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Comment by pastor_elm | Hacker News Reader

The k-cup is genius. There are 5 people over your house. They can all make a cup of coffee whenever they want. They want more? Just make another cup. They can do it themselves!

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This is why I also have an automatic orange juicer, a soda fountain, and whole vending machine at my house--God I hate getting beverages for my guests.

...not sure if joking. Maybe I shouldn't watch Silicon Valley right before jumping on HN...

> a soda fountain,

I get the joke, but I legitimately think home soda fountains are a great idea. Shipping Cans/Bottles around is wasteful (in weight and in packaging). If commercial ones weren't thousands of dollars, but just a couple hundred, I'd probably buy one.

Something like a Sodastream, but by a different company with real soda in it, would be great.

This is so lazy -- coffee is so easy to make, why add the trash?

Whoosh

I used to have a Keurig but instead had a refillable filter - instead of pods I just filled the filter with whatever coffee I wanted. Still super convenient, easy for just one cup of coffee, no waste.

I've had issues with several of the reusable cups. Metals ones would let some particulate through, the paper ones would end up tearing.

Plus my experience when I owned a Kurig was not pleasant at the end, with exploding K-Cups.

I've used a plastic one for probably 2 or 3 years now. Came in a pack of two for about $20. Keurig even makes their own now, so it would likely work quite well.

My Keurig even came with the re-fillable cup. But only the 8-ounce size. I had to order the carafe size from a third-party on Amazon.

Espresso is IMHO not so convenient to make. You need to prepare every portion separately, filling the filter holder correctly each time etc. This is why I personally switched from a traditional espresso machine to capsules. I still make basic filtered coffee with a normal coffee maker though.

I have a Gaggia Brera Super Automatic which has a bean hopper and grinds the beans fresh for each shot. All you have to do is turn it on and press a button. Every few days you just add more beans, refill the water reservoir and dump out the grounds collection unit. I paid $400 for it 3 years ago and the only maintenance it requires is running decalcifier through it every few months. If you're a regular coffee drinker, I'd say it's a worthwhile investment.

Yes but Keurig isn't really espresso, it is similar to traditional brewed coffee just with some alternative flavor choices.

I guess Keurig is different from the espresso capsule machines. My machine is a locally licensed K-Fee compatible device and there are both brewed coffee and espresso capsules available. The brewed coffee capsules have some kind of mechanism that prevents the usual espresso crema from forming (I suppose by depressurising the water flow).

A stovetop espresso machine takes maybe 30 seconds of active work

My mother has MS, and K-cups provide real value to her.

Even ignoring disabled people, the difference between easy and very easy is a huge gulf.

This reads like a snl skit, where they keep repeating "they did it themselves". Next scene, alien archeologists: "huh, each human in the house apparently caused this 10000-year-before-degrading-polymer to be produced for deadpans and looks at the camera a beverage!" Another team: "Ooooooh we found a lot of those in giant sea creatures carcasses!" Together: "They did it themselves!"

If only we had a way to make coffee for 5 people at a time and keep it warm...

Genius would be finding a way to do it without the environmental waste.

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