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TOT -- French Press vs Keurig? Or both?
 

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/25/18 6:04 PM

TOT -- French Press vs Keurig? Or both?

TOT == totally OT, and entirely frivolous

Both my drip coffee and espresso maker died within the last few month. While I enjoyed the espresso/cappuccino, I only use it occasionally. The trouble of making, AND CLEANING UP after, was a big deterrent for bothering with it.

The drip coffee maker, is a one button affair. Ok, ground coffee (sometimes), and put in filter, add water, push button! The cleaning is fairly quick. So, when the espresso maker died, life continued with the drip coffee without missing a beat. On slow days when I felt like making a good cup of, I found I was not motivated much for getting a replacement espresso maker. But I was absent-mindedly thinking of a French Press instead.

Fast forward to last Sunday, I cracked the drip coffee carafe. So now I need *A* way of making coffee! Knowing drip coffee left me with a bit of wanting, I thought I'd go get a French Press. I walked into Bed, Bath & Beyond, and was confronted with a whole wall of Keurig machine and packs of k-cups.

I've used French press in friend's home. I like the outcome. Not the same as espresso or cappuccino, but in its own way still much more enjoyable than regular drip coffee. The fragrant too. And much easier to clean up in comparison to espresso.

Keurig, I've only used in hotels. But I must say I'm impressed with the ease of use. Add water, got coffee. No fuss, no clean up. Maybe that will make a good combo with a French Press?

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

5/25/18 6:13 PM

Aeropress

At home I've settled on the aeropress:

https://aeropressinc.com

At the office I use either that or a keurig my assistants got. If I was limited to one I'd go aero. More versatile and not much more work. Coffee is good in both.

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

5/25/18 7:16 PM

Having just returned from a trip to Ireland, where I immensely enjoyed the coffee (go figure) I realized how much I dislike the watered down tasteless Kuerig I drink at home and at work. I’d kill for a cup of stronger coffee that I just can’t get from K-Cups, even using a strong French Roast.

In its favor, Kuerig is easy, no doubt, once you get passed the thought of the plastic in the waste stream.

Thus I have the same question as April, what’s as easy as Kuerig yet tastes as good as French Press ?

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henoch
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 1690

5/25/18 8:33 PM

You can have "real" coffee or Kurig coffee but not both at the same time.
French press or Aeropress are the way to go, I have both and use one or the other depending on my mood.
You should also look up the Chemex
There are 2-3 really good drip machines (pricy) that make pretty good coffee with the convince of drip (though not as good as the French or aeropress) here is one
https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/oxo-on-barista-brain-9-cup-coffee-maker/3281006?Keyword=coffee%20maker

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/25/18 9:23 PM


quote:
once you get passed the thought of the plastic in the waste stream.


Hmmm... good point. I typically hate things that are over-packaged. It’s also on the expensive side because of that.

Steve, I think you might have just talked me out of Kuerig.

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

5/25/18 9:47 PM

If you want to try different coffee makers on the cheap go to an overstock store like Tuesday Morning, Home Goods and the like. The variety of brands and sizes they stock can't be beat. Problem is they only have one or two of each in stock but that's one or two of every type.

The inventor of Keurig lamented about the waste stream in an interview, if he had known how popular it was going to be he never would have invented it.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

5/26/18 12:22 AM

The amount of K-Cups trashed into landfills as of today could wrap around the planet more than 10 times!

Unless that is fake news too.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/26/18 5:04 AM


quote:
If you want to try different coffee makers

Why would I want to do that? (“On the cheap” or otherwise) when I could ask others who already did the trying?

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/26/18 5:26 AM

“Unless that is fake news too.”

Source?!

[rant]
Trained as a scientist, I have a habit of only look at information with a source attached. With clearly labeled sources, it can be verified, both the validity AND the context of applicability.

The reputation of the data source is also on the line too. You’d be surprised how often a source, once alerted their information being used in context BEYOND their validity, came out to correct the misinformation.

That’s what separate rumors vs news in the scientific world.

In the non-scientific world, people are used to rely on the reputation of the reporting agent instead. That’s too easily abused. Not to mention the all too common mistakes getting quoted over and over again.

