Move over, coffeepot.
There’s a new pod in town.
A fresh brood of at-home brewers, using single-serving packets or pods of coffee, has invaded. These one-cup wonders seek gourmet-joe converts–and a little bottom-line vengeance–promising:
– Premium coffeehouse taste in the comfort of your own abode! Sippers can kick the coffee-can habit–and a Starbucks one while they’re at it.
– No more household power struggles over flavor or strength!
– No more too-long-on-the-burner bitterness!
– No more foraging for filters, fussing with grounds or dumping three-quarters of a pot for the sake of a single morning fix!
The newest ones will go for anywhere from $60 for a coffeemaker to $500 for a fuss-free espresso machine–less in some cases than a handful of predecessors that they profess to be on par with. (Espresso machines can run into the thousands of dollars.)
In the latest evidence that coffee is the new wine, these at-home alternatives are meant to stand up to discriminating drinkers, the kind weaned on Starbucks, Dean & DeLuca or even Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. The machines aren’t necessarily aimed at the bachelor/ bachelorette set.
The catch: The brewers hold you captive to their prescribed replacement coffee–for your own good, the makers say. The single-serve packets minimize oxygen exposure (spoiler of so many beans) and work exactingly with the machinery (which uses pressure rather than automatic drip) to maximize flavor.
Honed in the office market or tested in Europe first, many of these single-serve coffeemakers could make old coffeepots quiver on their burners.
The single-serve Senseo, an alliance between Sara Lee and Philips, debuts in U.S. stores this month, having already sold more than 5 million machines and 2.5 billion pods of coffee in Europe. More than 30 percent of households in the Netherlands have introduced Senseo to their homes–“faster than the adoption of the DVD, faster than the mobile phone,” contended Philippe Schaillee, vice president of marketing for Sara Lee Coffee and Tea Consumer Brands.
But will these machines send any tremor through the Starbuckses of the world?
“The days of glass-pot systems are being counted now,” said Frank LaRusso, marketing director for Mars Inc.’s Flavia Beverage Systems. The company introduced its one-cup filterpack system to United Kingdom offices in the ’80s, then to the U.S. workplace; more recently to U.S. homes.
No wake for coffeehouses
LaRusso stops well short of predicting the fall of coffeehouse civilization. Not all single-cup brewers make the frothy drinks that are Starbucks’ cash cow, he said.
“Some would say Starbucks is in the milk business,” he said, “not the coffee business.”
That’s why Flavia began offering latte creamer packs, which either work within the brewing cycle (in the higher-end machines) or are put in the cup before brewing, to support the claim that Flavia offers “real coffeeshop choice for both workplace and home.” Many machines also make tea and cocoa.
Those pledges of quality and variety could perk up ears.
“Whatever you make at home never seems to be as good,” said Laura Peff as she rushed from a Starbucks in Old Town, on her way to work Monday morning.
She has been trying to abstain from Starbucks, she said, brewing small batches of coffee at home instead. “This is my special treat,” she said as she ducked into her car.
Others have turned backs on their old grinds, such as Procter & Gamble’s Folgers, Kraft’s Maxwell House and Sara Lee’s Hills Brothers.
Ground-coffee sales dropped about 15 percent at supermarket-type stores from 1998 through 2003, according to Mintel, a market research firm. Coffeeshop sales doubled from 1996 through 2000.
Coffee competes with other beverages too.
“Not quite as many in the younger demographic wake up and drink coffee,” said Mintel’s Kat Fay, a managing research editor in Chicago. They opt for soda or “training-wheel coffee” (bottled Frappuccinos, etc.)
Or “you see them on the train with Red Bull,” Fay said.
Mintel research indicates 79 percent of consumers age 65 and older drink some form of coffee, compared with 55 percent of those age 25 and younger. More coffee drinkers also are reporting only “occasional usage” now.
“The most dedicated coffee drinkers are people like my grandmother, who always had a pot going on the stove, morning, noon and night,” Fay said. “That’s just not happening.”
Still, people in 78 percent of all households drink coffee. And 25.5 percent of households were classified as single-person in 2000, Fay said.
So, no surprise that makers see a market for “precommute cups” and other single servings at home. (That downsizing trend has cropped up elsewhere in Fay’s research–think half-loaves of bread–as a backlash to the “Largeland” style of shopping, Fay said.)
Also, premium coffees are gaining in the same stores where old-school coffees are losing. Sales of P&G’s Folgers dropped 7 percent from 2001 to 2003, but its Millstone increased 37.5 percent. Sales of whole beans have risen by almost 33 percent since 1998.
It stands to reason that these discerning customers may be willing to pay a little more for a premium coffee/premium machine partnership.
