Single Cup Brewing System

“When you at Green Mountain buy coffee to roast, how do you know it’s going to taste good?”

We drink a lot of coffee here as part of our jobs. And even better, we get paid to drink and then evaluate it. Even though a lot of evaluating any beverage you drink for pleasure is subjective, there are still some objective ways to judge coffee for purchase. By the way, I should explain: I'm talking about the Coffee Department in Waterbury, Vermont, where we shop for and buy the millions of pounds of green coffee that we then roast and package and ship all around the United States and Canada.

We can't taste every single pound of coffee we buy (though that would be fun), but we do taste a lot. And when I say taste, I'm really talking about cupping, which is the professional version of tasting. (Want to know more about cupping and slurping, go here: “Why slurp?”).

We buy coffee by the container, which is the big metal box you see on large shipping vessels. Generally speaking, you can put about 42,000 pounds of green coffee in one container. When we evaluate that lot of coffee, the seller sends us a composite sample from that huge pile of green coffee. A few beans from this bag, a few from that bag, a few from that bag over there, until we have one pound of green coffee ready for us to roast and cup.

Before we roast it, however, we measure how wet or dry the coffee is in terms of moisture level. If it comes in too wet, it might not have been properly dried at origin, or maybe it got wet on the boat ride over the ocean. If it's too dry, it might be old coffee. We still cup it, but that's an example of an objective way to evaluate coffee.

We do a visual inspection of each sample as well. It should generally be a uniform color and size, without foreign material, bits of stone, twigs, and beans with insect damage (among other issues.) Even if a sample looks sub optimal, we still cup it, but note the state of the sample. Some coffees look beautiful, but don't taste that great while some coffees don't look so great but taste amazing.

We roast the samples ourselves so that we can control that important stage. And then the real proof is in the cup. We use the Specialty Coffee Assosication of America cupping sheet to tally our scores, average up the scores and then decide if the coffee passed the grade or not. The cupping sheet lets you score based on fragrance/aroma, flavor, acidity, body, aftertaste, balance, uniformity, clean cup, sweetness, and then there are ways to score defects and taints in the coffee as well. If it seems like a lot to keep track of, after the first 1-2,000 samples, it gets easier. Our supply chain uses the same scoring system so that we can all communicate in the same language, in spite of everyone speaking so many different languages.

We like metrics here and so we keep track of a lot of our activities:

• I can tell you that I have cupped 3,779 samples of coffee this year.
• For every sample (1 sample represents a container), we put out 6 cups of brewed coffee to evaluate. So in the past 12 months, I have "put a spoon" in 45,348 different cups of coffee.
• Two of my coworkers, Brent and Penny, cup more than I do (4,613 and 3,756 respectively).

So, if you ask how we know if the coffee will taste good, it's because we drink so much of it. We drink the bad stuff so that you won't have to. On top of that, every sample that we cup was also cupped by the importer, by the exporter, and even by the co-op or farm. There are many, many ways for a coffee to shine or receal itseld as an imposter of great coffee.

Next time you have a nice cup of our coffee, don't forget how much work went into making it a nice cup of coffee, and also don't forget all the work that went into making sure it's not a bad cup of coffee.

I’ve always believed that a penny saved is a penny earned. But, if you’re like me, you know the only reason people save money is so they can eventually spend it. The money that Café Express® members save yearly on their favorite Vue™ Pack and K-Cup® coffees, bagged coffee, Keurig® Single Cup Brewers  and coffee accessories allows them to buy the things they really want in life.  Here’s a list of our top 5 ways some of our members want to spend the money saved with the Café Express® Savings Club.

5. A Trip to the Spa

Everybody deserves to be pampered once in a while. The spa is a great way to rejuvenate your body and mind for a relatively low price.

4. Ski Lift Tickets

We may be biased living here in Vermont but we think the best way to enjoy the fruits of our labor is to go skiing down a snow covered slope at top speed. If winter is your season too, then this may be the perfect way to spend your Café Express savings.  And then enjoy a piping hot cup of Double Black Diamond® in the lodge.

3. Outdoor Gear

It’s time to do away with your thirty year old (AKA stinky) outdoor recreation gear and get new stuff. New gear will help keep you on your game in the great outdoors while enjoying Mother Nature in style.

2. Theme Park Tickets

Nothing brings back childhood memories more than screaming like a little girl on your local park’s roller coaster. For the non-thrill seekers there is always the Ferris wheel and plenty of fried dough. Theme parks are always a great way to put some excitement in your summer.

1. The New Keurig® Vue™ Brewer

The Keurig Vue Brewing System gives all Keurig® fanatics more beverage and brewing options than ever before. I personally love the new Café Beverages like Vanilla Latte and Sweetened Cappuccino. This new brewer will be on the top of everyone’s list!

