By Kevin Meyer
Now that I can reliably see again, I have something of a pent-up list of topics I'd like to write on. But it's the weekend, so let's start with something a bit more fun – and perhaps closer to home.
So how many of you have already run down to the nearest Starbucks to get your coffee? Or how many cranked up the Keurig or (gasp!) made a full pot at home? For those of you that made a pot, how much will be left in the pot in a couple hours? Come on, admit it – you end up dumping out most of the pot. Think about that.
Apparently many consumers are, which is why those single serving machines are all the rage. I know I made the switch from the morning Starbucks stop to a Keurig about two years ago. Paid for itself in less than three months. I had previously switched from the traditional pot to the Starbucks run simply because I was the only coffee drinker in the house, and dumping a several scoops of ground coffee into the basket to make a pot for just little ole me didn't make sense.
Wasting coffee didn't make sense, paying a fat markup to Starbucks didn't make sense, but paying a little extra for a single use K-Cup did. Waste reduction, and value from many perspectives besides just price.
Which is how the article describes it as well.
Having already replaced the office coffee pot, single-cup coffee systems now
want to conquer households. Already, 24% of U.S. homes are equipped with
a single-cup coffee machine, making it second only to standard drip
makers in terms of household penetration, according to market research
firm Mintel.
The rise of single-cup brewing begs shoppers to do the math. Using
one of the new single-cup machines to brew a serving of regular coffee
costs anywhere from 55 cents to 80 cents, depending on the machine and
the coffee. That compares with $1.65 or more for a "tall" coffee at a
Starbucks shop.
Yep, that was the three month payback for one-cup-a-day me.
By far, the most cost-effective option remains to brew a whole pot of
coffee at home using a traditional method, at a cost of anywhere from a
dime to a quarter per serving. But that assumes you drink the whole
pot. The more-common scenario, as any coffee lover knows, is to brew a
pot of coffee but only drink one or two cups, significantly raising the
per-serving cost.
The real-world realization of that common misperception of mass production. Waste happens, if not tied directly to demand. Whether it's extra coffee in the pot, or cars sitting on a sales lot.
One indisputable advantage of single-cup brewers is that they are fast.
At dinner parties they can efficiently accommodate the varying demands
of a crowd. Many hosts find the machine provides a welcome post-dinner
activity, as guests select and concoct their own drinks before dessert
is served.
Velocity of flow. Quick changeover leading to mass customization. Increased value – through time and price and desire matched to demand – to the customer.
Lean right in front of you in the kitchen.
Panu says
Uhm, it is not possible, you know, just to put less water and coffee into the machine and make less than full pot? I don’t know about you, but is possible here at old continent.
That being said, I do like the simplicity of these one cup machines. There has been huge push marketing wise during the last year or so. What I don’t like is the added landfill waste they produce in all the packaging.
Daniel Markovitz says
One issue I have is the waste of the plastic/paper coffee capsule. That ends up in the landfill — so you pay for it twice: once when you buy it, and once when you factor in the environmental cost. A french press, or some other form of drip coffee that allows you to make only one or two cups is cheaper and less environmentally burdensome.
Of course, if you could come up with a reusable K-cup capsule, you’d have the best of both worlds….
Roy Waterhouse says
I couldn’t get away from the Starbucks flavor so I went to the french press and make what I want to drink. Always enjoy your posts.
Mark Graban says
You can reduce the Keurig cost even more by grinding a small amount of your own beans to put in a reusable k-cup. But, I often go for the convenience of the pre-made (but plastic waste generating) k-cup at home.
Kevin says
I’ve been justifying the trash aspect of the K-cup by saying it’s less plastic than a Starbucks lid, let alone cup and lid. But I am considering the reusable K-Cup which I just saw at Bed Bath & Beyond.
Jayadeep Purushothaman says
BTW, coffee plantations are also a very natural ones which doesn’t disrupt nature like tea plantations. The shade coffee plantations mimic the forests and are a source of a variety of natural plants, birds and fauna.
Mark Graban says
A Starbucks lid is recyclable, unlike the k-cup pod.
Bill Waddell says
I’m with Mark. The reusable k-cup is environmentally wiser but laziness gets ahold of me and it is just too easy to plug in a regular k-cup and push the button.
Good post Kevin – glad to have you back!
Steve H says
Wait. I just put less coffee and water in my machine every morning. Maybe the coffee isn’t as nice – I never noticed. But it seems to be the best of both worlds….
