My Keurig has 8 oz / 10 oz choices on the menu, and the 10 oz seems plenty strong.
I think the contention is that whether 4 oz or 10, you only have as much coffee as there are grounds in the little sealed K-cup. So the 10 oz cup will be weaker.
My observation is that it’s true to a limited extent. For coffee or tea, not enough for my palate to complain. YMMV. For instant hot cocoa or cider, it’s more noticeable. I’ll actually run two K-cups of cocoa at 4 oz each into a single mug rather than trying to stretch a single pod into 8 oz.
Don’t believe everything you read. The first time I tasted Keurig coffee, I was like, “Wow, this is Great!” Long story short, my gf got one for Christmas (she wanted one bad). I had been using a Mr. Coffee up until this point.
Then she moved in, so I started using the Keurig full time. And I still think it makes a really tasty cup of coffee. I like the flavors too, so just about every week I’m on to something different. I have a French press and I like that too when I’m in the mood for exactly that, but mostly I make loose leaf teas in it.
If my gf suddenly moved back out, I’d go back to Mr. Coffee. I’d complain that it wasn’t as good but I’d stick with it because I’m naturally cheap. Much of my lifestyle these days is actually her idea.
It wouldn’t replace our drip brewer, but I’d love to be able to justify buying a Keurig for dinner guests. You can give everyone the hot beverage of their choice with little time and effort spent. Unfortunately for me, we don’t have dinner guests often enough to justify it.
And as many have said, a Keurig is awesome for the office.
I’m not believing everything I read. I drink out of a Keurig 5 days a week. I think it’s inferior to the coffee from a drop maker. Not so much that I’m going to complain too loudly, but still noticeable to me.
Of course, some of it could be attributable to confirmation bias. I’ve never done a blind test. I’ve just always assumed it had to do with the fact that all Keurig pods contain pre-ground coffee.
FYI… as the original poster, I should mention my coffee rig.
Regular 12 cup drip coffeemaker, mid-range grinder, and we do have a French press but it doesn’t get used very often- just on the weekends when one of us can wrangle the kid and the other can mind the press.
Different flavors/brands/etc. of Keurig cups make vastly different-tasting cups of coffee. The Dark Magic is very good. The Timothy’s Columbian is good. The Donut Shop is awful. I don’t like flavored coffee, so I can’t comment on those. Even the Folgers Keurig cup is pretty darn good. I have the kind that you pour in the cup of water and it makes that much coffee–you don’t choose the size. So if I want it stronger, I just pour in less water.
Not sure I can add anything new to the discussion, but I’ll hit the high points for me and my finacee’:
Ease - One cup each in the morning before/on the way to work (she gets up earlier and drinks before she goes, I put my travel mug under the spout as I hit the shower to drink on the way to work).
Consistency - I know every cup I brew will be nearly identical, so there’s no too weak/too strong problem.
Cleanup - Almost non-existant. Don’t need to clean the pot and filter bin each day. Laziness, sure, but you gotta cut corners where you can.
Convienence - If I want a cup of coffee in the evening, I can make one… just one. Or two if I like - without having to make a full pot. The soon-to-be Mrs. loves hot tea after work and on the weekends, and instead of using a tea “pod” she just puts one or two tea bags in, whatever flavor she wants (or mix and match to make her own new flavor) and brews away. There are even hot chocolate cups.
Variety - I like Hazelnut, and she likes French Vanilla? No problem! We both like Donut Shop? Easy peasy. Want to try a super-dark roast, or a light breakfast blend? Knock yourself out.
Overall, I not only endorse a Keurig, but as of this last Christmas I don’t have any close friends or relatives who don’t own one, and love it.
I don’t even like coffee but this thread has made me want to buy a Keurig (or offbrand equivalent)
Yes, if you are thinking the coffee is inferior to coffee you were making in a pot, you ought to try a couple of things. First, use your own in a reusable cup; I cannot tell the difference between coffee made with my Trader Joe’s columbian supremo whole bean in my Cuisinart which grinds the beans immediately before brewing and the same beans ground and put into a pod and brewed as a single cup in the Keurig. Second, try some different pods; there’s a tremendous difference in brands. I bought three or four “columbian” brands and finally settled on the 8 O’Clock Columbian as the most like what I was drinking. Bonus: Walmart has it a lot cheaper than some other brands.
