K Cup Coffee

What is K Cup Coffee?

What is K Cup Coffee?
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

K Cup coffee is coffee made using a Keurig brewing machine.  Keurig brewing machines use coffee pods that contain ground coffee.  The first generation of Keurig machines use coffee pods called K-Cups.

A K Cup Coffee Pod is used to brew K Cup Coffee
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

A K-Cup is a type of coffee pod filled with ground coffee and a paper coffee filter.  The K-Cup is a small plastic cup that is sealed with an air-tight lid to maintain freshness.

How Do You Make K Cup Coffee?

You need a Keurig coffee brewer and a K-cup to make K Cup coffee.  K Cup coffee is easy to make:

• Place an empty cup under the Keurig brewer 
• Open the Keurig K-Cup compartment
• Place the K-cup inside
• Close the K-Cup compartment lid on the Keurig brewer
• Press  the "brew" button

In about one minute, you'll have a hot, fresh cup of K Cup coffee.

Keurig brewers use K-Cups to make K Cup Coffee
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Where Can I Get K Cup Coffee?

K Cup coffee is not sold in restaurants of coffee shops.  Keurig brewers that make K Cup coffee are used in homes and offices.  If you want to try K Cup coffee, but do not have a Keurig brewer, you might be able to find one in a break room at work.  Another option is to see if any of your friends have a Keurig brewer at home.  Most people with a Keurig brewer are excited to show people their machine and let them experience K Cup coffee.

How Much Does K Cup Coffee Cost?

The Keurig coffee brewing machine costs about $75 to a few hundred dollars, depending on the model and features of the coffee maker.  Some Keurig machines use K-Cups and some use Vue coffee pods.  The first generation machines use K-Cups: you'll need a Keurig machine that takes K-Cups to make K Cup coffee.

Once you have a Keurig brewer, you need a K-Cup for every cup of coffee you brew.  K-Cups cost about 65 cents each for premium brands and about 50 cents each if you know how to find cheap K-Cups.

You can also get refillable K-Cups that you fill with your own ground coffee that cost much less than buying K-Cups.  However, one of the main advantages of K Cup coffee is the convenience of being able to quickly pop in your favorite coffee flavor and brand, quickly brew the coffee, and throw the K-Cup away with no clean-up required.  If you use refillable K-Cups, you need to take time to load the refillable K-Cup and also need time to wash and clean the refillable K-Cup for the next cup of coffee.

What Does K Cup Coffee Taste Like?

K Cup coffee is always hot and fresh since it is made one cup at a time.  K Cup coffee is popular in break areas at work for coffee breaks because everyone gets a fresh cup of coffee.  A regular coffee maker leaves coffee sitting in the pot and it gets stale quickly.

You can choose your flavor of K Cup coffee.  You can get light roast, medium roast, dark roast, decaf, and flavored coffee.  You can also get K-Cups to make other hot beverages with your Keurig brewer like hot tea and hot chocolate.

How Does K Cup Coffee Compare to Regular Coffee?

You can make a better cup of coffee than K cup coffee.  Fresh ground whole coffee beans taste better than ground coffee.  I would say the flavor of K Cup coffee is similar to coffee you can make using ground coffee that is not fresh ground from whole beans.

K Cup coffee is definitely faster and more convenient than regular coffee.  Since you heat water for only one cup of coffee at a time, K Cup coffee is very fast.  Almost no clean-up is required for K Cup coffee- just throw the used K-Cup away after brewing and you are ready to make the next cup.

It is really easy to try different flavors and brands of coffee with K Cup coffee.  You can buy assortments of K-Cups to make it easy to try new kinds or to find something that anyone in your home or office would like.



Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

How Many Calories are in Coffee?

Does Coffee Have Calories?

How many calories are in a cup of coffee?
Image Courtesy of Julius Schorzman-CC-SA-20

One reason I started drinking coffee is that it is a low calorie beverage.  A 16oz cup of milk has about 250 calories, and a 16oz soda has about 180 calories.  A big cup of coffee lots of flavor and zero calories- or so I thought...

Many years later, I saw a sign at a cafeteria with nutritional facts about a cup of coffee.  I was surprised to see a number listed for calories.  Does black coffee really contain calories?

How Many Calories are in Black Coffee?

The bad news: Yes, even plain brewed black coffee with nothing added does contain some calories.
The good news: Coffee contains only 1 calorie per 8 oz of coffee.  This is almost zero calories.

How can coffee contain calories?  Hot water absorbs flavors and compounds from coffee grounds to become coffee.  These compounds become suspended in the water.  If you evaporate all of the water in a cup of coffee, you are left with a small amount of solid compounds.  If you burn these solid compounds that are contained in coffee in a calorimeter, you will find that the amount of energy contained in a cup of coffee is 1 calorie per 8 ounces.  Your body can convert this material into a small amount of energy, and therefore coffee does contain a small amount of calories.

Brewed black coffee contains almost zero calories.  If you drink your coffee black, you can basically ignore calories from coffee because it contains so few calories.  But many people don't drink their coffee black.

