I need to start this post by telling you that for several years my personal opinion of single-serve coffee makers has been that they are frivolous, non-essential kitchen gadgets. I would see a giveaway for one online and think, “what a waste…especially for a large family.”
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So, when my in-laws bought us one (a Keurig, as you can see from the photo) for Christmas, I was thankful, but really not sure I wanted to give up counter space for a “toy.”
Now, don’t get me wrong, I like coffee…a lot. In fact, my coffee and creamer is one of the few things I haven’t been willing to give up for Trim Healthy Mama. But one cup at a time? Just make a whole pot! My philosophy has been whoever gets to the coffee maker first, has the right to choose the coffee that gets brewed. Deal with it. But, I have to admit when Ty gets there first and makes that nasty chicory stuff, I’m sorry I’ve held to such a philosophy.
But, is that really a good reason to own a single-serve?
And what about the price of those single serve cups (K cups as Keurig calls them)? My husband really likes his Caribou Coffee – something we can’t get where we currently live – but is it worth it to buy the K cups? No, not really…but it sure is fun! However, that said, we’ve found a way around this by using reusable cups…more on that in a moment!
My 10 year old daughter prefers tea over coffee. She likes fruity blends like Grandma’s Garden. Several others in the family have started drinking tea as well – some loose leaf, some tea bags. Oh, and don’t forget the hot cocoa drinkers.
After mulling this all over, I decided to embrace this whole single-serve thing. It didn’t take my husband nearly that long to decide it was pretty awesome. Guys like gadgets. 😉
Now that we’ve had the Keurig for several weeks, I must say my poor coffee pot NEVER gets used. Having a single-serve coffee maker has made it where everyone can have exactly what they want, and switch it up as often as they’d like. I also don’t have to worry about a scalding hot tea pot on the stove or a wasted pot of coffee because it took too long to brew or we just plum forgot about it.
Let me give you an idea of how we’ve made it work…
For the tea bags and hot cocoa, the children simply push the button and run hot water through the machine. This is also how we brew our iced tea. Drop the bags (or powder) into the hot water and steep.
We do have some K cups, but we also purchased a reusable one (I want to get another one and keep our tea and coffee separate which is why I’m recommending this 2 pack). Having a reusable cup means you can use ANY coffee or loose leaf tea. We can often get 2 brewings out of each round as well, saving even more.
One quick note for you tea lovers…the Keurig doesn’t boil the water, so it doesn’t hurt the tea. We brew the tea and then let the cup sit for a bit to “steep”. It’s not a “perfect” cup of tea, but it’s pretty good.
We do have a K cup holder, but I wouldn’t recommend the one we have. The two shown below would be much better than what we have because they hold more, are more compact, and the cups are less apt to fall out all over the place.
Other Resources: (some just for fun!)
*How to Clean Your Keurig
*The History of Coffee from International Coffee Organization
*Coffee Unit Study
*How to Make Your Own Loose Leaf Tea
Josi says
I can’t even tell you how overdue we are for a new coffee pot! I wonder if this single serve style would help my husband drink less? He is the only coffee drinker in our house…..and yes, I live in the land of Starbucks and don’t drink it. People here look at me like I have two heads when I tell them I don’t drink coffee!!
Amy says
Josi – I have a friend who says coffee is for old people – I guess I’m an old people! I definitely don’t down a pot like I once did, so it might help. But, I’m not going to guarantee it. 😉
Jillian says
My husband is the only coffee drinker here ( I hate it but LOVE coffee ice cream 🙂 ) so when they first came out with this, it just made perfect sense to get it. Plus, you can’t beat how fast it brews it. Perfect for when you’re running late. 😉
Amy says
Yes, Ty loves that it brews so fast. We didn’t want a Bunn where it had to be on all the time, so this made way better sense. (and I DO NOT like coffee ice cream…weird, huh? lol)
Erynne says
We bought reusable caps to put on our used kcups. Basically you tear the foil off your kcup and rinse out the old coffee grounds. There is a very durable filter left behind. Fill it up with your favorite coffee and put on the “my-cap”. Line up the hole in the bottom of the kcup with the pin inside your machine. You can reuse one kcup container for about 2 weeks! You do not throw away the “my-cap” lids. We have had ours for years and bought them from http://www.my-cap.com. We usually buy bagged coffee from the store but when we do buy a box of a favorite kcup flavor we save the cups to reuse. Keurig is totally worth the counter space!
Amy says
Oh wow! I had no idea! Going to share this with my husband!
rebecca says
We got a keurig too about a year ago. (Got it for free- someone was getting rid of it- so I descaled it and it works awesome!)
perfect since I’m a tea drinker and my husband drinks coffee.
We’re too cheap to buy the k-cups 😛 – we also have a reusable filter that can be filled with coffee grounds. And I put my tea bags right in the keurig- works great!
AND for those instant oatmeal packet mornings- the kids can use it too.
I even used it for baking/making jello, etc.- just stick the measuring cup under for hot water.
I would never have purchased one either- I thought it was another “gadget” too. But who would have known how useful it is!
PLUS we use the sprayer end on the faucet to refill- just pull out the sprayer hose and no need to remove the water tank 🙂
Erynne says
I also fill mine with the sprayer. It is fun to do, lol!
