we use an old Corning Ware percolator to make eight cups tha fit into four mugs. I can think of any coffee I can make at home that beats the perc'd kind.

Excelsior

[glenn bradley]

When I first saw these things I thought "what a racket". I must confess that I am a convert. We fund our own at work in my little group. About 40 cents a cup if you hit Costco or Sam's with a coupon. With the 6 of us only, the wait for coffee is seldom an issue. The mess is near zero which is what we were really after. Our drip makers were always scattered with grounds and drips. Like I said, I scoffed but, have found it to be viable for us at work.

[Joel Goodman]

Don't know about Keurig but Nespresso, which if you like expresso or cappuccino makes good coffee, recycles the capsules if you drop them off. I assume the aluminum is recycled.

[Matt Meiser]

Unfortunately, no. From the Keurig web site.


Question
Are K-Cup® packs Recyclable?

Answer
The challenge of protecting the freshness of roasted coffee while using environmentally friendly packaging is one that both Keurig and the coffee industry are committed to overcoming. We are very sensitive about the waste created by the K-Cup® packs and are investigating alternative materials. Finding a solution for this is a priority for us, and one we hope to have before long.

[Scott Shepherd]

I don't use them, but I have family members and friends that do use them. Of probably 10 people I know that have had them, 8 or so of them have had to throw them away. I took 2 on as projects to try and fix them, and they are made to discourage anyone from even trying. I can't recall ever seeing a product with such a high failure rate among people I know. They all seem to make it through the warranty period fine and then they quit shortly after that.

I suppose if you look at them as disposable, you'd be fine, but buyer beware, they have a lot of problems. Search the internet and you'll find more sites than you can count with people having the same issues I'm talking about.

[Peter Pedisich]

I don't use them, but I have family members and friends that do use them. Of probably 10 people I know that have had them, 8 or so of them have had to throw them away. I took 2 on as projects to try and fix them, and they are made to discourage anyone from even trying. I can't recall ever seeing a product with such a high failure rate among people I know. They all seem to make it through the warranty period fine and then they quit shortly after that.

I suppose if you look at them as disposable, you'd be fine, but buyer beware, they have a lot of problems. Search the internet and you'll find more sites than you can count with people having the same issues I'm talking about.

I have to agree, got one as a gift, 2 years later had to throw it away. Luckily, tucked away in a cabinet we had a Mr. Coffee we got as a wedding present - it's so old it says "Made in USA" on the bottom! Works fine, and I figured out how to make sure there is no wasted coffee sitting in the pot.

[Rudy Ress]

You can buy the "My K cup", which is a reusable one for less than $18 (less at some stores). This allows you to use your own brand, flavors, etc of your coffee. Just dump out the grinds, rinse and your ready to go again. I use this for my specialty coffees. As others mentioned it great to have a freshly brewed cup every time.

[Jerome Stanek]

Nespresso maker is a big rip off inside is plastic that breaks easily and you need to use their cleaner on other. Had 2 go down at a trade show wasn't a good thing.

[Bill Cunningham]

We have one, and love it.. The only low note, is my wife works for a large food chain in Canada, and they have a in house brand called "Our Compliments". They had a K-Cup product that we bought, and discovered a total rip off. It was a standard shape and style, but no inside filter, it was simply a spoonful of instant coffee sealed in a K-cup. It even rattled when you shook it.. That's what prompted me to peel off the top, and discover the ruse..The bad part was it was no cheaper than any other of the 'real' K-cups.. Just a rip off. Unfortunately my wife just tossed them in the garbage before I could get the 1-800 complain number off the box.. If their still on the shelf, I'll get that number and let them know 'exactly' how I feel about their product while demanding a full refund.. What I like about the real kcups is you can try different types of coffee without having to buy a pound of something you may end up not liking.. I like the Emeril's Big Easy Bold..