How Many Calories Does Coffee with Cream and Sugar Contain?

As soon as you start adding things to your coffee, you start to add calories and fat.

Of course you can add artificial sweeteners that have almost zero calories.  Popular artificial sweeteners for coffee include:

• Sucralose-based Splenda 
• Aspartame-based NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure
• Saccharine-based Sweet'N-Low
• Stevia-based Truvia

Zero calorie sweeteners: Splenda- yellow packet, Equal- blue packet, and Sweet 'N Low- pink packet.  Sugar at 50 calories per tablespoon is in the white packet.
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

All of these artificial sweeteners have much lower calories than sugar.  However, I don't really like the idea of consuming artificial chemicals with my coffee.  One thing I like about coffee is that it is completely natural- just roasted coffee beans and water.

If you add natural sweeteners such as sugar or honey or creamer such as milk, cream, or coffee creamer you start to add a lot of calories and even fat to your coffee.  For example, adding 1 tablespoon of sugar adds 50 calories to a cup of coffee.  If you have a big cup of coffee or drink multiple cups of coffee with sugar throughout the day, you could be adding hundreds of calories per day to your diet.

As far as milk and creamer, a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream adds 50 calories plus 5g of fat.  Half and half adds 20 calories and 1.8g of fat per tablespoon, and skim milk only 5 calories and no fat.  Coffee-mate coffee creamer has 20 calories and 1g of fat per tablespoon.  If you can switch from cream to skim milk, you can make your coffee contain much fewer calories.  Many coffee drinks contain much more than one tablespoon of cream, so coffee drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos are actually high in fat and calories.

Half and Half coffee creamer has 50 calories and 5 grams of fat per tablespoon
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The table below shows the calorie content for black coffee and for coffee with sugar, coffee with cream and sugar, and coffee with spenda and skim milk:

Black coffee:
16oz: 2 calories

Coffee with spenda and skim milk:
16oz with 2 tablespoons of splenda and 2 tablespoons of skim milk: 12 calories

Coffee with sugar:
16oz with 2 tablespoons of sugar: 102 calories

Coffee with cream and sugar:
16oz with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cream: 202 calories

If you are watching calories, try to switch to black coffee or at least switch from cream to skim milk if you are adding creamer.  I like to add honey as a sweetener rather than sugar.  I think the calories are similar, but for me honey has a complementary flavor to coffee.

Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

How to Quit Caffeine or Reduce your Caffeine Intake

How much caffeine are you getting?

I was surprised to learn how much caffeine I was getting every day.  I was drinking two 16 ounce cups of strong coffee brewed from fresh ground coffee beans.  From this caffeine table, I learned I was getting about 400 milligrams (mg) per cup, a total of 800 mg of caffeine every morning.  That is a lot of caffeine!  For reference, a Five Hour Energy has 200 mg of caffeine and a 20 oz Mountain Dew has 90 mg of caffeine.

Should you quit caffeine or reduce caffeine consumption?
Image by Icey, ClockworkSoul- Public Domain

As they say, caffeine is slightly habit forming.  I didn't feel right if I didn't get my 2 big cups of coffee promptly each morning.  I decided to reduce my caffeine intake to a more manageable level.

How much caffeine is too much?

Caffeine affects individuals in different ways- some people metabolize caffeine more rapidly and can tolerate higher levels of caffeine better.  For me, I would say 800 milligrams a day was too much.  One issue was the logistics of getting that much caffeine.  I would brew and carry two cups of coffee with me.  Sometimes I would need to stop to use a restroom on drive to work.  When travelling it was sometimes not possible to get that much coffee before the day started.  Once when visiting my brother, who is not a coffee drinker, I was climbing the walls until he took me to Einstein Brothers for a couple cups of coffee.  He was pretty amused by how badly I wanted some coffee.

Health effects of caffeine is a complex issue.  From what I understand, your blood pressure does increase for a short time, for example one week, when you first start taking in caffeine- but then your blood pressure stabilizes and is no longer elevated after that.  I have also seen reports that drinking a small amount of coffee every day makes your blood vessels more flexible and actually reduces blood pressure.  But please check out health effects of caffeine for yourself- I am not a doctor.  Well, actually I am a doctor, but not that kind.

Another health effect of caffeine is sleep disruption.  This was not really a problem for me since all of my caffeine consumption was in the morning.  The half life of caffeine in the human body is approximately 8 hours, so by evening most of the caffeine from your morning coffee has been metabolized and is not going to keep you awake or disrupt your sleep.  However some people drink coffee in the afternoon, and even at night.  This is almost certain to cause sleep disruption which can have a range of negative health effects.

Caffeine in high doses can cause headaches and jumpiness.  I did experience a caffeine headache from too much caffeine once and it was not pleasant.  You can also get headaches from caffeine withdrawal- if you are not able to get your morning coffee, you may get a headache and generally feel crummy.  I also experienced this type of headache many times when my caffeine supply was disrupted for various reasons.