Paul Todd says
I’m happy that various people get their coffee in ways that suit them, but please don’t cloud the issue by implying that a drip coffee maker is some sort of batch-production monument. As Panu pointed out in the first comment, you can make as much or as little as required by using the nice visual controls on the side of the pot.
What is more lean than modifying your process while using a piece of equipment you already own? Enjoy your coffee, but don’t kid yourself.
Kevin says
Some of you must have had a different kind of drip coffee maker than I did. Although I could put less water in, I still had to put almost the same amount of grounds in in order to fill the basket deep enough so that hot water didn’t go through the filter without touching grounds. I might have been able to use less of one input, but not of the other.
Tom says
I like your relating coffee making to lean, but I have to smile at you Americans slowly discovering one-cup coffee brewing. Since I am Italian it seems to me as reinventing the wheel. When I was a student at Kansas University in the early 1960’s, desperate with having to drink what, for me, was a lousy watered down coffee, I received a present from my father: an electric coffee-brewing espresso machine that would make me two cups (italian size) of coffee just as I woke up in the morning. Of course in those days I couldn’t purchase the right coffee, but I solved that by asking an aunt of mine that lived in Toronto to send me every month a big can of italian style toasted coffee (she toasted it herself). I also remember that my American roommate would not even taste it! I am glad that after 50 years you are finally changing your habits for the best. By the way, it was very lean – no waste at all!
Tony says
Come on, the way to go for coffee lovers is the super-automaticos. We have one at work; it grinds the coffee beans (or you can use pre-ground), and pressure brews a cup with 1 ox – 16 oz of water.
So you can use easily use any kind of bean you want (we buy the big bags from Costco), and it doesn’t have the high price or waste of the pod systems.
Ike says
Our coffee maker at home can handle up to 10 cups in just a few minutes. And we tend to discuss how many cups is suitable for each occation.
So I can adjust the quantity of water and ground coffee and I always need one filter bag. But it seems to me that I have an overcapasity of 8 to 9 cups most of the time. Not excatly right sized equipment!
And yes, we tend to miscalculate the actual amount needed and some of it goes to waste. And no, my wife won’t let me buy that fancy one-at-a-time special coffee maker that I have always wanted. Amazingly, she doesn’t give a hoot about my ramblings of the Toyota Way of coffee making.
Mike W. says
Fun article. One of my favorite subjects, actually.
I have to say that I can easily down a pot of coffee. Trying not to nowadays. I like the Keurig, and the single serving reusable cup thing works, but is a PITA to clean out – that affects your lean production, too.
The Keurig waste factor is a large factor, IMHO. Not okay to me.
I second the French press idea. It produces some of the richest, best-tasting coffee, as long as you let it steep for a few minutes. Fairly easy to clean.
Wastes a heckuva lot less, too!
Martin B says
I dropped my French press and broke it. So now I put a scoop of coffee in a mug, add not-quite-boiling water, and leave to draw for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour carefully into a second mug once the grounds have settled, and you have a fine cup of coffee, no plastic garbage on the landfill, and the grounds can go on the compost heap.
Bart says
Wow! That’s a lot of reactions about coffee. And now, Starbucks has their own single cup machine for the home – the Verismo (sp?). I brew pots at home on the weekends and drink all of it. I also use the Starbucks gold cash card (buy 12, get one free). That way I can budget the one hobby/vice/NOT-CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT-WORK-RELATED part of my life to $10/month. When the money runs out, I drink the free stuff at work. Quality is worth the money to this customer, when he has to spend it.
Brian says
My wife cold brews a batch of coffee concentrate and then can add it to hot water to make a nice cup of coffee every morning. Uses the entire bag of coffee beans and the concentrate can store in the refrigerator for some time before losing flavor. She can also increase or decrease the strength by adding more or less water.
Mark Graban says
The Keurig coffee making experience is certainly not error proofed, as I learned the other day:
http://www.leanblog.org/2012/12/my-human-error-with-my-keurig/
T-Rex says
French presses come in different sizes, are low tech, and make great coffee. When I make coffee for myself, that’s what I use.
The Chemex Drip Device is another low tech coffee maker that I intend to try out some day soon. It gets great reviews over at coffeegeek.com.
Pitting single cup makers against drip machines seems like a matchup of second or even third string competitors. :-)