[Bump] Let's talk about coffee machines

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Morozee

What are your 8 favorites you mention? We just got a Kuerig last week and am still sampling to find my favorites. So far my favorite is TWC Rainforest Espresso. Any others you folks recommend in the bold/extra bold category?

For bold coffees I like the Emeril's Bold and Easy and Coffee People Black Tiger Extra Bold, but there are lots of varieties out there I haven't tried yet.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Puxlut

I bought a Keurig and there was a coupon for "Buy one, get one free" on cartons. If you look at the Keurig site, you can see the HUGE selection of coffees, teas and other specialty drinks they have (It took me and hour to choose which 4 I wanted.) I should be getting them on Monday and I'll report back with my favourites.

I bought the Cinnamon Pastry cups from the Bay and really liked them.
I also bought the "My Kcup" that I put Starbucks coffee in. I haven't had any problems that require the rubber washer thingy someone had mentioned. And last month Future shop had a "Buy one, get one half off" that cuts down the price on them.

Just so we're clear a Puxlut doesn't use the little rubber thingy, good to know

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Gary83

Out of curiousity, anyone with the Keurig single serve just use it for plain old coffee with their reusable filter? After getting kind of annoyed at how weak some of the coffee has been and the price, I've tried cheaping out with buying coffee and using the reusable filter, but sometimes I notice the hot water spewing all over the place the first few times I had a good amount of coffee grind in the bottom of the cup too. Any advice?

Yep, I use almost exclusively my own coffee (I grind the medium roast Kirkland beans from Costco).

If you're having trouble with hot water spewing all over the place then you're not getting a tight seal between the My K-Cup and the brewer. If you go back a few pages I go into detail about how to fix this problem with a rubber washer.

That said I have a few extras kicking around the apartment, if you PM me your address I'll mail one to you.

[Jimmy Stang]

So I joined the Keurig club a few weeks ago, and I am enjoying the convenience and the quality of the coffee. I also use the re-usable k-cup thing with some grounds, and it seems to work nicely for me so far.

I thought I'd share a few findings about buying the k-cups in Calgary and online that I have learned in talking to some friends who are quite into these things.

Singlecup.ca seems to be selling the k-cups online again (edit: which Ashartus apparently informed everyone about 3 weeks ago! ), with free shipping on orders over $59. I found this out by accident as I was visiting a place called The Coffee Connection in the NE and some of their literature suggested that they were affiliated. That may be an option for those of you that would like to order online. If you're able to go to The Coffee Connection in person, you can mix and match 24 k-cups for $16.75 (about 0.70 each), which is a neat way to try some of the different varieties before ordering a whole box.

Surprisingly, a good place to order a good variety of k-cups is staples.ca. Right now until January 10th you can save 10%, so a box of 18 will cost $11.48 (about 0.64 each), but I ordered some before Christmas at 20% off, so it was closer to 0.55 each. Staples has free delivery on orders over $50 as well. The selection seems quite extensive, but a few were out of stock when I made a previous order.

Obviously, using your own grounds is the most economical way to brew a cup, but I like to have a couple of boxes of the k-cups in the cupboard for the added convenience. My alternative is Tim Hortons each morning, so even paying for the k-cups is still cheaper and quicker. And the added bonus is that at work, the company is paying for the k-cups now as well so I can just defer my morning cup until I get to work.

[albertGQ]

I got my wife the Special Edition Kuerig one for Christmas. She loves it buy my brother got himself a Tassimo one on Boxing day and just raves about it.

Which one is considered the better and more popular machine?

[Jimmy Stang]

^ Personally, I like the ability to use my own grounds, so the Keurig was the one for me. This trumped all other research and opinions for me.

The Tassimo gives you the ability to make lattes and other things, but it requires the use of a milk-like disc thing, and in my limited experience, tasted kind of strange. I don't often drink lattes, so making one at home isn't important to me. Obviously, you don't have to make lattes if you don't want to. But if you're a latte fan, you'll probably be happier using proper milk anyway.

