Just One Cup of Coffee

Everywhere you look today you see modern technology. We can hardly remember what our lives were like before they became centered around a computer screen, and we depend on computer technology in most aspects of our lives, from work to play to grocery shopping. Gone are the old rotary dial phones as they are replaced by modern I-phones which are capable of everything from picture taking to GPS to Internet access. The cameras people knew back then were the “modern” Instamatics with handy film cartridges whereas today we have tiny digitals. And how about the changes in TV? The old, snowy black-and-white consoles have given way to LCD wall-mounts with crystal clear viewing.

It’s no different with coffee makers. If you can remember 50 years back, you’ll remember Mom and Dad making Folgers or Butternut coffee in the old metal perculator. We thought we were right up town when the new electric drip coffee makers came in in the ’60s and ’70s. Now however, the new single-cup coffee makers have taken the market by storm. Mom and Dad would have trouble imagining anything so fast and easy making such a great cup of coffee. Instead of loose coffee grounds, these brewers operate using coffee pods or k-cups, pre-measured coffee without the mess. In addition, these pods come in many different brands, roasts, and flavors that make your morning coffee into a real experience.

It used to take a long time to perc a pot of coffee. Every morning someone would pop out of bed and rush to the kitchen to get the pot plugged in so that coffee would be ready within the next half hour. How different is this from today’s single-cup coffee brewers that produce fresh, hot gourmet coffee in under a minute? You don’t have to wait for a whole pot to brew, and there’s no more pots of cold, stale coffee going to waste on warming trays. All you have to do is pour fresh water into the reservoir, stick a pod into the machine, and press the brew button. There’s no hassle and no mess, and every cup of coffee comes out just the same as the one before. Have you ever heard the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread”? Single-cup coffee makers were probably what they were talking about.

One-cup pod coffee makers are being produced by several different companies. The first models were introduced by Senseo, and when these new brewers became popular with consumers, other companies began to market their own versions. You can buy single-cup coffee makers from companies such as Black and Decker, Melitta, and Keurig who uses k-cup inserts in their brewing systems. Coffee pods and k-cups come in a wide variety of different brands, roasts, and flavors. You can also find tea, hot chocolate, and espresso k-cups and pods. There are selections of coffees and chocolates from renowned gourmet coffee companies such as Kona, Millstone, Wolfgang Puck, Green Mountain, Van Houtte, and Godiva.

As you might expect, all this convenience costs a bit more than regular coffee. However, people who have used the brewing systems will tell you that single-cup coffee makers are worth the extra money. It will cost you around $100 to buy a small personal brewer. For a larger model with more features you can pay $300 or more. As for the coffee pods and k-cups, they also cost slightly more than regular ground coffee. After all, they come in separately wrapped portions which are always more costly than bulk. A good point, though, is that coffee packaged this way stays fresher longer.

By: Paul Julian

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Just One Cup of Coffee

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 7:45 pm and is filed under machines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.