Cutting your caffeine intake can save you money.  If you don't "need" several cups of coffee each day, you can certainly reduce your coffee spending.  If you don't require as much caffeine to get through the day, you can choose lower cost or free beverages instead of springing for highly caffeinated coffee which goes for over $2 per cup at coffee shops.

How to reduce caffeine intake and still enjoy great coffee

So, you've decided to cut back on caffeine or even quit caffeine.  How can you reduce your caffeine intake, avoid headaches and withdrawal symptoms, and still enjoy great coffee?  You want to slowly reduce your caffeine intake, avoiding sudden changes.  I tried suddenly cutting my caffeine intake in half and this caused headaches and I felt grumpy and couldn't concentrate.  After going back to my full level of caffeine, I slowly stepped down my caffeine level over a two week period.  I was able to adjust easily to this rate of change.

There are methods to gradually reduce your caffeine intake:
Method 1:  You can just cut back on the amount of coffee grounds you use each day- and cut back on the water by the corresponding amount to gradually reduce your caffeine consumption.

Method 2: Another approach is to mix decaf coffee grounds with your regular coffee grounds, gradually increasing the ratio of decaf to regular.  This method has the advantage that you still get your normal amount of coffee all the time, which can be easier to deal with than having less coffee each day.

There are a number of coffee substitutes such as chickory, carob root, Teccino, Pero, Postum, and others that have little or no caffeine.  These can be mixed with coffee grounds, or used to replace a second cup of regular coffee.  Also hot tea (either black tea or green tea) has much less caffeine than coffee- try to substitute tea for some of your coffees.

Method 3:  Set a strict cut-off time for caffeinated coffee.  For example no coffee (except decaf) after 10am or noon, etc.  This will help you reduce or avoid sleep problems, and can help you lower your overall caffeine intake.

You may find the best approach for you is to use a combination of all of these methods to gradually reduce your caffeine intake.  If you cut caffeine too quickly, you will have withdrawal symptoms and are likely to resume your previous high level of caffeine intake to relieve your symptoms.

My goal was to cut back to a single 16 ounce of regular coffee per day, which I reached after 2 weeks of gradually reducing caffeine intake.  This seems like a manageable and moderate level of caffeine intake, and I focus on making one great cup of regular fully-caffeinated coffee every morning.  After that I switch to decaf coffee, decaf black tea, and green tea.

If you decide to go further in reducing your caffeine intake, how do you completely quit caffeine?

Quit Caffeine

The approach to quit caffeine is the same for reducing caffeine intake- keep reducing your caffeine intake gradually each day.  If you want to quit caffeine, you'll need to keep going until you are drinking only decaf or coffee substitutes.  To really quit caffeine completely, you'll need to watch out for caffeine from sources other than coffee such as soda, tea, and chocolate.

I think enjoying coffee in moderation is good for you.  As with most things, too much of even a good thing can have consequences.  It is worth considering how much caffeine is the maximum you want each day, allowing you to enjoy some coffee without negative consequences of too much caffeine.

Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Coffee Terms and Definitions: What is a Latte?

Coffee Terms and Definitions

Coffee terms can be confusing- many are based on foreign words, and many people use coffee terms incorrectly, adding to confusion.  This article provides definitions of common coffee terms with pictures.

Coffee Drink Names and Definitions- What is a Latte?

Latte- Equal parts espresso and steamed milk

Latte- espresso and steamed milk
Image courtesy of cyclonebill CC-SA-20

Cafe au lait- Strong drip brewed or French press coffee with steamed milk added.  This differs from a Latte since espresso is not used as the coffee base.

Cappuccino- Equal parts espresso and steamed milk, topped with frothed milk foam.  May contain chocolate and other sweet flavorings

Cappuccino with leaf pattern in the froth
Image courtesy of  Sven Lindner

Frappe- Iced coffee drink with mocha or caramel, popular at McDonalds McCafe

Espresso- Strong coffee prepared using high brewing and temperature.  Espresso is used to make coffee drinks including latte and cappuccino

Steamed Milk- Milked that has been heated and increased in volume, but not frothed

Frothed Milk- Milk that has been heated and frothed with a steam wand on an espresso machine to make it foamy

Decaf- Decafinated coffee- at least 97.5% of the original amount of caffeine has been removed.

Cafe Americano- Coffee made by adding shots of espresso to hot water

Macchiato- Espresso topped with steamed milk.  You can order a macchiato topped with flavored syrup, for example a caramel macchiato

Frappuccino- Starbucks iced coffee drink- think of this as a coffee milkshake made with coffee and fruit blended with ice

Coffee Ordering Definitions- What does Venti mean?

Whip- Whipped cream added to the top of a coffee drink

Soy- Soy milk, used instead of cow's milk upon request in coffee drinks

Double- Two shots of espresso instead of one in a coffee drink

Mocha- Chocolate flavoring in a coffee drink

Sugar in the Raw- Sugar that is less processed than regular sugar.  It has larger granules and tastes like a cross between regular sugar and brown sugar

Barista- Name of the person at the coffee shop who makes coffee- "barista" applies to both males and females

Venti- The name for a 24 ounce coffee size at Starbucks

Tall- The name for 12 ounce coffee size at Starbucks

Grande- The name for 16 ounce coffee size at Starbucks

Trenta- The name for 31 ounce coffee size at Starbucks, where available

Coffee Brewing Technique Definitions- What is pour over coffee?