With the Internet and the easily included hyper-link, there’s no reason NOT to include all sources! [/rant over]

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

5/26/18 5:40 AM

Get that coffee brewing: 164 days until Tuesday, November 6, 2018 on this Memorial Day Saturday, 5 months and ten days.

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

5/26/18 6:09 AM

Trustworthy sources?

You decide.

The Atlantic: In 2014, enough K-Cups were sold that if placed end-to-end, they would circle the globe 10.5 times.
WTOP: According to Keurig Green Mountain, 9.8 billion K-Cups were sold in 2014

9,800,000,000 k-cups
31680 2" k-cups in a mile (Top diameter is 2". Height is 1 13/16". Bottom diameter is 1 3/8".)
24875 miles circumference

9,800,000,000 / 31680
_______________________ = 12.4x best case, but check my math, I'm in a hurry waiting for my press to brew.
24,875

The Atlantic and WTOP are major news organizations with reputations to protect. FYI, WTOP is a news radio station that owns the largest market share in the Washington DC market. The Atlantic was founded in 1857 and was on the right side of abolition, suffrage and many other contemporaneous issues.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/26/18 9:05 AM

Environmental sensitivity is currently in fashion. All media channels are jumping onto that bandwagon.

It’d be far more useful when a link to the organization who gathered and analyzed the data are included. For example, what’s the sigma of those numbers?

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

5/26/18 9:25 AM

@SteveB

If you're looking for strong and easy, try aeropress. It makes near espresso strength, and I dilute it Americano style. And it's easier to clean up then a regular French Press.

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

5/26/18 7:13 PM

Keurig boasts "30 B+ Portion Packs Sold as of September 2014."

I was wrong, 36 times around the Earth, not twelve. Note the domain: keuriggreenmountain.com.

By the way, I did include "a link to the organization who gathered and analyzed the data," i.e. The Atlantic and WTOP gathered, analyzed and published it.

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Steve B.
Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 769
Location: Long Island, NY

5/26/18 7:49 PM

Thanks Dan.

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Jesus Saves
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 1150
Location: South of Heaven

5/26/18 8:00 PM

There's a solution

When I drank coffee regularly, I used a refillable k-cup thing a ma jig and just filled it with my own coffee grounds. I did it expressely for environmental reasons, but I believe it is also more economical. It took me all of a minute more to prepare coffee. You can easily find such product on Amazon or Walmart. For example...
https://tinyurl.com/yaxut7nw

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

5/26/18 9:13 PM

I was waiting for the refillable answer. You're right, the refillables save about 75% on cost, with no discarded cups or filters!
A Keurig puts an end to broken pyrex decanters as well.

With the SoloFill K3 filter, I can get a strong cup of coffee if I grind the particular beans to slow down the flow rate just enough (at least I can when using the smaller of my machine's two cup size selections).

I've used other-branded refillable filter cups that were leaky or flowed poorly, and that bypassed water through the compartment that isn't really designed to handle it.

I've also re-used the K-Cups many times over, just by covering an opened cup with two layers of foil, and which worked quite well. I've even re-used the small, doubled foil cover as many as 5-6 times before it would show signs of imminent failure from repeated crimping around the rim of the K-Cup..

Goodwill stores seem to sell Keurigs as a most commonly-stocked item these days, for $10-20 and with a 24-hr return privilege, but I got my first one found left at the curb by a neighbor the day after Christmas. I was walking home in the dark and boom, there it was (same way that I got my very first microwave oven back in White Plains in 1988). The Keurig turned up 4-1/2 years ago and it still looks and works like new. I even found my SoloFill cup at a rummage sale just a block away not long after.

It seems to me that what Keurig machines need is a selection of reusable filter cup sizes so that a bigger cup of strong coffee can be made. But my coffee is usually big and strong enough for my body weight.

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Craig
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 591

5/26/18 9:59 PM

Cowboy coffee. Or Turkish coffee. Have a sauce pan? And a coffee bean supplier that can get you to extra fine? Investment? $0. Strong coffee? Yup, yup, yup. It requires a bit more attention than a "go" button but there's very few things more soulful than tending to a stove top with a pan of cowboy coffee on it. And with minimal refinement of your brewing skills you'll get a delicious cup of coffee.

