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> Nespresso sold me though on their recycling program I don't get this. If this is important to you, why not use a system that didn't require recycling in the
by noja 8y ago
> Nespresso sold me though on their recycling program
I don't get this. If this is important to you, why not use a system that didn't require recycling in the first place?
- JshWright 8y agoI assume it's because they evaluate the products they buy based on more than one criteria?
- EpicEng 8y agoConvenience, obviously. Why own a car when you could ride a bike? Sure, it will take you 10x as long to get anywhere, but you can always just leave earlier.
- benrbray 8y agoThis comparison makes no sense. Regular coffee makers make far less waste and are just as convenient. Hell, I grid my coffee by hand and brew it one cup at a time with one of those conic filters and it still takes only 6-7 minutes.
- EpicEng 8y ago>are just as convenient. Hell, I grid my coffee by hand and brew it one cup at a time with one of those conic filters and it still takes only 6-7 minutes. It takes about two seconds to pop in a k-cup, maybe 20 more every N cups to fill up water. Also allows for different grounds to be used on a per cup basis. Convenience and speed is the entire reason these things exist.
- slothtrop 8y agoThe single-cup brew is what sold it I think. Coffee machines were already just as fast and familiar, with fast cleanup, but programmatically brew a whole pot. You could achieve the same single cup convenience with a filter using pour-over or clever-dripper.
- rosser 8y agoFor a nontrivial number of people, that's probably about five minutes too many. Are you also factoring in the cleanup of your coffee-making accoutrements? That's a few minutes, too. Some people just want their cuppa, with absolutely minimal fuss. Your metric for what is or isn't convenient isn't necessarily anybody else's, and other people aren't "wrong" for having different metrics than yours. Optimizing for time spent in the process of making the thing is a perfectly cromulent priority.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoIt's not just convenience, it's fashion and wealth signalling. Instant coffee takes seconds, a couple of minutes if you include boiling the water.
- rosser 8y agoHow is it fashion or wealth signaling if you're doing it at home, alone? I'm sure it is for some people, but status signaling is baked into our monkey brains at such a deep level, I find it a bit silly to be something we throw shade at people for doing. But even if Joe the status-signaling pod coffee drinker is status signaling, he probably also appreciate the extra five minutes in the morning, or whatever. Also, I've never tasted an instant coffee that didn't disappoint, usually profoundly. The pods are actual, real-time brewed coffee, with the same level of convenience.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoWe had a commercial Gaggia bean-to-cup machine, fresh ground, etc., the difference to me is noticeable obvs, but it's not worth the costs. It's only a drink.
- thaumasiotes 8y ago> How is it fashion or wealth signaling if you're doing it at home, alone? The tasteful way is to invite people to visit your home where they can see it. The tacky way is to tell people about it.
- 8y ago
- technovader 8y agoActually it is a great example when you think of how much waste and pollution you create by driving a car instead of walking or riding a bike. Great example. People like to virtue-signal but when they really want something all convictions go out the window.
- a11595 8y agoI drink about 10 cups of coffee per day (enjoy the taste). You are suggesting I spend over an hour, 7 hours per week (a full workday) making my coffee? That's literally insane. Now, I'd never get one of these machines, because it tastes like ass - I tried it at work. People at the office walk up, pick from 20 different flavors, and make their cup. What is it you suggest to replace that? 20 huge office pots that someone refills from a huge drip machine, so some are out and some get underused and tossed/refilled in a few hours? Your comparison is what does not make sense. You are taking your use case, which does not apply to 90% of the self-brew cases. Literally the definition of a strawman. I personally think cars are a bad invention, and I don't see the use. I live across the street from work, and once a week take a lyft. Why are all these people driving?? I just can't figure it out. Now, here's what I do actually do. I have Kona green cherry and Peaberry light roast. I take a cup of green and grind it fine in my conical grinder. I double-filter tap water, boil it, then filter it again the next day once cool. I use that to boil the green for about 10min in a large steel pot. I drink half of that mixed with fairlife fat free milk. Good for 1st drink of the morning. While that's going on, I grind 2 cups of peaberry, and dump it into the pot, adding a lot more boiling water. Boil for 2 minutes, let sit for 10. Now it's mixed light roast peaberry and green, for that lightly charred lawnmowerbag taste. It's naturally quite sweet, but sometimes I'll add a splenda. I spend more than an hour per day on coffee. The process is relaxing. When I'm at work running from one meeting to the next, I pop in a cup with some weird flavor and go on my way. If I had to do what you do, I wouldn't do it at all. That's the price of your 6-7 minutes - a barrier to entry that's just too damn high.
- jchanimal 8y agoFor a second I thought you lived in my world, where it’s the car that takes so much longer.
- EpicEng 8y agoNope, I live in the world that most other people do (in the US).
- keithpeter 8y agoI outwalked a traffic jam this morning as I often do (admittedly in a narrow time frame)
- EpicEng 8y agoWell it would take me an hour to ride my bike to work, but I get here in ~11 minutes in my car. True for most people in the US. And as I wrote that last bit, I realized that I should not have said "in the _world_".