Pour Over- Pour over coffee is made by pouring hot water from a kettle over coffee grounds held in a plastic or ceramic cone.  Most coffee shops will make pour over coffee upon request.

Coffee dripper to make pour over coffee
Image source: Dr. Penny Pincher

French Press- French press coffee is made by placing coffee grounds in a glass canister and adding hot water.  A plunger screen is used to press the grounds to the bottom of the canister after steeping for a few minutes, and french press coffee is served.

Espresso- An espresso machine is used to brew coffee at higher temperature and under higher pressure than an auto drip brewer.  Espresso machines may have a steam wand that can be used to make steamed milk or froth for making latte or cappuccino.

Auto Drip- The most common type of coffee maker.  The auto drip coffee maker automatically heats water from its reservoir and slowly drips hot water into a filter basket containing coffee grounds to brew coffee.  The best auto drip coffee makers use cone filters and have thermal carafes.

Cowboy Coffee- Cowboy coffee is made without a coffee maker and without a coffee filter.  Add coffee grounds to hot water in a pan, allow to steep, and then carefully pour off coffee leaving most of the grounds in the bottom of the pan.

Coffee Making Equipment Definitions- What is a cone filter?

Espresso Maker- Specialized coffee maker that uses very hot water and pressure to make a type of coffee called espresso.  This strong coffee is used to make coffee drinks such as Latte or Cappuccino, or espresso may be drunk straight in small servings.

French Press- Glass pot with a metal screen and plunger.  Place coffee grounds in the glass pot, pour in hot water, and let steep for about 3 minutes.  Press the plunger to screen the grounds to the bottom of the pot and serve French Press coffee.

Coffee Dripper- Small plastic or ceramic cone that is placed over a coffee cup.  A cone filter and coffee grounds are placed in the dripper, and how water is poured into the dripper, resulting in brewed coffee.

Vault- Storage canister for coffee beans, may have vent to allow gases from the beans to vent, maximizing freshness.

Auto Drip Coffee Maker- The most common type of coffee maker.  Coffee grounds are placed in a filter basket, and hot water water is slowly dripped into the filter basket, resulting in brewed coffee.

Coffee Filter Basket- This is the plastic bowl in an auto drip coffee maker where the coffee filter and coffee grounds are placed.

Coffee Filter Types- The shape of the coffee filter basket determines what type of coffee filter you need- either Cone Filter or Basket Filter.

Cone Filter- Paper coffee filter shaped like a cone with a point on the bottom

Basket Filter- Paper coffee filter shape that is flat on the bottom, the most common shape for auto drip coffee makers.

Reservoir- The part of an auto drip coffee maker where cold water is placed for brewing coffee.

Coffee Grinder- Used to grind whole coffee beans into ground coffee.  There are 3 major types of coffee grinders: burr grinders, disc grinders, and blade grinders.

Blade coffee grinder- disc and burr grinders produce better coffee
Image source: Dr. Penny Pincher

K-cup- Small plastic cup that contains coffee grounds, used in Keurig single serve coffee brewing machines.  This article shows what is inside a K-cup and how much K-cups cost.

Single Serve Brewer- Coffee makers that use a small container of coffee grounds to conveniently make a single cup of coffee quickly and easily.  Examples include Keurig, Senseo,  and Verisimo coffee brewers.

Coffee Bean and Coffee Roasting Terms- What is city roast?

Fair Trade- Coffee beans purchased from coffee growers in a manner to ensure reasonable profits for the growers.

Single Origin- Describes coffee beans from a single country or region rather than a blend of beans from various locations.

Shade Grown- Coffee beans grown under the rain forest canopy, rather than clear cutting an area to grow coffee trees.

Dark Roast- Coffee beans roasted for longest, reaching a dark color and smokey flavor.  Dark roast coffee has less caffeine than lighter roasts.  Dark roast beans have oil on the surface.

Dark roast coffee beans are dark brown, oily, and smell smokey
Image source: Dr. Penny Pincher

French Roast- Very dark roast coffee, smokey sweet

City Roast- Medium-dark coffee roast, more smokey, sweeter, and more oily than medium roast

Medium Roast- Coffee roasted beyond first crack develops a sweeter flavor and the beans have some oil on the surface after roasting

Light Roast- Coffee beans roasted for shortest time, remaining a light brown color after roasting.  Roasting stops just after first crack.  Light roast coffee is more acidic than darker roasts.

First Crack- When coffee beans are roasted, they reach a temperature that causes the coffee bean to visibly expand and make a cracking sound.  The first time this occurs during roasting is known as "first crack".

Second Crack- When roasting continues beyond first crack, the beans will expand further and make a second cracking sound, known as "second crack"

Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Coffee Maker Cleaner: Should You Clean your Coffee Maker with Vinegar?