Or get a Rancilio Silvia. Big $ up front, but amortized over the 15 years you have the machine it's relatively cheap.

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walter
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 4391
Location: metro-motown-area

5/27/18 5:57 AM

bunn mycafe

https://www.amazon.com/BUNN-MCU-Single-Multi-Use-Coffee/dp/B009PLQ5H2

single cup brewer. it's like a low pressure espresso machine. put 2-3-4 scoops of your preferred grind into the hopper, pour your cup of water into the reservoir, push the button...a minute later, fresh brewed coffee to-taste.

simple rinse to clean the hopper, no disposeable filters, no throw-away single-use plastic cups. works for tea, too.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/27/18 6:23 AM

Thanks for the reusable k-cup suggestions

I maybe a Cheapskate. Still, the price of the coffee maker isn’t a factor. Especially amortize over its useful life.

It’s also not about making the strongest coffee either. A drip coffee maker can make it as strong as one like. All one has to do is put in more coffee in the filter.

It’s about the flavor and aroma of the coffee. Balanced with the hassle of making it, EVERY MORNING, even when one’s running out the door to work or to join a ride.

In the past, I’ve achieved that with 2 machines. But even then, the espresso maker is too much hassle. So I didn’t use it as often (also, the consistency suffered near the end of its life, further decrease my frequency of use). And the drip coffee maker left a lot to be desired.

(I actually don't like very strong coffee. I like it medium strong but appreciate rich flavor and aroma. With drip coffee maker, a lot of people try to get that result by making the coffee stronger. But often, that makes the coffee bitter. Plus, that introduce extra caffeine which has its side effects -- jittery & bathroom visits)

Drip coffee maker (and k-cup) are both push a button and go get other things ready, then come back and pour the coffee easy.

I’ve already bought the french press. Am still considering the k-cup as a second, for the convenience, now that I’m aware of the reusable cup option available to offset those HUGE waste stream. (I’m NOT an environmentalist, I only balk at it when the waste is so disproportional to existing alternatives). I may give it a try. [EDIT: and will also investigate some of the "better" push button makers suggested by many]


Last edited by April on 5/27/18 12:13 PM; edited 8 times in total

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

5/27/18 6:57 AM

Reusable k-cups

They may work fine, but it seems to me they would be about the same effort as a French press and more than an aeropress.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/27/18 7:16 AM

I wonder why no one makes a french press with a build-in water heater? That's one separate step that need not be.

(granted, it won't be a "french" press, would be "american press" for our on-the-go culture)

I found one of the biggest advantage of both french press and drip coffee (and k-cup, reusable or not) are they don't need to be clean RIGHT AWAY! That's the biggest issue with the espresso maker. If I don't clean it right away, it's much more work to clean later on. That pretty much eliminates ANY possibility of making it if I'm even slightly pressed for time. So for me, making cappuccino is strictly a lazy day event, when I'm NOT doing anything else but sip coffee for the whole morning...

[EDIT]
I will look into the "improved" coffee maker suggested by several of you. The kind that's more like a low pressure espresso maker. Seem that might be the compromise I'm looking for in getting a decent cup of coffee with minimum fuss.


Last edited by April on 5/27/18 12:16 PM; edited 2 times in total

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/27/18 8:23 AM


quote:
It requires a bit more attention than a "go" button but there's very few things more soulful than tending to a stove top with a pan of cowboy coffee on it.

Sorry, that's heading the wrong direction. :)

I like to cook. But really, it's because I like the result of foods the way *I* like it. If I were rich enough to hire a full time cook to achieve the same, I wouldn't bother with cooking myself! In other words, I don't really like the cooking itself, just the result.

Coffee is just one of those. I never really "like" the brewing process. Only the result.

And I'm not fussy enough to reject less than ideal coffee. I'll compromise between the final result and the work to achieve it.

So no, Turkish coffee isn't for me. (also I didn't exactly LIKE the few Turkish coffee I've tried, even including those I tried IN TURKEY)

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