Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Keurig K-Cups

Like many of you, I'm a big coffee drinker.  I kept hearing people talk about how great the Keurig system was, so this past Christmas I bought one, and overall I'm very pleased with the ease of use and the variety of flavors the system offers.  What I'd like to get down in this posting is some quick takes on positives and negatives I've experienced so far using the Keurig system.

Positives:

How easy it is to use, really can't be grasped until you make your first cup.  Literally ten minutes after my dad opened it on Christmas day, (yes I gave it as a gift), we were all enjoying our first k-cup.  The version we have has 3 settings, depending on the size cup you want to fill.  One thing to keep in mind though is the lower the setting, the stronger the brew.  Of course the opposite holds true as well.  Making yourself a cup is as easy as filling the water area, popping in the k-cup, waiting a few minutes for the lights to flash, and then brew.  It really is that easy.

The variety of flavors offered is expansive.  Whatever your taste preference is, you can probably find
a cup to go along with it.  They carry everything from a normal cup of coffee, to an extra, extra bold cup.  They have a decent variety of tea flavors for the tea drinkers out there.  And then they have every flavor from Cinnamon to Peach to Wild Blueberry available.  The system also boasts a nice variety of vendors, green mountain being the largest, which would be expected seeing they are the parent company of Keurig.  That said they don't lack for big name's either, having coffees from Paul Newman to Emeril to Wolfgang Puck.

For the most part the flavors all pretty much taste good too. I've had a few "don't think I can finish this one" moments, as well as a few "meh" experiences, but overall pretty good quality as far as taste goes.

Availability for the staple coffees in their java arsenal can be found everywhere from grocery stores to convenience stores to online vendors.

Negatives:

Cost is the biggest negative on the list.  In my area, at the grocery stores, you can typically find a 12 pack for around $9.00 to &10.00 dollars.  Occasionally you can find them on sale at retail outlets such as Macy's and Bonton for around $11.00 for 18 packs, which is a better value.  Although when not on sale they run around $16.00 dollars for 18 packs.  So the cost is a little pricy considering you're paying between .45 and .65 cents per cup, which is much higher than buying the grounds and making them in a traditional brewer.  However when you are buying a large coffee from a donut shop for roughly $2.00 a cup it does save you substantially in this respect.

Another negative is that not all the flavors are available everywhere.  Some you just have to order online from Keurig.com  or from Amazon.com, but the positive spin from ordering online is you'll get more for less.  Only real drawback is waiting the 3-10 days for delivery.  I've shopped both locales and have had pretty good luck getting them within a few days from the order, and by spending over specified amounts you get free shipping in some cases.

The final drawback is, well, a subjective one.  I was drinking roughly 2-3 cups a day before getting the Keurig and now I'm drinking between 5-7 a day.  It's just so easy to make them, and most of the coffee is so good, the temptation just stares at you from it's counter perch.  Not for those with low or weak will power.

Keep an eye out for a follow up post I'll be writing a little later on featuring many of the individual K-cups I've tried so far.

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