The regular cups of coffee from my sister-in-law's Tassimo seemed fine to me though. In short, I'm very happy with my Keurig but don't have a reason to hate the Tassimo as long as I don't have to have anything created with the milk stuff.

[Torture]

Just made a pot out of my new Bodum French Press. Tastes very good!

I have a Tassimo at home which is great for it's convenience when you just want one cup but it seems a little wasteful when you're having more than one.

[missdpuck]

Thanks for that link, bomba. That must be the upgrade of the one they made a few years ago. The main complaint about that old model was that it fell apart quickly , so I didn't buy one. No complaints about the taste of the coffee or basic performance though.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Just a random note while I think of it as I sip my coffee this afternoon.

If you buy a My K-Cup, don't buy fine grind coffee, or grind your own coffee really fine. It absorbs more of the water, the coffee clogs up the filter, and causes your machine's descale light to turn on.

I wasn't thinking when I came home for Christmas and in an exhaustive state picked a coffee I thought would taste good (PC Fair Trade African Medium Roast) which for the record is good, but likes the play havoc with the machine. I won't get a full 10oz cup

So medium grind, stay away from fine grind.

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

So I joined the Keurig club a few weeks ago, and I am enjoying the convenience and the quality of the coffee. I also use the re-usable k-cup thing with some grounds, and it seems to work nicely for me so far.

I thought I'd share a few findings about buying the k-cups in Calgary and online that I have learned in talking to some friends who are quite into these things.

Singlecup.ca seems to be selling the k-cups online again (edit: which Ashartus apparently informed everyone about 3 weeks ago! ), with free shipping on orders over $59. I found this out by accident as I was visiting a place called The Coffee Connection in the NE and some of their literature suggested that they were affiliated. That may be an option for those of you that would like to order online. If you're able to go to The Coffee Connection in person, you can mix and match 24 k-cups for $16.75 (about 0.70 each), which is a neat way to try some of the different varieties before ordering a whole box.

Surprisingly, a good place to order a good variety of k-cups is staples.ca. Right now until January 10th you can save 10%, so a box of 18 will cost $11.48 (about 0.64 each), but I ordered some before Christmas at 20% off, so it was closer to 0.55 each. Staples has free delivery on orders over $50 as well. The selection seems quite extensive, but a few were out of stock when I made a previous order.

Obviously, using your own grounds is the most economical way to brew a cup, but I like to have a couple of boxes of the k-cups in the cupboard for the added convenience. My alternative is Tim Hortons each morning, so even paying for the k-cups is still cheaper and quicker. And the added bonus is that at work, the company is paying for the k-cups now as well so I can just defer my morning cup until I get to work.

Coffee Connection is good, but they have probably less then half the selection the used to have even a couple months ago.

Looks like buying online is the way to go. While visiting down here in Phoenix, we were suprised to find the K-Cups were pretty similar in price. Saw $8 for 10 all the way to $12 for 18...only difference is the selection. It's nice to see the Starbucks down here, but they're $13 for 12

[metallicat]

I'm having a small issue with my Keurig. It seems that if I don't use the machine for a couple of days or something, and then make a cup of coffee, it occasionally won't make a full cup. If I run just a water cycle through with no K Cup it solves the problem, but I really shouldn't have to do that. Is there a way to fix this?

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I'm having a small issue with my Keurig. It seems that if I don't use the machine for a couple of days or something, and then make a cup of coffee, it occasionally won't make a full cup. If I run just a water cycle through with no K Cup it solves the problem, but I really shouldn't have to do that. Is there a way to fix this?

Drink more coffee?

Maybe wipe the machine down after your done. Sounds like there's something stuck in the machine. Is there extra water in the k cup when you're done?

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I'm having a small issue with my Keurig. It seems that if I don't use the machine for a couple of days or something, and then make a cup of coffee, it occasionally won't make a full cup. If I run just a water cycle through with no K Cup it solves the problem, but I really shouldn't have to do that. Is there a way to fix this?

how old is your unit? Perhaps running a descale with this?

