A New Coffee Machine

[vakkotaur]

$WORKPLACE had a delayed Christmas party about a week ago and besides the meal there was a set of drawings. A few things attracted my attention and a few things did not. I was glad not to have wound up with a Minnesota Vikings carving and such. Not getting a 40-inch 1080p monitor TV was slightly disappointing, but such things are expected. But I did walk out with a shiny new Keurig coffee machine. And for a week got asked if I'd set it up yet. I had not, as we had the Flavia machine and packets for it.

I hadn't been using the Flavia packets as I tend to think of them as jmaynard's, but he said go ahead and use up the Kona blend. There are more tea packets, but the Kona is gone now. Last night I cleaned up part of the kitchen counter (even under the microwave... that was overdue) and swapped out the Flavia and replaced it with the Keurig machine.

Jay did some checking and per cup, the cost for Flavia and Keurig is about the same. The Flavia packets take up less room than K-cups and I don't recall the Flavia machine having warnings about sharp bits to avoid. The K-cups are available locally and the Keurig's water reservoir is detachable and thus doesn't need another container to transfer water to it. I think the Keurig's water reservoir is smaller. I'm not sure which one uses more power than the other do keep the water hot, though the Keurig does have an option to let things cool after a couple hours idle and then would need a few minutes to heat up again.

I've a had few cups from the new machine now. Green Mountain's "Dark Magic" isn't excessively dark as I can drink it black, which is an unusual thing. Folgers Caramel Drizzle also works straight. And a hot chocolate gave a good accounting of itself. There's more to try, but I suspect I might go with Dark Magic might be my default "wake up" for at least a little while.

Comments

[chaysefox.livejournal.com]

I've been looking at a Keurig myself. There's a particular model at the membership clubs (Both Costco and Sam's Club) I have my eye on. That one has a K-Cup that allows one to use your own coffee. That was the deal-maker. Granted that it won't be until March when I can get one (birthday money and whatnot) It's something to shop around for. I hear that the K-Cup in question is available separately, just don't know where to find it.

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

There are a few k-cup inserts that you can use with your own coffee. The My K-Cup one that Keurig sells is, in my opinion, kinda so-so. It requires removing the cup holder in the coffee maker and it's kinda a pain to clean.

I switched from that one to the Ekobrew which fits in like a standard K-Cup. It does a pretty good job. I'd looked into a third one, the Solofill, but its shape meant that it held less and it got less positive reivews.

All three have a different way of dealing with the pin that the Keurig machines use to punch a hole in K Cups. The Keurig one gets around it by having you pop out the holder. The Ekobrew has indentations in the bottom that the pin goes into. The Solofill is just shaped so that it sits up high enough to avoid the pin.

All three can be purchased on their own. I think the Ekobrew I got was about 10 bucks on Amazon.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that response. I was very close to buying a My K-Cup off the store shelf this morning and this (and looking around the web it prompted) has convinced me that the EkoBrew is likely the best solution, at least as far as I am concerned. I note that if one is really worried about accidently puncturing the EkoBrew there is (more expensive) steel version now, though I suppose then the concern becomes ruining the exit pin.