[Bump] Let's talk about coffee machines

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Can anyone find anything better than $99.99 for a Keurig

Costco for $89. I assume for $99 you're looking at the single serving maker?

[photon]

Black Friday this weekend so keep an eye out for the usual suspects:

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/black...y-canada-f116/

[DownhillGoat]

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/...aa32066b6een02

[iggy_oi]

Can anyone explain the difference(if any) between the tassimo and kuerig machines?

I don't drink coffee but am looking to pick one up for when friends and family come over.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Can anyone explain the difference(if any) between the tassimo and kuerig machines?

I don't drink coffee but am looking to pick one up for when friends and family come over.

I like to associate their quality with the names of the machines.

For example:

Tassimo. Sounds Italian and kind of fancy. You might get more bells and whistles but you might pay a little more.

Kuerig. Swift German efficency. Plastic coffee thing goes in, hot coffee comes out. Serves it's purpose.

[iggy_oi]

Thanks for the help Cecil.

Do you know if both machines have a similar selection of types of coffee? Do they make tea aswell?

[PsnaP]

I cant speak for the kuerig as we own a tassimo, but they do have tea discs. I think the Keurig has a bigger selection of coffees, also an empty cup to put your own grounds in. Tassimo doesnt have that.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by PsnaP

I cant speak for the kuerig as we own a tassimo, but they do have tea discs. I think the Keurig has a bigger selection of coffees, also an empty cup to put your own grounds in. Tassimo doesnt have that.

Nail on the head.

Biggest difference I have noticed is that the Kuerig coffee selection is HUGE and recently adding Starbucks should only improve that. I have about 8 K-cups that I think are fantastic and everyone who visits pounds through them. The flavored coffee is great.

We have the Tassimo at work and all I ever had was cappuccino's and it did them fantastic, however the coffee is far from being on the same level IMO.

[stevinder]

Picked up a Bosch Tassimo T20 at Walmart a few weeks back for $78 as my Xmas present to myself. I don't drink enough coffee to justify a regular coffee maker and I've been waiting for the price to drop below $100 for years. I'm not a coffee snob, so any type suits me fine. The Suchard hot chocolate was a disappointment though; way too watery.

[taco.vidal]

Keurig's patents expire in September 2012. That means that anyone will be able to manufacture and sell K-cup type coffee things that will work in your Keurig machine. That means you will be able to find cheaper units that work in your machine. It might not be starbucks but you could still expect high quality coffee made in your Keurig machine for much much cheaper than you are paying today.

The margins on k-cups are insane today. Just under a year to wait for patent expiry...

[Ashartus]

Keurig has the biggest selection of "regular" coffee and brews it really well, but doesn't really do lattes, cappuccinos, etc. (aside from a chai latte that is hard to find but surprisingly decent). Tassimo has a smaller selection of coffee and in my experience it isn't as good, but it can do the lattes etc. So it depends on whether you want it for coffee or fancy drinks.

As an aside, singlecup.ca is now selling Keurig k-cups again.

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.

[bomba]

I just picked up this product by Hamilton Beach called "The Scoop". Its a single serve coffee maker but uses ground coffee beans! So far it is awesome. I much prefer it to those kcup machines because the cups seem expensive and they don't have the coffee I like. This thing is the ideal machine for what I'm looking for so I thought I would share it in the event someone else is looking for something similar.

http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/product...ker-49981.html

Highly recommended!!

Bought it at London Drugs for $69.

[Ducay]

Ugh, reading all this talk of K-cups and Tassimos has forced me to brew a late night french press coffee in order to get back in good standing with the coffee snob gods.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Ugh, reading all this talk of K-cups and Tassimos has forced me to brew a late night french press coffee in order to get back in good standing with the coffee snob gods.

LOL. Nice post. +1

[CKPThunder]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Nail on the head.

Biggest difference I have noticed is that the Kuerig coffee selection is HUGE and recently adding Starbucks should only improve that. I have about 8 K-cups that I think are fantastic and everyone who visits pounds through them. The flavored coffee is great.

We have the Tassimo at work and all I ever had was cappuccino's and it did them fantastic, however the coffee is far from being on the same level IMO.

Are you able to get Starbucks k-cups in Canada? If so, where can one purchase them?

[Morozee]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Nail on the head.

Biggest difference I have noticed is that the Kuerig coffee selection is HUGE and recently adding Starbucks should only improve that. I have about 8 K-cups that I think are fantastic and everyone who visits pounds through them. The flavored coffee is great.

We have the Tassimo at work and all I ever had was cappuccino's and it did them fantastic, however the coffee is far from being on the same level IMO.

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?

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by bomba

I just picked up this product by Hamilton Beach called "The Scoop". Its a single serve coffee maker but uses ground coffee beans! So far it is awesome. I much prefer it to those kcup machines because the cups seem expensive and they don't have the coffee I like. This thing is the ideal machine for what I'm looking for so I thought I would share it in the event someone else is looking for something similar.

http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/product...ker-49981.html

Highly recommended!!

Bought it at London Drugs for $69.

So... what's different about this than other coffee makers? Can't you just measure out the same amount anyways?

I usually have a filter in my coffee maker so I don't have to clean anything out. I just scoop my coffee into the filter, add water and voila!

[Hoj]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

Let's talk grinders for a moment. Is the difference between a regular blade grinder and burr grinder as significant as coffee-heads would have you believe? Let's say I have zero desire to replace my good quality, routinely cleaned and maintained drip coffee maker, but I'm currently using a blade based grinder to supply the coffee. Would switching to a burr grinder make a sit-up-and-notice difference?

Would the difference between blade and burr be as significant as going from pre-ground coffee to freshly ground?

Blade vs. Burr is a huge difference. What you are looking for in a grinder is how EVEN the grinder can grind the coffee at a specific setting. So essentially, you want the particle distribution of grinds as much centred at your desired setting as you can. If you look at the distribution of coffee ground particle sizes for a blade grinder, they are all over the map. From super super fine to super super coarse. There's no way around it. Burr grinders on the other hand (while there is differences in burr quality) are much much more even. Plus, you can easily adjust your grind by adjusting the spaces between the burr which allows you to more "dial in" your coffee.

Why does 'evenness' matter? You want even extraction during your coffee brewing. Even surface area of coffee grinds to water. When you have a blade grinder with the huge dispersion of particle sizes, you will have your super fine grinds finish extracting (or brewing) and then start to over-extract and become bitter, while your larger particle sizes are under-extracted and need more time to brew. Thus your resultant cup may be bitter, yet weak or tasteless at the same time.

Grinding fresh is a must too. And coffee quality and roast. Hard to separate all those and say which is a priority. I mean, you could put crap coffee in the best grinder, grind fresh and still have crap coffee come out. But you can also destroy incredible coffee by pre-grinding or using a blade grinder.

Hope that helps!

[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?