Have you seen the Keurig coffee brewers? Very sleek and modern look… but of course the look doesn’t really matter as much as the quality of the coffee they make.
We’ve used a Keurig machine in my office at work, and everybody loved it. Since it makes one cup at a time, you never have to worry about coffee going “stale” sitting in a pot for hours (or a carafe cracking because it sat empty on the burner for too long).
And they don’t just make coffee. In addition to the amazing variety of gourmet and flavored coffees available, we also found hot chocolate and many varieties of tea and herbal tea in the Keurig K-Cup format.
Which actually leads to my only complaint with these brewers. Like any of the “coffee pod” machines, these lock you in to a specific format, in this case the “K-Cup.” You can’t necessarily just run down to your local gourmet coffee shop and buy beans or ground coffee anymore — you have to use the correct format. It’s a great idea for the coffee maker: it locks you in to their format and pretty much guarantees repeat business for them. Maybe not quite so convenient for you, though.
That said, the Keurig brewer we use at work makes a great cup of coffee (or tea). Since you make each cup one at a time, it’s always fresh-brewed. Since each K-Cup is self-contained, you can easily switch back and forth among different flavors and varieties of coffee, tea and hot chocolate, which makes it great for offices or homes where people have differences of opinion on their choice of hot beverage.
And I’ve found this particular format — the K-cup — to be easier to deal with than most. They’re little plastic cups, sealed with foil. I’m told they’re pumped full of nitrogen to keep the contents fresh for a good long time. We’ve certainly found it to be so.
It’s pretty easy to use. Our machine has a (removeable) water reservoir that holds enough for many cups. You can fill that easily with a pitcher or from a sink. Then you just put the cup (still sealed) into the machine and close the lid. The machine punctures the top and bottom of the cup so the water can flow through for brewing.
When the brewing cycle is over, you just pull out and discard the cup. Unlike potentially “drippy” filters, pods or teabags, there’s no muss, no fuss.
The Keurig brewers have a lot going for them, in my opinion. If you don’t mind being locked in to using a specific format (the K-Cup), they’re a worthy choice of brewer.
— Diane