[Joel Goodman]

Nespresso maker is a big rip off inside is plastic that breaks easily and you need to use their cleaner on other. Had 2 go down at a trade show wasn't a good thing.
I have been running 2 (one in vacation house) for 2 years and they seem to be pretty good. The main cost are the pods at .60 per -- machine is $100 -- so I don't expect it to last forever. Usually I hate throwaway machines but I've used many top end expresso machines and I can't make as good espresso unless I get up to at least a $1500 machine (including grinder).

[Darcy Forman]

I bought my own for my office at work. Love it and will never go back. Much better tasting coffee that that swill the company buys. That stuff tastes like cigar buts after 10 minutes of sitting in the pot. Then some clown would always go an make a pot for everyone to enjoy and add three packs of grounds to the basket. Life is too short for that!

[Lewis Ehrhardt]

We got one for Christmas two years ago. Great if all you want is one cup. But there's two of us, which meant one was always in line, waiting. Also, it has to be on to be ready to instantly brew, and it's far more expensive than using a conventional type coffee maker. Our old perculator went out, recently, we bought a Mr. Coffee for $34.00: I'm use to Bunn coffee, but this one nails it! I was really surprised. It has a strong option button, which makes it so we use even less coffee than normal. Our recipe is two scoops to eight cups of water, and a pinch of sea salt. Good coffee

[Fred Perreault]

We have used a Keurig for 3-4 years at home. It would certainly be more expensive to make a full pot of coffee one K-cup at a time. But for 2 old folks at home, and being able to choose different coffee brews, it works out to be economical to make it one K-cup at a time. We do drink tea, and we use the Keurig to produce the hot water for the cup and tea bag under the unit. We also use it to make hot chocolate or a cup of mocha from a K-cup and Swiss Miss or something. You can also get a gold filter insert for the unit that accepts your own ground coffee, if one feels like washing the small filter after every cup....ugh. I believe that I read recently that the Keurig license for the K-cup expires in 2013, so there should be competitively priced generic K-cups lining the shelves.

[Lex Boegen]

I use an Aero Press at work (which I got a stainless steel filter disk for later on), and a regular old French Press at home, so I have fresh coffee and zero waste. There's nothing to break on the Aero Press (it's all heavy-duty plastic), and as long as I don't drop the glass carafe on my French Press, it should last forever too.

[Steve Peterson]

My wife has one and really likes it. She drinks about one cup per day. She likes that she can pick a different flavor every time. I don't even like the smell of coffee and the Keurig releases much less coffee smell into the air as it brews. It is certainly much less mess than any other brewer.

Of coarse, the downside is the cost of around 60 cents per cup. It is no big deal for 1 cup per day. It would be a waste to brew 3-4 batches to fill a thermos in the morning. We have had to have ours replaced once under warrantee. Hopefully, they have fixed the quality issue by now.

Steve

[Larry Whitlow]

We have the Keurig and love it. We use a brand called (I think) San Francisco coffee from Costco. It uses filter material where you would normally see the plastic cup. Last time cost was about 29 cents/pod. Because of the design they need to be sealed to retain freshness. They come sealed in groups of 6 or 8 cups. Once opened we keep them in one of those glass jars that has a hinged top and a rubber gasket. We are almost out. I hope Costco still carrys them.

[Matt Meiser]

I suppose I should admit that I actually have 2 K-cup machines. One in the house which is probably 3-4 years old and is the automatic variety with the water tank on the side. I do have the refillable K-Cup but as mentioned its slightly more of a hassle but I do use it a bunch around Christmas time when the Starbucks Christmas Blend comes out. I have a second machine I got for Christmas last year for in my shop. Its the style where you have to dump in the right amount of water each use. This one is actually a Mr. Coffee. Great for cold winter evenings/Saturdays working in the shop. I just keep a container of RO-filtered water in the shop.

[Richard Wolf]

We use the refillable cups. http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/772164/Keurig-My-K-Cup/?Channel=Google&mr:trackingCode=7B93C671-6985-DF11-BC8B-0019B

We have two, my wife and I. Saves a lot of money, and keeps the landfill a little less filled.