Why I won't buy another Keurig coffee maker

[lorraineb]

I must admit that I love my Keurig coffee maker. It was a great compromise when I was weaning myself off of Starbucks. It's more expensive than regular coffee, but oh so much more convenient. Anyway, one of the things I learned was that I could get refillable pods of the Internet that cut the price of using the machine quite a bit.

I just heard that Keurig is putting technology into their new machines so that you can only use Keurig pods. That seems ridiculous to me. It's like if printers were only allowed to accept the manufacturer's ink cartridges which are so overpriced. I guess I'll be holding on my old mode and not upgrading -- or upgrading with a different manufacturer.

[disneysteve]

Keurig sells a refillable pod so I'm not sure what the issue is. You can put any coffee you want to in that.

[lorraineb]

Keurig sells a refillable pod so I'm not sure what the issue is. You can put any coffee you want to in that.

I believe that's for the current models, not for the new models.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140227/06521826371/keurig-will-use-drm-new-coffee-maker-to-lock-out-refill-market.shtml

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I must admit that I love my Keurig coffee maker. It was a great compromise when I was weaning myself off of Starbucks. It's more expensive than regular coffee, but oh so much more convenient. Anyway, one of the things I learned was that I could get refillable pods of the Internet that cut the price of using the machine quite a bit.

I just heard that Keurig is putting technology into their new machines so that you can only use Keurig pods. That seems ridiculous to me. It's like if printers were only allowed to accept the manufacturer's ink cartridges which are so overpriced. I guess I'll be holding on my old mode and not upgrading -- or upgrading with a different manufacturer.

How exactly will they be able to lock out other coffee pods?

People are such sheep, don't believe everything you read. The media is the worst thing in this country.

[disneysteve]

How exactly will they be able to lock out other coffee pods?

They could put RFID chips in the pods.

Disney recently started doing this with their soft drink cups to prevent people from getting free refills.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

They could put RFID chips in the pods.

Disney recently started doing this with their soft drink cups to prevent people from getting free refills.

Whats to stop a company from reverse engineering the RFID chip?

With Disney it's another story, they can see you go up for the refills. The way Keurig is set up, another company can simply make the same RFID chip.

[phantom]

When Keurig machines first hit the market, they had patents to stop competitors from making K-Cups. My impression was that competitor K-Cups had only become common in recent years as the patents had expired. I heard rumors a while back that new Keurig machines would use different patented technology to once again block competitors. I couldn't find anything in my quick minute of internet searching to confirm that rumor, but there are several dated stories out there about the old Keurig patents expiring.

I've never been a coffee drinker myself, so I have no reason to keep up with such news. But, several members of my extended family are big Keurig fans, so I hear them talk about such things and often find myself buying boxes of K-Cups as gifts.

[JoeP]

Sounds like a pretty bad move if Keurig goes through with this. Maybe they're thinking that keeping everything "closed" they can win on licensing fees, since market share is eroding due to the fact that competitors now make the machines and cups.

People want choice and control, which might help explain why Android OS and hardware market shares increased from 2012 to 2013.

[bjl584]

There are several manufacturers that make "knock off" versions of the Keurig. Mr. Coffee makes a decent one. Way cheaper and tons of selections for different styles of coffee. My friend has one and loves it.

[Starry436]

I hate my Keurig. Everytime I've tried to drink something from one it taste like a mixture of just dirty water with strong coffee grains poured into it. I don't know what we're doing wrong but it's gross....:/

[dawnwes]

I do not have a Keurig, but I had to buy one for my son's sports team. They knew I was the bargain hunter and could find a deal. I ended up getting the professional model ($250) for half price so they were thrilled.

I had it in my house for 2-3 weeks before they needed it, so I had to test it out!

The convenience was fantastic......I could ask my 9 year old to go make me a cup of coffee and he could get it easily, but overall I didn't like it. The coffee isn't that great and even with the Kirkland brand K-cups it was .37 per cup.

I would not buy one for myself.

If this is true, that you can't use refillable, they are shooting themselves in the foot. Many people I know use the refillable and don't use the actual K-cups.

[JoeP]

I hate my Keurig. Everytime I've tried to drink something from one it taste like a mixture of just dirty water with strong coffee grains poured into it. I don't know what we're doing wrong but it's gross....:/

Clearly, your problem can be traced back to the fact that you are either using unlicensed coffee packs, or the lack of coffeemaker software (rumor says it runs Java) is preventing the machine from computing the optimal temperature and water chemistry we all know can make or break a good cup of coffee. You're going to want the new 2.0 system in order to get that perfect cup of coffee people have been struggling to make for thousands of years! According to the CEO:

To ensure the system delivers on the promise of excellent quality beverages produced simply and consistently every brew every time, we use interactive technology to help us perfectly brew all Keurig brew packs. Because of this the system will not brew unlicensed packs.

/sarcasm

[ua_guy]

So don't buy it. Easy as that!

K-cups are proudly on my list of personal vices. Why? Because it crossed some other bad vices off the list which included buying lattes at overpriced coffee shops and stands, and it also got me to kick drinking diet soda in the morning. I don't even need to explain why that's bad.

I'll probably still buy K-cups even if they go proprietary again.

[disneysteve]

I'll probably still buy K-cups even if they go proprietary again.

I really didn't even realize this was a problem. My wife has a Keurig and uses it daily but I'm assuming all of the cups she buys are legit. What are the unlicensed ones? Are they major brands or more like store brands? She buys from well-known brands that I'm guessing are all approved.

[ua_guy]

I really didn't even realize this was a problem. My wife has a Keurig and uses it daily but I'm assuming all of the cups she buys are legit. What are the unlicensed ones? Are they major brands or more like store brands? She buys from well-known brands that I'm guessing are all approved.

The plastic k-cup was patented when the Keurig first came on the market. From what I hear, those patents are expiring or have already expired. Keurig controlled who could manufacture and sell coffee in a k-cup for use in its maker, and now anyone can. Brands like Mister Coffee can now manufacture a k-cup brewer, or Cuisinart, etc.

I don't think it's an issue, but now it sounds like Keurig is trying to re-corner the market by requiring the k-cup used in a Keurig brewer to be licensed by Keurig again. Just like an RFID in a non-refillable Disneyland soda, the brewer could refuse to make your k-cup if it doesn't sense that it's a Keurig-branded or licensed k-cup.

Invariably, someone will find a way to hack the Keurig brewer so it will take any cup.