I'm liking the back and fourth here. Everyone is at their own level in terms of tastes, experience and preference when it comes to coffee and just about anything. Some people see it as a quick fix in the morning to start the day, for others it's a lifestyle. To each their own, but I find it tough to have a Keurig when there's so much great coffee to be had out there.

CrucialCoffee wrote:I'm liking the back and fourth here. Everyone is at their own level in terms of tastes, experience and preference when it comes to coffee and just about anything.

These debates always remind me of an old Jewish joke. There are 613 commandments that devout Jews are supposed to observe. As students learn and observe more and more of the laws they are said to be climbing a ladder, one step for each law. The joke is that, whatever step they are on, they look down and yell "hypocrites!" and look up and yell "fanatics!"

The ladder joke both funny and apt in this context. The point to remember about Keurigs and such is that for the majority of Americans who are trying one, it is probably a step up from what they were drinking before. That was certainly true for my dad, who was drinking Folgers before he got the Keurig. Now he has a Bonavita brewer and he grinds on demand for each batch that he brews. In his case, the Keurig was a gateway drug!

sweaner wrote:Andre, the Keurig K-Cups certainly do not have instant coffee in them. There have been a couple of knock-off cups that have.

Actually, the coffee made with a Keurig is probably better than 90% of coffee made overall. Not like we make, but still pretty good.

Probably true, I was just going by the ones I've tasted at a friend's house who has a machine. It's probably never been cleaned, and the coffee that I bring to make in it always turns out thin and disappointing, no matter when I "cut the shot."

As mentioned, we all have a different idea of what's "good." To me, I would compare "good" to using the exact same coffee with a normal pour-over paper filter method. Since the cost is basically nothing, and the effort required is the same or even less. Cleaning out the Keurig refillable basket is kind of a pain. In the end, maybe I'm a coffee snob, but I think to say to people that the Keurig is capable of "good" coffee would be misleading. Pour-over, french press, Turkish, vac-pot, aeropress...nearly anything else would be better for less cost and similar or less effort.

I am discounting the Keurig pods here, I know that's why most people buy the machine, but I would assume the attempt at good coffee on a Keurig wouldn't be going with the pods.