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Comment by MoOmer | Hacker News Reader

For those of you still using Keurigs, French presses or drip coffee, check out the AeroPress: http://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-the-aeropress/

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So for people who "still" use Keurigs here is a product which is nothing like that, with none of the same benefits, uses up more space, and is incompatible.

This might blow people's minds but maybe a lot of people buy K-Cups even inspite of knowing about the alternatives and the relative costs/benefits of both.

Single-serving machines require near no cleaning, minimal setup, you can change drinks literally between cups, it is ready in 60 seconds, takes no space/are portable, and they remain much cheaper than Starbucks/McDonalds/Dunkin Donuts coffee (15c/cup Vs. 99c/cup or more).

As someone who has Keurigs at work, and enjoys coffee daily, I'd posted it for those of us who view the Keurig as a device to brew good coffee quickly. The AeroPress does this much better in my opinion (the flavor and quality difference is huge). To some, maybe it doesn't hit all the specific benefits they enjoy from a Keurig; to others, it's an excellent replacement.

Here are the steps to make coffee in an AeroPress:

1. Grind coffee

    - I do this in bulk with a big grinder, and have fresh grounds for the day. You could also buy previously ground coffee.

2. Put filter and grounds into AeroPress.

3. Wet the plunger.

4. Use a boiling water tap to pour over coffee.

5. Stir 10 seconds.

6. Push the plunger down, using air pressure to force the water through the grounds.

    - this should take ~30 seconds to get the optimal flavor

7. Remove cap, plunge grounds out of the squeaky clean tube (remember, we just forced an inverted rubber stopper through the containment, cleaning it pristine)

8. Rinse cap

9. Enjoy amazing, and amazingly strong, coffee/espresso

Process takes me about 30 seconds longer than Keurig.

In fairness to the parent to your post, single serving coffee machines make nearly zero mess. IF your break room hasn't got a sink and running water (your water comes from a water cooler), THEN a single serving machine is better than nothing. Even a super-automatic is going to get messy from cleaning out the grounds.

But if you do have a sink, there's no excuse.

And completely misses the point.

What matters to most people isn't that Keurig takes 60 seconds (or whatever) to make a cup of coffee, it's that it takes 60 seconds, including about 5 seconds of interaction to make a cup of coffee.

I don't use my Keurig any more, but its primary appeal was I could drop in a K-Cup, push start and walk away and then come back later to drink it.

If only I had specified the exact subset of users that would benefit most from reading my recommendation, then that might have allayed your concerns. Certainly, if it's not for you, then it's not for you.

It's a good recommendation. But perhaps the biggest leap in coffee quality can be achieved by switching to fresh roasted (<2 weeks old) whole bean coffee ground just before brewing with a cheap burr grinder. That will produce the best results with an AeroPress or any other brewing method.

The advantage of K-Cups is a consistently-good cup of coffee. If you like to experiment and become a brew-master, that's cool. But everybody else gets better coffee with K-Cups.

This is the automatic transmission defense. Some people don't know any better, or are too lazy/scared/inept to learn anything else. Others just enjoy putting it in Drive, and hitting the gas.

It's all about priorities.

Yeah its all about being lazy and scared, sure. Lets just put some loaded words behind it, to mask a total lack of anything interesting to say.

Folks do what they do because its good enough, and convenient. Which is a matter of taste, which I think might have been your actual point?

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