Amy says
I’ll need to move my Keurig a little closer to the sink I think!
Amy says
So, you just put the tea bag right in the K cup place and brew? Never even thought of just doing that. Awesome! Another thing to tell Ty!
rebecca says
Yes I do- I usually use a teabag twice that way as well…
CabotMama says
So fun to hear your thoughts!!! We too thought a Keurig was a frivolous gadget! My dad gave us one for Christmas three years ago. The first “stainless steel” appliance in our kitchen. We reluctantly replaced our old coffee maker with it, but we carefully packed said coffee maker & stored, just in case we needed to go back. After all, we always set up the coffee the night before with the timer & we both drank our two cups within thirty minutes – the perfect old fashioned coffee maker people. 🙂 At first, the K-cup coffee cost was outrageous for our budget. However, every time we saw my dad (once every couple of months) he would show up with cases of Donut Shop coffee. He had signed on to subscribe and save with Amazon back when they offered over 15% discount on the coffee. Over time, we grew accustomed to the K-cups. We bought the refillable cups, but found them cumbersome when in a hurry to get out the door. My husband only uses the refillable cups now to brew his after-dinner cup of coffee. We have found the San Francisco coffee k-pods to be more economical. We order them thru Amazon (we have Prime & avoid shipping). They are not in traditional cups but mesh bags, so we store them in a sealable canister next to the Keurig. We buy regular “fancy” K-cups when on sale and only use for company.
We have four children, ages nine and under. They love to drink hot herbal tea – and even the five year old can brew her own cup! Place the tea bag in the cup, place under the Keurig, make sure there isn’t an old coffee K-cup in the holder, and press brew! 🙂 They love the independence. We do the same trick with hot chocolate.
Amy says
Definitely going to look into the pods! Thank you for sharing!
Michelle says
I have always felt they were a waste of money too until I saw the re-usable cups come out, Sometimes we have coffee that gets wasted, and that is not a good thing if you use the more costly organic kind that doesn’t turn into liquid pesticides.
It’s really nice that you were able to get the Keurig s a gift. The cost might have deterred you from initially making the switch.
One more nice feature about the Keurig is that if people are trying to cut down on using a microwave to re-heat their coffee, this provides a good solution.
Tessa says
I just had to comment on this because I think single serve coffee makers dont get enough credit. I love that I can make a fresh cup in less than a minute and that I always have hot water on hand for the kids and clean up is a breeze. We actually find it is more frugal to since we use the reusable filters. I was often throwing old coffee out and now I only make what I actually drink. Love my keurig! I picked it up at a thrift store for $30 too so I’ve saved money all around 🙂
Amy says
Great deal, Tessa!
Coby says
We LOVE our Keurig! I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE! We went from a drip, to a percolater, to the Keurig. I can’t make coffee very well at all, and with the Keurig it comes out perfectly every time! We get our K-cups at Costco – I think it’s about $35 for a 100 pack. My husband and I are the only coffee drinkers, and we limit ourselves to a cup a day. We’ve also done hot chocolate for the kids, but I haven’t tried tea yet. If I could, I would just open my mouth and stick it directly under the stream of coffee! (Have I said yet that I love the Keurig? 😉
Amy says
Ha!
Laurie Rogers says
We love the red Keurig my hubby got me for Christmas! We use it for coffee, tea, hot cocoa, cup-o-noodles, and instant oatmea! We use the refillable cup from Wal-Mart.
Danielle Dineen says
You can also find reusable K cups at the Dollar Tree sometimes. Kathryn over at DoItonaDime has YouTube videos on the Keurig and saving money. She is very good at organizing while saving money, also.
Sharon Estrada says
We bought our keurig 3 years ago, when I was pregnant with my son. Hubby would make his reg coffee and I would have a decaf. Now that he is older, I am back to drinking reg coffee and more of it. So, we use our old fashioned coffee maker for our mornings, when we manage to drink the pot. I use the Keurig for an afternoon cup and my hubby uses it when he stops home for a late afternoon break. This keeps our coffee cash in check.
Sara says
We were also skeptical about how much our Kuerig would be used. Not only do we use it for coffee, and now the kids make tea and hot chocolate. We have discovered that it’s a great short-cut tool. My kids like Ramen (I know not the healthiest) as an occasional snack and we’ve discovered that we can just drop the noodles and flavor into a bowl and run hot water into it-no saucepan needed. I also discovered I can do that with a small can of soup (I’m the only soup eater in the family).
Jen says
Amy, I use my Keurig the same way, with the refillable cup. If you look for sales there are actually some nice deals on the K-cups. But the thing I have really noticed is that everyone is picky about their coffee. So picky that I started seeing little bins/boxes of K-Cups everywhere. People don’t like something they bought, or from a sampler, & they shelve it, just in case someone someday might like that flavor. I probably have gotten a hundred cups free just by asking friends & family if I could have their disliked ones. Why waste it, right?
Amy says
Love it! Great idea!
Joe says
“Family Friendly” My 1 year old son knocked over our safety gate (with the help of our older son). He then got a hold of a freshly brewed cup of coffee and spilled it all over himself. He has 2nd degree burns over 18% of his body and have to be taken to a special burn center 2 hours from our house.
I think the term you were looking for is “convenient” but that is debatable when you Google how many kids are actually severely burned by these coffee machines.