4 ms·

For 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'

by rosser 8y ago

For 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 ago
It'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 ago
  How 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 ago
    We 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.
- EpicEng 8y ago
  >Instant coffee takes seconds, a couple of minutes if you include boiling the water. Another excellent example. Now we have coffee which tastes awful and still takes longer.
slothtrop 8y ago
Cleanup? A regular coffee machine uses disposable filters. The advantage of the k-cup over this is brewing for a single cup of variable size. However this is easily achievable with pourover or "clever dripper" methods, each of which use the filter and thus have little to no cleanup. There's no justification for the cup system at all.
- rosser 8y ago
  Take that up with the millions of people buying them. I do my own pour-overs in the morning. I just find it endlessly fascinating to watch people extrapolate from their personal preferences, in the face of a demonstrably valuable (in the "it has value to someone" sense — because people are buying the things, which, in a capitalist system is definitive of "having value") to "There's no justification ... at all".
  - slothtrop 8y ago
    > Take that up with the millions of people buying them. I do my own pour-overs in the morning. They don't even know the alternatives exist. Marketing is king. You're misinterpreting the point. It's not quibbling over whether the customer values the product, that's self-evident. It's "not justifiable" in the ethical sense in light of environmental impact and the alternatives available. People just don't know.
    - rosser 8y ago
      People just don't know there's another way to make coffee than pod machines? I'm sorry, I just don't accept that premise. What am I missing? People are making a choice — an admittedly consequential one, yes — but they're making it based on their personal priorities, not because marketing has deluded them into thinking there's no other way. They're paying someone else to have done all the work of making their cup of coffee, except loading the pod, pushing the button, and making sure the water tank is full enough — for them, at least. Hell, even that illustrates the point: in every environment I've ever been with a shared pod coffee machine, I've had to fill the basin, more often than not. People can't even be arsed to make sure there's enough water in the stupid thing for the next person who wants a cuppa. It's laziness.
PascLeRasc 8y ago
Those people who just want their "cuppa" should take caffeine pills. They're not drinking Keurig for the flavor anyway. I disagree on your second point, we can think that it's a morally wrong view to believe that our personal time is worth more than the earth's health.

by rosser 8y ago

pbhjpbhj 8y ago

It'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 ago
How 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 ago
  We 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.
EpicEng 8y ago
>Instant coffee takes seconds, a couple of minutes if you include boiling the water. Another excellent example. Now we have coffee which tastes awful and still takes longer.

slothtrop 8y ago

Cleanup? A regular coffee machine uses disposable filters. The advantage of the k-cup over this is brewing for a single cup of variable size. However this is easily achievable with pourover or "clever dripper" methods, each of which use the filter and thus have little to no cleanup. There's no justification for the cup system at all.

rosser 8y ago
Take that up with the millions of people buying them. I do my own pour-overs in the morning. I just find it endlessly fascinating to watch people extrapolate from their personal preferences, in the face of a demonstrably valuable (in the "it has value to someone" sense — because people are buying the things, which, in a capitalist system is definitive of "having value") to "There's no justification ... at all".
- slothtrop 8y ago
  > Take that up with the millions of people buying them. I do my own pour-overs in the morning. They don't even know the alternatives exist. Marketing is king. You're misinterpreting the point. It's not quibbling over whether the customer values the product, that's self-evident. It's "not justifiable" in the ethical sense in light of environmental impact and the alternatives available. People just don't know.
  - rosser 8y ago
    People just don't know there's another way to make coffee than pod machines? I'm sorry, I just don't accept that premise. What am I missing? People are making a choice — an admittedly consequential one, yes — but they're making it based on their personal priorities, not because marketing has deluded them into thinking there's no other way. They're paying someone else to have done all the work of making their cup of coffee, except loading the pod, pushing the button, and making sure the water tank is full enough — for them, at least. Hell, even that illustrates the point: in every environment I've ever been with a shared pod coffee machine, I've had to fill the basin, more often than not. People can't even be arsed to make sure there's enough water in the stupid thing for the next person who wants a cuppa. It's laziness.

PascLeRasc 8y ago

Those people who just want their "cuppa" should take caffeine pills. They're not drinking Keurig for the flavor anyway. I disagree on your second point, we can think that it's a morally wrong view to believe that our personal time is worth more than the earth's health.