What is convenience? A quick Google search gives us the picture you see on the right. Just ignore the second definition. We're not talking about a loo. We find things that make our life easier to be convenient. So, when I read an this1 article the other day via /r/coffee, I was a bit surprised to find what a problem (in my eyes) K-cups were. What this article outlines is the cost per pound of coffee, the cost of your machines, and the environmental cost of the disposable K-Cups. As I was writing this, I figured I would throw this disclaimer in here: I use the K-Cup because Keurig is usually the first name associated with the single serve coffee movement. Also, this entire post is my personal beliefs and opinions. If you you don't like them, then you can kindly bugger off.
While I do agree that the idea behind the individual serve coffee is a great idea, it's like an idea I would come up with. One that sounds great to begin with, and I can soooo sell myself on why I NEED it. But let's stop and take a look at the costs. I was in TOPS (TOPS is a local grocery store up here in the Buffalo Area. I'm not sure where else it is.) the other day looking for coffee. We had run out of bean and need more. Granted, I had read the article a day or two prior, so I kind of knew what I was looking for. A 12oz bag of Eight O'clock coffee beans would have run me about $6.50. So, some basic math shows us that a pound of coffee would be about $8.70. Looking at the K-Cups that were offered, for a total of between 3.7 and 4.3 oz of coffee (that's total in the whole box), it would be somewhere between $9 and $12 for the box. That means for a pound of coffee, you would be paying between $39 and $51. That's just for a pound of coffee!!! When was the last time your Folgers was worth $51? For less than $38, I can get 5 pounds of Fair Trade, organic coffee on Amazon2(granted Fair Trade3 isn't what you might think it is, not is it as great as it sounds)! Since cost seems to not be too big an issue to the consumer, let's look at what it's doing to the environment.
When you flip most plastic items upside down you will see it's recycling code4. The K-Cup is composed of multiple materials including #7 plastics. Not only can you not recycle this plastic in most places, but because the K-Cup uses mixed materials, you can't even recycle any of it! So, here we've got millions of cups going into landfills each year. According to an article from Wall Street Journal5:
"There’s still plenty of growth left in the single-serve business: There are currently around 12.5 million households with one of Green Mountain’s Keurig brewing machines, and in its most recent analyst call the company said it expects that to hit 16-17 million by the end of 2013. Last September, it then-CEO Larry Blanford said eventually, Keurig machines will make their way into 35 million U.S. homes."
And here is an article from the New York Times from 20106:
"But its recent growth has been fueled by a product that runs counter to its reputation. More than 80 percent of Green Mountain’s $803 million in sales last year came from nonrecyclable, nonbiodegradable, single-use coffee pods and their brewing systems. This year, the company expects to sell nearly three billion K-Cups, the plastic and tinfoil pods that are made to be thrown away — filter, grounds and all — after one use."
There are billions of K-Cups being thrown away each year and nothing is being done! Sure Keurig has a reusable cup, but I have yet to meet anyone who uses it. For these billions of K-Cups thrown away, it's kind of hard to imagine billions of these things an how much they weigh. Here's an excerpt from the article that got me started:
"If the capsules weigh roughly 12 grams (like Peet's pods), that's 438 billion grams of single-cup coffee packaging used annually, or about 966 million pounds of waste. That's the equivalent of throwing away about 150,000 Hummer H2s each year."
150,000 H2 Hummers thrown out each year. I'm not sure about you, but that seems a little unnecessary to me. When you throw away the K-Cup, you're also throwing away a perfectly good resource! Coffee grounds make a great fertilizer for plants. All of those grounds in the dump aren't doing anything other than growing mold.
Let us not forget the cost of everything as well. Let's rule out the recurring cost of coffee. For a new Keurig machine, you're looking to spend anywhere between $85 and $750 just for the machine7. And what happens if decides to malfunction? You'll either be dealing with tech support or looking at buying a new one. If I break my french press, I'll go Target and get a new one for less than $208. And granted, my burr grinder did run about $30, all together, I've spent less than the cheapest Keurig machine and I can enjoy multiple cups of coffee from just one brew.
I think the thing that gets me the most is the ritual of making coffee. I've become a bit of a traditionalist in certain things and coffee is one of those. I do have a drip coffee pot at the house for when I have no beans to grind. But my coffee experience is just that, an experience! From picking out the beans at the supermarket (which Orchard Fresh near my house has a massive selection at $11 per pound), to getting the aroma of the bean as it's gound, I love making coffee. The French Press also offers you the oportunity to control almost every aspect of making coffee! You chose what type of bean you want, how coarse to grind it, the amount of grounds to use, how long you heat the water (you don't want it to boil!), and how long the coffee steeps all go into making coffee. No two brews are ever the same. I guess in the end it comes down to preference. I can't stand the coffe that comes out of a Keurig. A french press will always be number one for me. Untill I get my espresso machine!
Brent
P.S. I encourage the owners of single cup machines to tell me how you feel (I'm looking at you Keurig, Tassimo, and other single serve machine owners)! Do you love your machine? Hate it? Feel that my post is too biased (which, I think it is)? Let me know. My e-mail address is mrbrentoz@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Brent
P.S. I encourage the owners of single cup machines to tell me how you feel (I'm looking at you Keurig, Tassimo, and other single serve machine owners)! Do you love your machine? Hate it? Feel that my post is too biased (which, I think it is)? Let me know. My e-mail address is mrbrentoz@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
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3. Fair Trade Coffee Wikipedia Article
Well, ok then. We like Eight O clock coffee, available only at Walmart, it seems.
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