Last weekend was another gig with the ten-piece band I play with. And another charity auction with bargains to be had.
After the full-contact silent auction had come and gone, I was the proud owner of a brand-new Keurig Elite for $80. I was nearly 100% sure that this model went for over $100. It did. Walmart sells the same model for $120, and the lowest new price on Amazon was $100.
My wife and I had talked on and off about getting one for quite a while, and I was starting to find that I wasn't really drinking all of the coffee I was making for myself. And these Keurigs really are neat little contraptions. They do a good cup of coffee, and they're fast.
Buying the Keurig can be — but doesn't have to be! — like buying a boat
I've heard a number of people say that the two happiest days during the ownership of a boat are (a) the day the boat was bought, and (b) the day it was sold. There are alot of expenses with owning a boat: fuel, dock fees, cleaning and other maintenance, repairs, and so forth. In some ways, getting a boat at a bargain is a down payment on all of the costs, and time, of owning it.
Buying a Keurig is nowhere near a boat-level investment, but if all it's used for is brewing coffee with disposable K-cups, then it's barely any better than swinging into the gas station every morning. A box of 16 K-cups at Walmart was over $10. That's 60 cents a cup, or more. The K-cups are where the money is made.
I was actually taken aback a little bit how expensive the K-cups were — enough that I almost regretted buying the coffeemaker, even at a bargain price.
Fortunately, the reusable K-cups with permanent filters have gotten pretty good. We got two Ekobrew refillable cups and they work fine with our regular coffee. The cost of these reusable filters will pay for itself easily after about 40 cups of coffee, so we have a way out of the stranglehold of the costly disposable K-cups.
For those of you who own a Keurig, how do you control the cost? Or is this an affordable luxury that you don't worry about too much?
I drink quite a bit of coffee, and many of my friends had been snagging Keurigs last year. I knew it was expensive to get the K-Cups as when I dropped by the cups were actually much more guarded than I have come to expect coffee to be.
I also knew that, because my wife and I cared more about the quality of the coffee than the price (up to a point), we have been buying ours from our local roaster every 2 weeks. So I presumed I was probably about on-par with the K-Cup price (while sharing it much more generously with guests).
So I decided to see how K-Cups priced out versus the relatively high price of our local roaster’s coffee. It’s not pretty.
Since it is exceedingly relevant to this post, I present to you “The (stupid) Economics of K-Cups.”
http://bit.ly/OpzT0u
I don’t drink coffee, but my husband does, so I have thought about buying one of these for him, but the cost of the refills held me back. Good to know there is another option. Also, how strong is the coffee? My husband likes his ridiculously strong.
Love the blog redesign!
I have a good friend who has a Keurig and ALWAYS uses it. My husband never even uses the espresso maker we got from my parents three Christmases ago… so even though he oohs and ahhs over my friend’s Keurig, he’s not getting one!
Our Keurig was the best Fathers Day gift ever, I am a coffee addict however. The K-Cups can be a bit pricey. I generally buy the 80 count box for btw $36-$40 (depending upon the brand) at Sam’s. Also Kohl’s often has them at somewhat decent prices, as does a local grocery store chain in my area. Love the idea of a fresh cup of coffee when I want it almost on demand.
Easy math. My coffee is about 10 cents a cup. Keurig loses.
But, Jane’s taste is more ophisticated than mine, her coffee is $3 on a good day. So the 50-60 cent K-cups are a bargain in comparison.
If you are currently a by-the-pot coffee brewer purchasing a Keurig brewer and K-Cups is going to be far more expensive then your current method. These machines best benefit those who have a daily coffee shop addiction or who don’t want the volume or ritual of brewing a pot of coffee.
Another strength of single serve solutions such as Keurig brewers is their flexibility. I can have a cup of French Roast, my wife a cup of French Vanilla and my daughter her Chai Latte all within a few minutes from the same machine.
Have you seen the new Starbucks machines? IF you thought Keurig refills were expensive well, you need to use SB’s powdered milk cups for their machine.
Years ago there was a K machine at the office I worked at. I’m not sure if it was the coffee or the machine but I wasn’t impressed with the quality. This was a while ago though.
If you are only making a couple of cups at most at a time then you can try a French Press. It’s a little more work to make but the coffee is awesome especially with a good coffee and grind. You can pick one up for under $20. Take the rest you would pay for a K machine and buy a good burr coffee grinder. I picked up a nice one at Costco once for about $25.
As much as I’m for saving money, if it’s something you truly love and you can afford it then it’s OK to spend the money in my opinion. If good coffee gets you going then get good coffee.
I wonder if it’s included in the latest Consumer Reports. I agree with Glen. If you like it, it’s worth a little splurge. I’m sure it’s still cheaper than buying at a coffee shop.
I’ve found that one needs about two tablespoons of coffee for one cup in the reusable filter and therefore it’s still quite expensive per cup, it tastes different also. a fine grind helps. I hide my Newmans k- cups in the bedroom! I wonder why the k- cups taste better, is there instant coffee in them? the French press is sounding better all the time!
Hiding them in the bedroom! That’s an idea. At least I’d get some exercise each time I wanted one. 🙂
I was wrong about the amounts, we use about 4 teaspoons in the reusable filter. if you pack it too full the water can’t get thru! we have been enjoying the benefit of having a cup of hot water available or tea or cocoa also, so I think the machine is staying! k-cups make nice gifts, I might ask for some for Christmas! I also might make a Dave Ramsey envelope just for coffee and save up each month !
Yeah, getting the amount just right is challenging. I’ve had the water drip out the top of the compartment more than once.
So, five years after this discussion ended, I’m going to revive it maybe. The reason that Keurig makes sense is that you can find bargains buying in bulk online (amazon is your friend sometimes) and that you only have to prepare one serving. Yes, Folgers in a Mr. Coffee costs about 10c a cup, including coffee and a filter, BUT, you have to make 10-12 cups to get that economy of price. Making a single cup or two still costs the filter. So it can actually be more expensive than bulk k-cups if you only want one or two cups.
Actually, as of late I had gotten *really* lazy and was using a lot of pods. We went back to brewing with an oldish Mr. Coffee and just using the pods sparingly. Saves quite a bit of money, and it’s not really all that much more difficult. It just requires a small amount of extra time (like 10 minutes).