Perfect Pod Holster

If you have a Keurig K-Cup brewer, there are a couple of reasons why you might want to try an alternative to using box after box of K-Cups.

First, the K-Cup is probably the least environmentally-friendly way to make a cup of coffee. K-Cups are not recyclable and make up quite a mountain of plastic to cart off to the landfill.

Second, making coffee with K-Cups is more expensive than using loose coffee in a drip brewer or French press.

So why do we love the Keurig brewers so much? Because they work so well and provide us with a very convenient and mess-free way to make one cup of coffee at a time.

There are a couple of ways to cut back both on the waste and the price.

You can use the My K-Cup reusable coffee filter, which we have written about before. It’s a great alternative to using K-Cups, but does involve a little clean-up after use.

The Perfect Pod Holster also enables you to use your Keurig brewer without buying boxes of K-Cups, but is also a low-mess alternative.

What you do is add a coffee pod to the pod holster. (Coffee pods are like plump tea bags and are used ordinarily in coffee pod brewers like the Senseo SL7810/65.) The coffee pod holster itself is the same size as a regular K-Cup. You simply unscrew the lid, drop in a bunched up coffee pod, replace the lid and then place the pod holster in the brewer.

The advantage here is that once you have brewed your coffee, there are no loose coffee grinds to deal with. You simply unscrew the lid and shake the wet coffee pod into the garbage…or into your compost pile.

You can get the Perfect Pod Holster through Amazon.com…

A box of 50 Keurig K-Cups.

Up here in Montreal, Canada, I usually pay $15.75 for a box of 24 K-Cups. That comes to about 67 cents per cup of coffee brewed.

But just this morning I was doing some shopping at Costco and found boxes of 50 K-Cups selling for just $24.95. That reduces the price per cup brewed to just 50 cents. Quite a saving.

That said, this is the first time I have come across this kind of pricing. But if you have a Costco or similar warehouse store close by, it may well be worth checking them out.

The Costco near us has always sold plenty of coffee, but the K-Cups didn’t appear until they decided to stock the Keurig B60 brewer. The B60 isn’t the latest in the Keurig line, nor does it have the most bells and whistles. But it seems to be the model most often stocked by offline retailers.

Good luck with the hunt for K-Cups in boxes of 50. If you find them any place other than Costco, leave a comment and let us know.

Keurig K-Cup Brewers

A year ago it was a tough call as to which of the one cup coffee formats would come out on top.

Now the picture is a little clearer. Keurig’s K-Cup coffee makers are flying off the shelves.

This isn’t just a story of success for Keurig. The coffee pod format took a big blow in April when the Senseo line-up of brewers was withdrawn due to some safety concerns. I wrote about this in an earlier post.

Senseo was leading the charge for the coffee pod format and plenty of other manufacturers were happily creating their own pod brewers. And a ton of roasters were offering their coffees in the pod format. With Senseo out on the sidelines, at least for now, a lot of the momentum for coffee pod brewers has been lost.

So how about the other proprietary one cup coffee formats, like the Tassimo with its T-Discs, the Nespresso with its coffee Capsules, and others?

These formats and brewers are fine, but they lose out to the Keurig brewers in some important ways.

First, they don’t offer as broad a range of different coffees.

Second, they don’t have an equivalent of Keurig’s My K-Cup, which allows you to use your own, loose coffee with the Keurig brewers.

Third, the brewers, and the T-Discs and capsules cost more.

Fourth, the Keurig brewers are better built. They are totally solid compared to the flimsy feel of the Tassimo brewers in particular. (That said, the Nespresso brewers are very nicely made, but you have to pay a lot more for them.)

Keurig has achieved excellent penetration with some outstanding brewers and coffees. Even when Senseo comes back, it may be too late for the coffee pod format to catch up.

Keurig brewer reviews:

The Keurig B60

The Keurig B70

The Keurig B40

The Keurig B30

The Breville BKC600XL

Fair Trade Autumn Harvest Blend K-Cups

I’m not a big fan of how retailers herald the change of seasons. Just yesterday I was in a hardware store and found the lawnmowers gone, and replaced by snow blowers. Ouch.

But it is good to see some new K-cup coffees appearing. That’s one of the nice things about the K-Cup format – there are always new choices. And, of course, if you are a big fan of one K-Cup coffee, that doesn’t mean others in your home need to like it as well. You can all choose your own favorites and enjoy them one cup at a time.

The Fair Trade Autumn Harvest Blend from Green Mountain Coffee isn’t a flavored coffee, it’s a blend of coffees and roasts designed to give you that warm, comfy feeling as the cold weather approaches. Crisp, clear and smoky, it makes a delightful brew.

Fair Trade Autumn Harvest Blend is also made with Fair Trade coffee beans, so with every purchase you’ll be supporting the small farmers who grow the beans.

Get it here: Fair Trade Autumn Harvest Blend