One of those reduced-size single-cup coffee makers arrived in the DRIVEN penthouse, and it has drastically changed the office java dynamics.
The Keurig Mini B30 is one of those small-footprint, single-cup makers which take a pre-packaged coffee tub (in this case, called a “K-Cup”) to make a single serving of joe. I have not used such a device before, but around the DRIVEN offices, coffee is often a hot, but more-often luke-warm, topic, and the Mini has improved our caffeine flow considerably.
Previously, when we were equipped only with standard 12-cup carafe coffee maker, if one desired a coffee the usual procedure was… contentious and convoluted, to say the least. (You may scroll down for a full and torturous accounting.)
That was the old way.
Since we’ve had the Keurig model, if you want a cup of coffee, you can have a freshly brewed one in three short minutes. The B30 process is simple: put a K-Cup coffee packet in the machine, pour one mug (maximum eight ounces) of water into the reservoir, put your cup under the spiggot, and press the brew button. You can order the K-Cups online at cafebreville.ca, for about 50 cents per serving, but our machine was delivered with an insert (called a My K-Cup, which you can buy separately at the same site, for $16.99) which allows you to brew your own favourite ground coffee (a little Hacienda La Esmeralda, perhaps?) rather than committing yourself to the K-Cup varieties.
The compact machine is designed in such a way that if you are shown the process once, you will be able to repeat it each time. Even if you haven’t been shown how to make the thing work, the process is so simple it’s almost self-explanatory — and it’s even a little bit fun. So, one shot, little effort, one cup of quite tasty coffee. No one gets stuck with the room-temperature dregs, and no one has to pour half a carafe of wasted coffee into the sink.
This brew system is very well suited to small offices, and to offices and homes where there are multiple coffee drinkers whose days run on very different schedules. The compact and attractively styled Keurig Mini B30 retails for about $99.95 at major retailers throughout Canada.
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For those interested: this is the old DRIVEN coffee making method:
1. Ask if there’s coffee.
2. Look sad when the answer is no.
3. Point out how poor are your own coffee-making skills are, not to mention how reviled was the last –in fact, unmentionable — pot you made.
4. Win the ensuing discussion about who makes the worst coffee in the office (the coffee-making duties falling on whomever brews the least-poor pot).
5. Debate the one heaping tablespoon per Imperial Cup vs. one rounded tablespoon per person wanting coffee guidelines, and attempt to resolve how many tablespoons extra to throw in “for the pot.”
6. Wait for the the measure/pour/select/brew process to proceed for the full pot.
7. Drink the cup you wanted. Do not complain too loudly about the flavour. Sorry, “flavour.”
8. Spend the rest of the day listening to co-workers complain about the stale, cold coffee they’re stuck with.