I am sure coffee made in a French Press or espresso pot is better. However, I am way, way too lazy to do that. “Ground right now” is always going to make superior coffee, but “ready right now” is a real winner much of the time.
Not only is it good for offices, but my bank has one and so does my mechanic. That way, customers can have coffee without any staff member having to make it, plus you don’t have that pot of coffee sitting there for God knows how long.
By the time I grind my own beans and dole them out into an individual pod, I might as well make a pot of coffee. Which is what I do for my wife and I on the weekends.
My Meta Thoughts on Coffee:
A. Everything is relative.
II) You’d be surprised at what you can get used to.
3 - Keep things in perspective.
True story: One morning I really wanted a hot cup of coffee. So I dug the trusty C-ration can with the various slots and holes poked into it out of my rucksack and set it on a level piece of ground after brushing away the worst of the loose vegetation. Then I dug around in a different pocket to one of my sticks of C-4 and tore off enough to make a ball about the diameter of a penny and placed it through one of the holes in the can. Then I took both my canteens and canteen cups out from their holders on my web gear. I unfolded the handle on one of the cups and filled it half full with plastic canteen/water purification tablet flavoured water and set it on the C-rat can. I unfolded the handle on the second canteen cup and emptied an envelope of instant coffee powder and an envelope of sugar into it and set it down. Then I unwrapped my sweat towel from my neck, fished out a wooden stick match, and did a visual 360 scan to see if I could spot any movement where there shouldn’t be one, see which way the wind was blowing, and if there was enough canopy to break up the smoke. Then I lit the match and poked it in the hole to light the C-4.
10 seconds later, I wrapped the sweat towel around my hand, grabbed the handle of the cup with the boiling water in it and poured it into the other cup, with some swirling action to take care of the powdered coffee and sugar. Then I put down the hot cup, removed the towel, and switched hands with the cup with coffee in it. The new 2nd LT came up just as I began steeling myself for that first sip and said, “Hey, there’s nothing like a good cup of coffee.” and I replied, “Yup, this is nothing like a good cup of coffee, El Tee.”
So, I’m not going to get all that involved in a coffee maker pissing contest. A, II, and 3, you know? 
Used to have a french press but found it to be a pain with having to boil water first, measure out coffee and then have to clean the stupid thing right away.
K cup solves all those issue. I drink maybe two cups a day max at home.
My office uses Flavia.
No! Noooooooooooooooo!
I can’t stand losing one; not a single french press aficionado can fall by the wayside. Also, are you my wife? Because that’s her complaint as well.
I like the routine. If I fill my kettle with hot tap water if takes around five minutes to get to the proper temp (190ish to 200). Boiling is too hot. Cold water takes around 11 minutes. I don’t have a nice European electric kettle, but I do have a piping hot glass top stove. Four minute steep, and coffee! I don’t bother cleaning the thing until the evening. It doesn’t need more than a dumping of the grounds, a rinse, and a wipe, but sometimes I run it through the dishwasher - just not the stand.
Sorry friend. I don’t have a Keurig, but I also find the french press routine a bit annoying (I only have a french press at home - I tend to barely use it, it tends to be Starbucks from the work cafeteria downstairs in the morning). I just don’t have the time or energy to really do the french press routine all that often.
Applies to something like 95% of life in general!
??? A little doughball of C-4 will boil a cup of water in ten seconds? Yikes!
(I always admired Willie and Joe’s technique in one of Bill Mauldin’s old cartoons: they just ran the Jeep up the hill a few times, till the radiator water got hot!)
I also used to do this, and I’ll admit that french pressed coffee is superior. But I drink two cups of coffee each weekend day, fairly far apart, and I don’t want to screw with it.
Count me among the happy Keurig converts.