this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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Coffee - All Things Coffee

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cross-posted from: https://lazysoci.al/post/12988150

Keurig, the company that got us all hooked on single-serve coffee systems and has helped us churn through billions of plastic throwaway K-cups, just reinvented its single-serve system in what may be the most sustainable way: K-Rounds.

K-Rounds are plastic and aluminum-free, highly-compressed coffee ground pods held together by an ultra-thin layer of plant-based material (alginate). As one Keurig exec described it, "It’s just coffee in those pods."

...

If successful, K-Rounds could have a measurable impact on the environment. According to one report, we create approximately half a billion metric tons of coffee capsule waste each year.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

“Sustainable”

Coffee can, single piece of packaging for months on end.

Vs.

K-cups, paper, dyes, increased packaging volumes, increased energy in production, increased raw materials, increased trips to the store to purchase more, 6 month shelf life. Sustainable /s

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Shit, you can get a little reusable basket for a Keurig and put regular coffee in it. They just made a less sustainable version of something that exists.

Really all the machine does is heat and measure the water for you.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Do people really not know that single cup electric makers have been a thing since at least the eighties? Mine is one my dad bought in 85, a black and Decker one.

One scoop of coffee in a washable filter (which, btw is still the original one, no issues), pour water, hit the switch, walk away. Makes a pleasant gurgle when finished.

And it isn't like there weren't single cup options before that, they just weren't necessarily electric. Shit, my grandfather would make single cups with a cloth tea bag and a percolator stuck into some embers when camping, back when he would take us kids out before we drank coffee too.

Fuck keurig.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Thanks, that whole announcement read like (and naturally is) corporate propaganda.

I think you summarized the reasonable alternatives well.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I thought we already solved that? Like i got my keurig some metal mesh cups. And i just put the coffee in that. This screams more of a new method of controlling what goes into the machine. They are like the HP of tea kettles.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

They look a bit like the coffee balls that Hofmann reviewed a while back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JICKZOdDtVc

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

So instead of throwing away coffee pods, people will be throwing away coffee machines.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

A good drip coffee maker is so much better for the environment. Worst case, you throw out a bag and a paper filter, best case, only coffee grounds if you get the beans straight from a market.