I don’t know about you, but I’m a comparison shopper.  Give me a few options, put them side by side, and let me see the differences.  From cars to electronics – and now brewers.  We just added a new feature to the Green Mountain Coffee® website to help you find the perfect Keurig® coffee maker for you. 

When you want to compare K-Cup® brewing systems, our new Keurig® K-Cup® Brewer comparison page is a great way  to compare the versatility and convenience of the Keurig® Mini Plus to the Keurig® B40 (Also known as our Elite), or help you decide which Keurig® brewer is the perfect gift for the home or the office.

If you’re a Keurig enthusiast looking for the latest in Keurig brewing technology and functionality, our new Keurig® brewer page is a great way to discover the innovative features in the new Keurig® Vue™ Brewing System, featuring the new Keurig Vue™ Pack line of single cup Keurig Brewed® beverages.

If only deciding what I’m cooking for dinner could be so easy…

You may have heard, but today it was announced that the line of Keurig^® Single Cup Brewers is expanding with the addition of the Keurig^® Vue^™ brewer, a premium new platform designed with the ability to brew stronger, brew bigger, and brew hotter.

The new Vue^™ brewer, paired with new Vue^™ packs*, comes with all the ease and convenience of the existing Keurig^® K-Cup^® system with added customizable features so you have control over the strength, size, and temperature of your coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and iced beverages, as well as new frothy café beverages.

Pretty nice, right?

To say the least, I can't wait for the Keurig® Vue™ Brewer to be available for purchase in the coming weeks.  It has a lot of options that I’ve been dreaming about in a single cup coffee maker:

• Stronger Coffee: The Vue^™ brewer adjusts water pressure, timing, and airflow so I can have the stronger brew I love in the mornings – at any size.
• Bigger Coffee:  I can now brew into my large, stainless steel travel mug with new Vue^™ packs specially formulated to brew a bigger cup up to 18-oz.  I’m ready to fill my travel mug with a strong cup of my favorite Green Mountain Coffee® variety, Breakfast Blend.
• Hotter Beverages: Now, we can choose a temperature range between 187 and 197 degrees Fahrenheit to really customize our cups.  My wife Natasha enjoys drinking Celestial Seasonings Green Tea and always likes the water to be extra hot to let the tea seep. It’s like the designers had her in mind when they created the new Keurig® Vue™ Brewer!
• And much more:  A few Sundays back, I was enjoying some Dark Magic Extra Bold with Natasha with a plate full of crêpes (I like to think I am an expert at making crêpes).  We decided to add some homemade whipped cream to the coffee and crêpes – just to mix things up. Suddenly, Natasha looked at me and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if our Keurig® brewer could make a cappuccino?” Good news: The Vue™ brewer can!  With exclusive two-step Barista Prima^® Café beverages, I can now enjoy a cappuccino on the weekend when I am eating my crêpes with the family.

The Keurig® K-Cup® Brewer and the Keurig® Vue™ Brewer complement each other so well!  Deliciously simple and brewing what I like, the way I like it – what a pair!

*Just a reminder: The Keurig® Vue™ Brewer is not compatible with K-Cup® packs; they use Vue™ packs.

Many of us have a story about how they were first introduced to their beloved Keurig brewer.   My story starts when I was about 22 (wow, 6 years ago!).  I arrived at my dad's house and to my surprise I found a very strange device taking up space on his kitchen counter top.  He explained to me that it was the latest and greatest in coffee makers and that it was going to change the face of morning coffee routines around the world (I'd say he was excited).  I just had to try it out.  I popped a k-cup in the brewer,  pushed the button and waited for my first ever freshly brewed cup of coffee from a Keurig brewer. 

 Well, that's my story.  What's yours?

Love your Keurig Single-Cup Brewer? Know someone who might love it too? Share your love of the Keurig Single-Cup Brewing System and receive FREE coffee!

Hi all -

A few weeks back, Ken posted on this blog, asking readers to submit ideas on what the next K-Cup should be.  That post has been far and away our most popular, with over 600 comments to date and some very interesting and original suggestions.

A few days ago, however, a reader named Roger posted a different kind of comment.  Roger wanted to know why we aren't using compostable K-Cups.  He mentioned that Ben & Jerry's is currently using compostable containers for their pints so why aren't we doing the same with our K-Cups?

Great question, Roger, and thanks for posing it.

The answer is in the technical details relating to how the Keurig system delivers such great coffee.  When you roast and package coffee, elements like oxygen, moisture, and light are enemies of freshness - when the coffee is exposed to any of them, it will decrease the quality and shelf life of the product.  Additionally, when you use your package as a brewing vessel, the package needs to withstand a fairly high amount of heat.  As a result, the package itself (the K-Cup) has to be impervious to the exact elements that are at work (heat, moisture, air, light) when you compost waste effectively.  Without this packaging, all the resources and effort put into growing and roasting great coffee would be wasted - and that would also be a serious environmental impact.