- PascLeRasc 8y agoI have the opposite during warm weather. I have a 12-15 minute bike commute that takes 45 minutes by car and an hour by bus. I'm sure that's not the case if you don't have decent bike infrastructure though.
- emj 8y agoYes but that is an issue with your choices, which makes sense we all want convenience, but you could make those choices from a bicycle perspective. I did, atm I get about 10 minutes extra every day because actualy do something with my commute. This is true for every place I've lived in (Europe, NA/SA and Asia), you just have to make the choice.
- rosser 8y agoAnd I out-walked (well, tied) the Uber driver who cut me off at a crosswalk, to dropping off his fare across the street from my apartment a few blocks further up the hill, the other night. Contextually constrained anecdata like ours simply aren't relevant to the general point here. For the vast majority of people in the parts of the world where using pod coffee machines is a meaningful thing to talk about, your commute is a driving or transit kind of thing, not walking or biking.
- chrisco255 8y agoNespressos take the Keurig concept to another level. They really do produce a near-perfect espresso with no effort required.
- searchhay 8y agoNo effort, and the machines are a fraction of the cost.
- driverdan 8y agoWhile Nespresso machines make better coffee than Keurig it's still nowhere near the quality of an espresso made with good, fresh ground beans in a decent machine. I tried a few different Nespresso pod types and none were very good.
- woodpanel 8y agoI echo this. Not only does Nestlé put above average coffee in those capsules – the aluminum encasing ensures that the aroma doesn't evaporate. It's not espresso, but it is by far the best taste at an reasonable price. And don't forget the space a serious espresso machine usually takes up (10k €). Grinder not included.
- michaelt 8y agoFor an office kitchen, pod systems have better coffee than instant coffee; a lower upfront cost than a bean-to-cup machine; lower upfront and ongoing costs than a full-time barista; and less mess than an employee-operated ground coffee espresso machine.
- heywire 8y agoA superautomatic like a Jura Capresso is a happy middle ground for a smallish office. They generally make decent coffee and espresso, and many have a milk frother as well. Larger up front investment, but less waste, coffee is generally cheaper than the pods, machine can be serviced as opposed to replaced, etc.
- bhandziuk 8y agoIn my office, we make a large thermos (maybe it's a gallon or a bit more) of drip. It tastes great I think. Strong, black coffee. I guess those cups make flavored coffee. So if you like something other than straight coffee they're good. But I can't imagine why you'd ruin a perfectly good coffee like that :)
- petsormeat 8y agoI'll confess to admiring the greatly reduced mess of the first pod system I encountered, which was in an SF startup. Not only were developers given fewer reasons to leave the office, but the non-men on staff weren't stuck with maintaining a coffee service.
- sxates 8y agoI started with a 'real' espresso machine and bean grinder. The process for making a cappuccino in the morning was as follows: 1. Turn on the espresso boiler and allow it to warm up for 20-30 minutes. 2. Grind beans at the correct setting, then tamp them into the wand with just the right amount of pressure 3. Insert wand into machine, turn it on, and perfectly time the pour 4. Dispose of hot coffee grinds, rinse, brush and clean the wand. 5. Pour milk into frothing cup and steam for 60+ seconds or until optimal temperature is reached while ensuring that the steam properly turns the milk to achieve desired froth. 6. Combine milk and espresso in cup 7. Clean espresso shot cup, clean milk frothing cup, clean up errant coffee grounds, remember to turn off machines. The process for making a cappuccino with the Nespresso machine: 1. Pour milk into frother, press button. 2. Insert pod, press button. It will finish within about 20 seconds, and a few seconds after that the milk will also be done. 3. Pour frothed milk into the cup that the espresso was dispensed into. 4. Rinse milk frother. I had time for the full machine routine on a Saturday morning, but not before work.
- ams6110 8y agoA Jura machine will do everything automatically with no waste other than the coffee grounds. They are expensive though. https://us.jura.com/en https://us.jura.com/en
- ldiracdelta 8y agoI love my DeLonghi Magnifica at half the price. I'm not a fancy coffee drinker though. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N2YKQ0/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N2YKQ0/ref=oh_aui_sear...
- drb91 8y agoHow does a reusable cup not address this? If the issue is a single serving coffee maker that seems orthogonal to recyclability.
- PascLeRasc 8y agoHave you tried the Aeropress? It's incredibly easy to use and takes about a minute of work every morning - great coffee too.
- thatoneuser 8y agoThe way you emphasize the word require seems a touch condescending, when the answer is pretty obvious - convenience. Is there something wrong with recycling? Now that I’m thinking I don’t actually understand what your hang up is. You’re asking why if recycling is important, didn’t OP use something that didn’t require recycling. He values recycling and being green so he selected a proprietor that reflected that.
- etskinner 8y agoDon't let perfect be the enemy of good.