Why You Need to Clean Your Coffee Maker

Should you clean your coffee maker with vinegar?
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

When I talk about cleaning your coffee maker, I am talking about cleaning the INSIDE of your coffee maker. Water carries dissolved minerals that are deposited inside your coffee maker. When the water evaporates from liquid into steam, it leaves mineral deposits inside your coffee maker. These deposits of lime, calcium, and other minerals result in slower water flow through your coffee maker. Some effects of mineral deposits inside your coffee maker:

• It takes longer to make coffee. A coffee maker with severe mineral deposits can take more than twice as long to make a pot of coffee.
• It can affect the taste of your coffee. One side effect of slower brewing can be that the coffee starts to become stale before you drink it, especially if it is sitting on a burner
• Your coffee maker can stop working due to excessive mineral deposits. The flow of water through your coffee maker can slow to a trickle and even stop completely. You will not longer be able to make coffee!

How Often Should You Clean Your Coffee Maker?

How often you need to clean your coffee maker depends on the hardness of the water that you use to make coffee. In my area, the water is hard- meaning it carries a lot of dissolved minerals. Even though my house has a water softener to remove some of the minerals, it still affects my coffee maker after about 1 month of brewing 1 pot of coffee per day.

If the water is not hard in your area, and you only brew one pot of coffee per day, you may be able to go 2 or 3 months between cleanings. If your water is hard and you brew more than one pot of coffee per day, you may need to clean your coffee maker more than once per month.

Should You Clean a Coffee Maker with Vinegar?

Vinegar contains an acid- acetic acid. The acid in vinegar allows it to dissolve minerals readily. Vinegar is also edible, although it has a sour taste and strong acidic smell. These characteristic- being acidic and edible- make vinegar a good coffee maker cleaner. Many coffee maker manuals suggest using vinegar to clean coffee makers.

Vinegar for cleaning coffee makers
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

However, the strong odor and taste of vinegar are factors that make it undesirable to use as a coffee maker cleaner. My wife can tell from anywhere in the house when I start cleaning the coffee maker with vinegar! It also leaves the taste of vinegar behind- you should run 2 pots of water through your coffee maker after cleaning it with vinegar to remove the vinegar taste so it won't taint you coffee.

What is the Best Coffee Maker Cleaner?

If you don't like the odor and taste of vinegar, there are other options. You can buy coffee maker cleaners that contain acid other than acetic acid. A common type is coffee maker cleaner that uses sulfamic acid. This is available in liquid form or in power form that you mix with water.

Dip-it liquid coffee maker cleaner- no bad smell!
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

I tried a brand of sulfamic acid coffee maker cleaner called "dip-it". I found that it worked as well as vinegar, but without the bad smell and taste. dip-it costs about $3.50 for a 7 oz bottle of liquid that can clean your coffee maker twice.

After running 5 cups of water with 1/2 a bottle (3.5 oz) of dip-it through your coffee maker, rinse by brewing 2 pots of cold water only and you are ready to make coffee again.

You can also get the powder form of sulfamic acid in a brand called Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker Cleaner. You mix the power with water and run the mixture though your coffee maker in the same way as when brewing coffee. A box of Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker Cleaner contains 2 packets of powder- enough to clean your coffee maker twice.

Mr. Coffee coffee maker cleaner powder
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

As with vinegar and the dip-it liquid coffee maker cleaner, you'll need to rinse your coffee maker by brewing cold water only twice before making coffee.

Coffee Maker Cleaner can Fix a Broken Coffee Maker!

After 8 months of making great coffee with my Melitta coffee maker, the coffee maker suddenly stopped working. It produced only steam. Almost no hot water reached the brew basket, so I got no coffee. Believe me, it was a rough start to the day! Here's a description of how I survived making coffee with a broken coffee maker for a few days. This method of making coffee also works in a power outage with no electricity.

I assumed the failure was caused by a clogged or stuck check valve in the tube from the reservoir to the heating element. I contacted Melitta customer service with a description of the problem. I expected them to have me send the unit in for repair, or even replace the unit since it was still under a 1 year warranty.

The response from Melitta came back on the next business day. They recommended cleaning the coffee maker with vinegar. I had been cleaning my coffee maker with vinegar every month or two. I think it had been even more than two months since I cleaned it when it stopped working. Our water is hard and has lots of mineral content. But I was skeptical that deposits would cause the coffee maker to suddenly stop working.

I decided a vinegar treatment was worth a try. I filled the reservoir with white vinegar, 4% concentration, and turned the coffee maker on. At first just steam came out the top, but eventually there was a slow drip of vinegar into the pot. It took about 90 minutes to run the first tank of vinegar through. I picked up some stronger vinegar- 5% concentration. This went through in about 10 minutes! I ran one more tank of vinegar to get it really clean. I was back in business.

I didn't realize how important it is to clean your coffee maker regularly. I'm going to clean my coffee maker once a month to prevent this from happening again. I'll clean it on the first of every month so I don't forget.