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Torture

Just made a pot out of my new Bodum French Press. Tastes very good!

I have a Tassimo at home which is great for it's convenience when you just want one cup but it seems a little wasteful when you're having more than one.

I got a press from Santa and am totally converting. The coffee really is a lot better that way!

[IGGYRULES]

Got my Keurig beginning of December. If you do not have one and are getting one get one with quiet brew technology. Our old Tassimo was noisy as hell and this machine is so quiet. Costco has the Platinum which include 60 K-cups (most of them are garbage though IMO) for $169.99. I originally purchased that one but took it back a week later after I got a Breville stainless machine with 2 free boxes of K-cups for $159 at Futureshop.

Used the normal K-cups that it comes with and was not happy at all with the coffee. I had to have the cup size set to the smallest setting in order to get any strength out of those overpriced cups. I needed 2 K-cups to do one regular sized travel mug of coffee which would cost me about $1.20 per mug.


This is what I've come up with (which over the course of a year will save me cash). Don't bother with the pre-ground coffee, buy some quality beans and grind as you need.


Order a burr grinder from here -> Bodum Bistro Even though I preferred a black one, I ordered the orange because I'd rather the extra $20 in my jeans. Looks like not available in Orange anymore so Red is only $12 cheaper than black.

If you do not have a my K-cup get one, or alternately order these which get great reviews. -> Ekobrew I have a My K-cup but from the reviews these things get I ordered a few in place of the My K-Cup. I haven't received them yet though so I'm using the My K-Cup which works good. If I hadn't ordered the Ekobrew's I would buy a couple more My K-Cups so I don't have to clean each time I want a cup.

Get yourself some good beans. Costco has Starbucks French Roast which I find is a great dark roast. I've heard good things about the Kirkland beans (which are roasted by Starbucks for Kirkland) if you like a house blend.

After some experimenting with grind size and cup size this is what I've come up with. Set the grinder to 2 settings to the left of the Medium size grind. This gets a grind between drip and espresso which is a pretty fine grind. Grind the amount you need for how many cups you are going to make. I find 8-9 seconds grinds a little more than needed to fill the My K-Cup but makes it easier to get out of the grinder cup and into the My K-Cup. Fill the cup to almost the top and tap it on the counter several times to settle the grounds and fill any voids. Fill to about 1/4" from top and tap a few more times on the counter (you should see about 1/8" of the stainless mesh when done). Put My K-cup in Keurig and select the 10 oz setting. This gets you a decent sized cup of coffee at a good strength. If you want stronger just select a smaller cup size. If you want weaker fill the my k-cup less or choose the 12oz setting if available on your machine. Mine doesn't leak at this setting but when I was trying finer grinds it would clog up and leak.

[metallicat]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

Drink more coffee?

Maybe wipe the machine down after your done. Sounds like there's something stuck in the machine. Is there extra water in the k cup when you're done?

I don't think there's any water in the K Cup, but if I run another cycle through the same cup, I do get more coffee, albeit a very weak amount.

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

how old is your unit? Perhaps running a descale with this?

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

Yeah maybe I'll try something like that. I got it for Christmas last year.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I don't think there's any water in the K Cup, but if I run another cycle through the same cup, I do get more coffee, albeit a very weak amount.



Yeah maybe I'll try something like that. I got it for Christmas last year.

It was about a year when I had to run a descale. Although I find using a fine grind also causes the need for a descale

[IGGYRULES]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

I don't think there's any water in the K Cup, but if I run another cycle through the same cup, I do get more coffee, albeit a very weak amount.



Yeah maybe I'll try something like that. I got it for Christmas last year.

Just use vinegar. Much cheaper and should do the same job.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by IGGYRULES

Just use vinegar. Much cheaper and should do the same job.

They say it will, Keurig actually recommends it in the manual. However, I didn't have much luck with it

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by IGGYRULES

Just use vinegar. Much cheaper and should do the same job.

And won't make you vomit when it's left in the kettle after cleaning.

Worst cup of coffee ever. I should have clued in when the milk curdled instantly in the first one I poured.