I don’t brew much coffee at home. Living alone, I don’t use all that much- unless it’s one of the days I am working from home. So, then, I pull out my Mellita, add the filter, measure out the coffee (and a smidgen of cocoa), and pour in the boiling hot water to match my fresh pot of 8 cups. Which I drink to the last drop. But, most days, I head off to St. Elmo’s and buy a few cups of coffee, drinking it as I talk with friends, read the three or four daily papers in my stack, and then head off to a client facility.
You notice I don’t have a Keurig machine. Although many of my friends and clients do. (So does my synagogue.) I won’t use them because they just produce tons of waste that become environmental problems. But, lots of people do.
And, that’s a real problem for the coffee industry. No, they don’t really care about the environment. But, they do care about selling coffee- by the 11 ounces. (Yeah- when did they start that game, selling me 11 ounces of coffee in that same can that held a pound- for even more money…)
Folks using those K-cups (kind of reminds me of Chrysler and their K-cars- the Reliant/Aries twins) make one cup, drink it up, and may make a second one. But, they are not brewing 6 or 8 cups. Even though they only drink 1 or 2, throwing the rest of the brewed coffee away.
Sure, that’s efficient. But, the coffee vendors want to sell pounds- ok, tons- of coffee. And, having their customers buy a smidgen of coffee in a K-cup doesn’t move their product. Which doesn’t do wonders for their sales and profits. And, with more than ¼ of all coffee drinkers using the K-cup devices, all is not well in bean country.
Sure, those K-cups cost more money per use than bulk coffee. (Coffee sales- mostly due to the higher prices of the K cups- grew from $ 49 to $ 52 billion last year.) But, as the K-cup market share grows, you can bet that the coffee houses are going to take a hit. A big one.
I guess they should be more careful before they embrace that next innovation. Because it may cut their market size even more.