Coffee Maker Cleaner Recommendations

• Clean your coffee maker with coffee maker cleaner once a month
• Use either vinegar or a sulfamic acid product
• Vinegar is cheap and effective, but smells horrible when you heat it in your coffee maker
• Use a coffee maker cleaner with sulfamic acid such as dip-it or Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker Cleaner if the smell of vinegar bothers you
• Coffee maker cleaner such as dip-it or Mr. Coffee Coffeemaker Cleaner takes up a lot less room in your pantry than a large bottle of vinegar

Recommended Reading:

How to Make Great Coffee at Home

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

How to Make Great Coffee at Home

How to Make Great Coffee at Home

How to make a great cup of coffee
Source: Image Courtesy of Julius Schorzman CC-SA-20

If you want to make great coffee at home, you’ll need to make coffee differently than most people. You may need some additional equipment, for example a coffee bean grinder and a coffee maker with a cone filter basket and thermal carafe. The good news is that these items are not very expensive. You may also need to buy your coffee in a different way- whole beans rather than ground coffee. You may need to change the main ingredient in your coffee- the water you use. The better the water, the better the coffee will be. Making great coffee is not very difficult or expensive, but you need to know a few tricks to get the best tasting, freshest coffee possible.

Great Coffee Begins with Whole Coffee Beans

Great coffee beans make great coffee!
Source: Image courtesy of Nate Steiner CC-20

There are lots of high quality coffee beans available in stores and on-line. Look for Arabica coffee beans- not Robusta. Robusta coffee beans have a sour flavor and are not nearly as good as Arabica beans. Green coffee beans are roasted to develop flavor. During roasting, coffee beans will make a cracking sound as they transition from green coffee to light roast coffee (“first crack”). The beans will crack again as they transition from medium roast to dark roast (“second crack”). Light roast coffee tends to be more acidic. Medium roast is sweeter. Dark roast develops spicy flavors, and French roast (or double roast) takes on a smoky flavor. The darker the roast of the coffee beans, the more oily the beans will appear. My current favorite is medium to dark roast. I look for coffee beans that are just slightly oily.

I avoid “flavored” coffee beans. You can buy coffee beans flavored with hazelnut, caramel, and other flavors. I like the flavor of natural coffee much better. If you like flavoring, add a bit of flavoring syrup after you have brewed the coffee, but do not use flavored beans. I suspect that coffee companies use their stale coffee beans or low quality coffee beans in flavored coffee. You can cover up a lot of problems by flavoring the beans…

Unlike cheese, the more words used to describe the coffee beans, the better the quality of the beans. Some good attributes in coffee beans are single origin, shade grown, and organic. While these attributes alone do not ensure high quality coffee beans, if attention is being paid to how the coffee is produced and sold, it is likely to result in high quality coffee beans.

I buy enough coffee beans to last for about 1 week and keep them in an airtight container in a cool dark place. While it is important to keep coffee beans cool to protect flavor, I do not recommend placing coffee beans in the refrigerator or freezer. Coffee beans easily pick up flavors from their environment and could pick up stray flavors from your refrigerator or freezer. Exposing cold coffee beans to room temperature air also causes moisture to condense on the coffee beans. I prefer to store my coffee beans in a pantry or cupboard at about 75 degrees.

Grind Coffee Beans Just Before Brewing Coffee

Great coffee starts with whole coffee beans. For the best tasting coffee, you’ll need to grind the beans immediately before brewing. When coffee is ground, it starts to lose flavor. You can buy whole coffee beans at the grocery store and use a grinder at the store if you want to use coffee grounds at home. However, this is still not nearly as good as grinding whole beans fresh for every pot of coffee that you brew. For great coffee at home, you will need a coffee grinder. You can get good coffee grinders starting at around $30.

Blade coffee grinder- not as good as a burr coffee grinder
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The main varieties are blade grinders, disc burr grinders, and conical burr grinders. Avoid blade grinders unless you are on a tight budget. I found that disc burr grinders are a good value. Conical burr grinders provide the best tasting coffee, but these are the most expensive type of coffee grinder. This article describes the types of coffee grinders with pictures.

Use Filtered Water to Make Great Coffee

Since water is the main ingredient in coffee, you want to use the best quality water you can get. Using a water filer can remove unwanted minerals and flavors from your tap water. You can buy carbon filters that are built-in to a water pitcher. If you have a refrigerator that dispenses water, this is a great way to get water for coffee. Just make sure your filer has been changed recently- most refrigerators need a new filer every 6 months.

Use the Right Kind of Coffee Maker to Make Great Coffee

Basket Filter vs Cone Filter

Auto drip coffee makers are very convenient. They heat the water to the correct temperature and drip it over the ground coffee at the correct rate to extract maximum flavor from the ground coffee. The type of filter basket that your coffee maker has is important to flavor extraction. The main types of filter baskets in coffee makers are described as either cone filters or basket filters. Basket filters have a flat bottom, while cone filters are wider at the top and narrow to a point at the bottom.

Coffee makers with cone filters extract more flavor from your coffee beans. Water flows through more of the coffee beans in a cone filter than in a basket filter. In a basket filter, the water tends to flow down through the ground coffee directly below where the water drips out inside the coffee maker. This results in some of the coffee grounds being underutilized. In a cone filter, water is forced to flow through the coffee grounds more evenly, resulting in better flavor extraction. This article explains the differences between cone filters and basket filters.