That still leaves us with the question of what we are doing to work on the issue of the environmental impact of the K-Cup though.  Packaging is an area of major environmental concern for all consumer product companies. As the single-cup coffee market and our Keurig brewing systems grow in popularity, we understand that the impact of the K-Cup® waste stream is one of our most significant environmental challenges.

Finding a more environmentally-friendly approach to this packaging challenge is a big priority for us. We are working on a few different fronts to improve the environmental characteristics of the K-Cup system, as well as to mitigate its impact.

Here's what we're doing:

First, we are working to identify the right end goal for the K-Cup. The term “environmentally-friendly” or “sustainable” means different things to different people; it could mean carbon-neutral, made with renewable materials only, recyclable, biodegradable, compostable, petroleum-free, etc. We are researching all these avenues, trying to understand what is possible today and tomorrow, taking into account the current state of packaging technology, consumer preferences, community infrastructure, performance requirements, and the demands of the marketplace.

Second, we have commissioned Life-Cycle Analysis to help us quantitatively understand the environmental impact of the K-Cup. Waste at the end of a process is an important factor in understanding the environmental impact of a product, but impact occurs throughout a product’s life. We want to understand the full impact of K-Cup packaging so we can more clearly understand its real benefits as well as where we can take concrete steps to reduce its impact.

Third, we are continuing to invest in both public and private innovation in packaging. We are looking at ways to improve all of our coffee packaging, while still maintaining the freshness and quality that consumers have come to expect from us. We have made some strides in this area. Our hot and cold beverage cups are made from fully renewable materials. And our new 10 and 12 ounce bags of coffee are made from 19% PLA – a bio-plastic sourced from corn.

Fourth, we are introducing more Fair Trade Certified® coffees into our K-Cup line. We believe that’s good for Fair Trade as well as for our business. Its good for Fair Trade because the K-Cup market is growing quickly; having Fair Trade Certified® coffees in K-Cups helps grow the Fair Trade system and exposes more people to great Fair Trade Certified® coffees. Its good for our business because we know consumers like Fair Trade Certified® coffees when they get a chance to learn what it means and taste it.

Fifth, we offer the My K-Cup product, a reusable filter assembly that can be refilled by the consumer, is easily cleaned, and is compatible with all Keurig home brewers sold today.

I hope that helps explain how we're working to answer the question "How should the next K-Cup be?" - we look forward to sharing our results with you as soon as we can.

5/3/2011 UPDATE:

We appreciate the comments and feedback related to the environmental impact of the Keurig® Single-Cup Brewing System. Since the posting of this blog, we created a webpage on our Brewing a Better World website that has the most recent information on our work to reduce the environmental impact of the K-Cup® portion packs.

Please visit that webpage for the most up to date information on these efforts.

A few highlights from that work include:

-Commissioning a Life-Cycle Analysis that compared single-cup brewing using the Keurig system to drip brewing across a number of environmental dimensions. This analysis indicated that the disposal of a product’s packaging generally represents a fraction of its total environmental impact and that the most significant environmental impact actually occurs in the production of the materials used to create the product. We are acting on this information.

-Investing significant resources in working with packaging suppliers to identify and implement materials changes that will meet our standards for quality and deliver the most significant positive environmental impact, both in the creation and disposal of our packaging.

-Evolving our product design processes and systems by, among other things, educating our engineering staff about sustainable design and establishing in-house Life-Cycle Analysis capability so that we can build greater environmental responsibility into our products and their packaging from the beginning.

Love your Keurig Single Cup Brewer?  Know someone who'd enjoy more convenience in their coffee routine?  Share your love of the Keurig brewing system and receive FREE coffee!

If you own a Keurig, sooner or later a friend or relative is going to be impressed with it.  I've certainly enjoyed a few Keurig "What the heck is that?...Wow, that's cool!" moments with house guests.  In fact, I bet a few of you have already convinced loved ones that they need a Keurig brewer.  Well, now you can spread the good word AND earn free K-Cups.

Refer a Friend to purchase a Keurig Single Cup Brewer and if they buy a brewer from Green Mountain Coffee, you'll receive 2 FREE Regular Variety Samples. 

Simply supply us with some basic information.  We'll search for your friend in our database, and if they qualify, we'll send them an email notifying them of the referral.  (To qualify, your friend must be someone who has not been previously referred by another person).  Once your friend buys a brewer from us, we'll automatically ship both you and your friend 2 FREE Regular Variety Samplers.

Your friend benefits too.  Not only will you recieve free coffee, but your friend will also receive 2 free regular variety k-cup samplers and free shipping on their brewer order.  That's a $38 value.  Click here to start.