Tech Blog

[#1]

It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom,
it was the age of foolishness...

...and with that I'll end my Dickensian plagiarism and get on with it, my experience with two single cup coffee makers and the coffee they produce. And I'll write this post consuming one of my two favourite beverages, a piping hot cup of coffee

The experience I'm documenting here concerns a Keurig K-cup single server brewer (similar to this one) and a Bosch Tassimo TAS4511/13 coffee maker (the only difference between the Bosch unit I tested and the linked one (the TAS4513) is the colour; the 13 is red).

What this post isn't

• It's not a detailed review -- I'll leave that to the experts in the coffee forums and sites, there are many of them out there
• It's not a point by point comparision -- there are two many differences between the units, and their coffee making process.
• A recommendation -- Everyone has their own reasons for a particular type of coffee maker or process. I will outline my reasons for wanting a single serve coffee maker, but yours may differ.

The Bosch Tassimo unit

A Keurig K-Cup unit

On with the post, this is it
My morning routine used to include grinding beans and making coffee with a french press. Granted, the coffee was good, but it ended up taking way too much time, and made more coffee than I needed so I ended up hauling the extra to work in a thermos. And I was late -- good coffee takes time, so I thought.

And my wife enjoys different coffee flavours than I do, so this process really didn't work for us. The single cup coffee maker was the solution for us because:

• Brew one cup at a time
• Change coffee types, roasts, flavours for each cup
• Much faster per cup than Drip, French Press, Perk, etc

The experience is brewing
Over the last month or so, I've been able to compare both units during the course of the day. Often I'd make a cup on one, then switch to the other, depending on what type of coffee I'd wanted, and that leads me to the first point of discussion.

The brew process
In single cup brewing, you buy your coffee in packets, sometimes called cups, discs or pouches. Each packet contains the ingredients to make one drink (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, latte, etc).

The K-Cup process works like this (via Wikipedia):

K-Cup portion packs are used with Keurig single cup brewing systems to brew a cup of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Each K-Cup is a plastic container with a coffee filter inside. Ground coffee beans are packed in the K-Cup and sealed air-tight with a combination plastic and foil lid. When the K-Cup is placed in a Keurig brewer, the brewer punctures the foil lid and the bottom of the K-Cup and forces hot water under pressure through the K-Cup and into a mug.

And the Tassimo process works like this (also, via Wikipedia):

The system utilizes proprietary beverage pods called Tassimo discs (T-Discs), which are produced and distributed by Kraft. Each has a bar code printed on its label. Once inserted, the Tassimo machine reads the bar code to calculate the amount of water, brewing time, and temperature for the specific beverage. The brewing process takes between 30-60 seconds. Discs containing milk use UHT milk, not powdered milk.

Of the two processes, the K-cup is the simpler and more familiar to most coffee drinkers: hot water is passed through ground beans suspended in a paper-like filter and hot coffee comes out into the cup.

Press the handle down and two needles puncture the K-Cup for you so that there is no need to handle any coffee grounds or coffee filters. Then just select your brew size and hit the brew button and the Keurig brewing system instantly forces the pre-heated water through the K-Cup and into your mug.

The Tassimo process is quite simple from a users perspective, but much more complex technically:

When you insert the T DISC, the machine reads the bar code printed on the label. It automatically calculates the amount of water needed, brewing time, and temperature to prepare the perfect beverage.

All the brewing happens inside the T DISC using a unique inverse flow. Your beverage pours directly from T DISC into the cup so you can prepare different drinks, one after the other.

Pros
Of the two, the Keurig makes a faster cup of coffee. And speed doesn't really impact the flavour of the coffee produced either. In my experimentation with the two, premium brand name Columbian coffee brewed by both units taste quite good -- I couldn't say one was better than the other. Yet the Tassimo unit did take about 30 seconds longer to complete delivering coffee into the cup.

The Tassimo takes the award for diversity though. By *sequencing* T-Discs, you can create Cappuccino, and Latte drinks (first the coffee disc, then the milk disc). Or use a Chai Tea disc followed by a Latte disc and you've got a great cup of Chai Tea Latte -- surprisingly good!

Cons
The big one for me is the amount of waste produced by single cup coffee systems. Since each cup is pre-packaged, and not reusable, you basically discard some of the brewing apparatus every time you make a cup of coffee.

All is not lost though, Tassimo's FAQ discusses T-Disc recycling:

The used T DISC is suitable for energy recovery through incineration. In locations where plastic collection systems exist, you can cut away the label, rinse the remaining coffee grounds, tea leaves or milk from the chamber and deposit the chamber and label with general plastics (non PET).

And though the K-cup system isn't really recyclable you can remove the foil lid, empty the grounds, and remove the paper filter from the plastic 'cup -- perhaps some of that is recyclable, or should be?

As well, there is a reusable K-cup insert, the My K-Cup, that's perfect for loading your own gourmet coffee or tea. Similar to a mini basket brewing system, except it handles the pressurized hot water and works with a standard K-cup brewing system.

Enough tech, what about the flavour?
Not surprisingly, both make very good coffee. Coffee packets are available from a variety of coffee brand names (Starbucks, Nabob, Van Houte, Timothy's, Green Mountain, etc).

As mentioned above, the Tassimo is really good at making different types of coffee by sequencing the discs.

But in my experience, for that early morning coffee you need as you rush out the door to catch the bus or drive to work, either quickly produces a great first-coffee-of-the-day. And that's what it's all about.

Message Edited by bgrier on 12-15-2009 11:47 PM

[#2]

I just can't get past the environmental impact of the plastic non-resuable containers... the gold filter one isn't too bad I guess, but I think I have to sacrifice convenience for lower environmental impact, and hope the vendors will develop more environmentally friendly alternatives. The Tassimo process makes the brewing easy, but makes being environmentally conscious difficult... and describing something that can't be recycled as "suitable for energy recovery through incineration" is marketing double-talk of the tallest order. Know what else can be disposed of by incineration? PCBs.

[#3]

@lorax1284, that's my biggest gripe with this type of technology too. Using the 'my K-Cup' device, you do lose a bit of the convenience -- for a fresh cup you have to grind and pack the filter basket for each cup you want -- but you eliminate the waste.

I've read somewhere online, I can't find the link now, that the T-discs were being accepted at a recycling facillity, but I agree -- a reusable Tassimo solution would be much better than discarding the discs after a single use.