Glass Carafe vs Thermal Carafe

If your coffee maker has a glass carafe that sits on a burner to keep it warm, you are not getting the best coffee that you can. Heating the coffee on a burner makes it taste stale very quickly. Instead use a coffee maker with a thermal carafe to keep the coffee warm without heating it on a burner. The ideal temperature for brewing coffee is between 195 and 205 degrees. Coffee should not be heated after it is brewed- this results in stale, bitter tasting coffee. This article reviews my favorite thermal coffee maker.

Where to Start to Make Great Coffee at Home?

There is a lot to learn and possibly some coffee equipment to buy. I would suggest the place to start would be to use filtered water with your existing coffee equipment.

The next step: get a coffee grinder and start grinding whole beans just before brewing. You'll notice a big improvement in the flavor of your coffee!

After that, consider getting a coffee maker with a cone filter and thermal carafe. This will help you to make great coffee at home. I like the coffee I make myself at home better than Starbucks or Intelligentsia coffee from a coffee shop.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

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Travel Coffee Maker Buyer's Guide

Travel Coffee Maker- How to Make Coffee when Traveling

When you are away from home and want coffee, you basically have 2 options: you can buy coffee, or you can bring a coffee maker with you. If you are going to be away from home for more than a few days, buying coffee every day can get expensive- especially if you are at a tourist location or visiting an expensive city. If you need a couple cups of coffee per day, you could be spending $6 per day buying coffee at a coffee shop. It doesn't take many days of this before buying a travel coffee maker starts to make financial sense.

What are the Most Important Features in a Travel Coffee Maker?

Size, cost, and durability are the most important features to look for in selecting a travel coffee maker.

Travel Coffee Maker Size

Size is probably the most important feature in a travel coffee maker. If you are like me, you don’t have a lot of extra space in your luggage. In addition to the coffee maker, you will also need to pack some coffee grounds and coffee filters so you can use your travel coffee maker. Look for the smallest and lightest coffee maker that will make enough coffee. Most travel coffee makers weigh about 3 pounds and stand about 12 inches high.

Travel Coffee Maker Cost

There is good news on travel coffee maker cost- you can get some very inexpensive small coffee makers that make ideal travel coffee makers. Some models that include a thermal travel cup start under $20. Many 4 and 5 cup coffee makers that would make good travel coffee makers cost less than $35. If you want the convenience of a single serve coffee maker, you can get a Keurig Mini for $99. If you can use a coffee dripper (see description below), these can be purchased for about $10.

Travel Coffee Maker Durability

Your coffee maker will get some abuse if you travel with it. It will need to survive in your luggage. You don't want to bring something fragile that will require careful packing, so a good travel coffee maker should be durable. You may want to avoid a glass carafe for a travel coffee maker. You can choose small coffee makers with steel carafes. There are also small coffee makers that use a thermal cup instead of a carafe. There are also models that do not have a carafe- you provide a cup that is not included with the coffee maker.

Types of Travel Coffee Makers

There are three primary types of travel coffee makers:

Auto drip. This is the easiest to use and probably most similar to your coffee machine at home.

Espresso maker. You could pack a small espresso maker. If you want coffee rather than espresso, simply mix a shot of espresso with hot water to make café Americano.

Pour-over coffee dripper. There are several ways to make coffee without a coffee maker, one of the simplest is to make pour over coffee. One is to use a coffee dripper. This is a plastic or ceramic cone that uses cone filters. Place a cone filter and coffee grounds in the dripper, place the dripper over a coffee cup, and pour hot water into the coffee dripper to brew coffee. You will need to get hot water to use a coffee dripper to make coffee. You can microwave water in a coffee cup at the hotel to get hot water.

Auto Drip Travel Coffee Makers with Carafe

Small 4 and 5 cup coffee makers work well as travel coffee makers. Some have a steel carafe rather than a glass carafe, which should be more durable for travel. These coffee makers can make enough coffee for 2 people at once.

Black and Decker 4 cup travel coffee maker with glass carafe
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Cuisinart 4 cup travel coffee maker with steel carafe
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Mr. Coffee 5 cup travel coffee maker with steel carafe
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Auto Drip Travel Coffee Makers without Carafe

There are also small coffee makers that do not have a carafe. I like the ones that brew directly into an insulated travel mug. This would be ideal if you are traveling alone and only need coffee for one person. You can also get small coffee brewers without a carafe the brew into any cup that you provide. This reduces the size and weight of the travel coffee maker since you do not need to carry the carafe.

Black and Decker travel coffee maker with thermal cup
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Kitchen Select travel coffee maker brews coffee into a cup that you provide
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Single Serve Travel Coffee Maker

The Keurig Mini is a small Keurig coffee machine that could be packed and used as a travel coffee maker. Using K-cups while traveling would be more convenient than dealing with coffee grounds and filters. At $99, the price of the Keurig Mini is a bit higher than the other travel coffee maker options.

Keurig mini travel coffee maker- take your k-cups with you!
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Espresso Maker Travel Coffee Maker

A small espresso maker could be used as a travel coffee maker. This would be a fun way to get your daily dose of caffeine while traveling!

Use a small espresso maker as a travel coffee maker
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Travel Coffee Maker Filters

I always use a paper filer to make coffee- the paper filter removes oils from coffee that can contribute to cholesterol. Some travel coffee makers have a permanent nylon filter. This is handy, but doesn’t filter the cholesterol out of your coffee. I recommend using a paper filter to avoid issues with cholesterol. Using an espresso maker or French press to make coffee has the same issue. If you are not using a paper filter, you are getting some cholesterol from your coffee.

Hotel Coffee Makers- Use at Your Own Risk!

Don’t most hotel rooms provide a small coffee maker and some coffee pods so you can brew coffee in your hotel room? Yes, but there are a couple issues with using hotel coffee makers. First, the coffee is not very good- I have yet to brew a great cup of coffee using the pods and the hotel coffee maker. Second, the coffee maker may not be cleaned regularly, or may be wiped down with the same dirty rag used to clean the counters and other surfaces of your hotel room. I once saw a TV news story showing video from a hidden camera to reveal how maids cleaned coffee makers in hotel rooms- and it wasn't pretty. I would recommend either buying coffee at the hotel coffee shop or bringing your own travel coffee maker rather than using a hotel coffee maker.

Hotel coffee makers are often not cleaned properly- use at your own risk!
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

Travel Coffee Maker Recommendations

• There are some interesting travel coffee makers that include a thermal travel mug instead of a carafe- this would be really handy for one person while traveling
• If you are traveling with others who drink coffee, pack a small 4 or 5 cup coffee maker, can of coffee grounds and box of filters on a longer trip if you don't want to buy coffee
• If you have a bit more room, pack a Keurig Mini and some K-cups
• Hotel rooms often provide a coffee maker, but consider it dirty and rinse it out if you decide to use it
• Use a paper filter when brewing coffee to avoid cholesterol from your coffee

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Penny Pincher. All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal

Intelligentsia Coffee

Intelligentsia Coffee

I had a day off this summer and was walking around downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa after dropping my son off at an activity.  I saw a sign in a storefront that made me stop and study it.  Signs that mention coffee sometimes have this effect on me.  I had heard of Intelligentsia Coffee before and decided to investigate.

Intelligentsia Coffee Store Window Sign
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The Intelligentsia Coffee sign was in the window of The Early Bird, an independent coffee shop on 2nd Street near the Paramount Theater.  The store was clean and bright.  It was a week day, and regulars were ordering sandwiches and afternoon coffee.  The late lunch crowd was mostly lawyers and bankers.  Intelligentsia coffee was proudly offered and I couldn’t resist trying some.

Intelligentsia Coffee at local coffee shop
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

The price for a 20 oz cup of Intelligentsia coffee was $2 even.  Unfortunately it was afternoon, so I limited myself to decaf.  The decaf offering was Intelligentsia Librarian's Blend.  The flavor had citrus notes, a bit sour, bright, with a spectrum of flavor on the light side.  This roast is not smoky at all, at least compared with my typical dark roast selections.  I liked this roast more and more the more I drank it walking around downtown.  It’s a really good light roast with lots of bright flavor.  This light roast reminded me that coffee is a fruit product made from the seeds of coffee cherries.  I drank it black- it would be good with a bit of honey.  I decided to walk back to the coffee shop and check on how refills work...

Cup of Intelligentsia Coffee
Image Source: Dr. Penny Pincher

I asked the friendly barista about refills- she said “go for it”.  I’m liking this place even more now!  I refilled with Decaf Librarian’s Blend, adding honey this time.  I’ll try to visit sometime in the morning to try Intelligentsia dark roast.  Based on the popularity of Intelligentsia coffee, I have high expectations.

Where to Find Intelligentsia Coffee

Intelligentsia Fresh Roasted Coffee
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Here are the best places to find Intelligentsia coffee:

Local coffee shop.  If you’re lucky like I was, you can find a local coffee shop that serves Intelligentsia coffee.  Coffee shops can order coffee, and apparently signs, from Intelligentsia.  Try searching the web for Intelligentsia coffee and the name of your city to see if any local coffee shops are brewing Intelligentsia.

Intelligentsia coffee bars in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.  If you live in one of these cities, you can go straight to the source.  Intelligentsia was founded in Chicago and has retail shops in Los Angeles and New York as well.

Order Intelligentsia coffee to make at home.  You can order bags of Intelligentsia whole bean and ground coffee from amazon.com:

• El Diablo Dark Roast
• House Blend
• Black Cat Espresso
• Black Cat Classic Blend
• Organic French Roast
• Decaf Black Cat Espresso

The Intelligentsia website offers more varieties including seasonal varieties and also provides a coffee subscription service.  You can sign up for automatic shipments of your selected coffee at specified intervals.  You can have them ship a bag of coffee every week if you want.

Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Penny Pincher.  All Rights Reserved. Coffee Maker Journal