Thus we have Home Cafe, an unusual collaboration between P&G and four appliance manufacturers, including Black & Decker, Krups, Mr. Coffee and Hamilton Beach, coming in May. Kraft plans to test its Tassimo in France this year.
A fear factor
It’s risky, however, to restrict the coffee brands, some of which can be purchased only online or over the phone.
“There’s an initial hesitation–`I have to use this coffee?’–but at the end of the day when the result is extraordinary and it’s so convenient, it makes sense,” said Suzanne Kraus, marketing manager for Nestle’s high-end Nespresso espresso systems with premeasured pods of coffee. A fancy $500 model is coming in April.
Consumers may be conditioned to accept higher prices and quirks from espresso machines.
But makers of the other brewers have more explaining to do. Big-company marketing budgets will help–$50 million to support Home Cafe, which will afford broadcast advertising.
“The machine itself is one investment. Then there’s the annuity of the coffee. Do [consumers] want to go through the hassle?” asks Peter Greene, vice president and general manager of NPD Houseworld, a division of the NPD Group, a retail tracking firm. “I think it’s still too new [to tell].”
Besides, the coffeehouse prods you to put some distance between yourself and the cubicle or the couch (particularly helpful during NCAA March Madness).
None of the one-cup brewers has a blood-clot-prevention function, after all.
April Toussaint, sitting inside that Old Town Starbucks on Monday with colleagues, said she and others go there for the “coffeehouse experience”–social as much as gustatory.
But she also sums up a key point.
“Five dollars for a cup of coffee,” Toussaint said, “sometimes can be a little too much.”
– – –
1-cup wonders
. . . and an everlasting $20 bill
This is a test–but not only a test–of single-serve coffeemakers. It’s also a tale of the $20 bill that wouldn’t go away.
In the interest of domestic science, Q hooked up several cup-at-a-time brewers a few weeks ago and began on-the-job research, unaware of what would become the biggest side effect of the experiment.
We’re not talking about tremors from too much caffeine (though there were those).
Instead, one of us couldn’t shake the $20 bill that her wallet began the week with. Sans Starbucks sojourns to lure it away, the bill stayed put on Tuesday. Still there on Wednesday. By Thursday, it had given new meaning to “ATM withdrawal.”
These one-cup brewers and coffee packs aren’t free. But skipping a daily outlay of time and cash at coffeehouses and/or the usual accessories of do-it-yourself brewing–filters, waste, mess–adds up.
So, single-cup technology, we salute you. And review you.
— Wendy Navratil
Coffee! Tea! Latte! Cocoa!
Machine: Flavia SB100, $99 at www.flavia.net (from Mars Inc.).
Coffee: Filterpacks of 15 coffees, nine teas, cocoa and chai latte, like large foil brewing chambers; sealed individually to keep air out until the instant you brew.
Ounces per cup: 8. (Water tank holds about 14 servings’ worth, suitable for small offices too.)
Cost per cup: About 40 cents (based on average of $8 for 20 filterpacks; prices vary).
Distinctions: Compared with pods, the filterpack better insulates the coffee from air, Flavia says. Creamer packs can be put in the cup before brewing for a latte effect. Cup stand is removable, allowing for two brews into a larger cup or travel mug.
Overall: Though some other makers offer more robust brews, the variety of beverages and freshness for the price make this one an all-around favorite.
New machine, familiar joe
Machine: Home Cafe, starting at about $60, in one of four similar models (Black & Decker and Mr. Coffee available at mass retailers starting in May, followed by Krups and Hamilton Beach); www.home-cafe.com.
Coffee: Tea-bag-type pods, individually wrapped in foil packets, in four Folgers varieties and three from upscale Millstone.
Ounces per cup: 7, 9 or 14. (Tank holds about 34 ounces.)
Cost per cup: 22 to 29 cents (14 Millstone pods or 18 Folgers pods for $3.99).
Distinctions: Nice to have size options. Products also will be at mass stores. Latte-type pods will be available soon. But some sputtering/splattering with Black & Decker machine, which was so lightweight as to seem flimsy.
Overall: Though still mild, Folgers seemed to taste smoother than it does in drip makers. If yours is punking out, this is a worthy replacement.
Freedom of flavors
Machine: B100 from Keurig, $250 at www.keurig.com.
Coffee: K-Cups, like creamer containers at a diner, of more than 30 kinds of coffee (Van Houtte, Gloria Jean’s, Green Mountain organic) and Bigelow, Celestial Seasonings teas.
Ounces per cup: About 10. (Tank holds eight cups’ worth.)
Cost per cup: 56 cents (25 K-Cups for $14).
Distinctions: Impressive range of flavors from different companies, sealed individually. Tank large enough for small offices. Machine can stay on all the time (draws the energy of about a 60-watt bulb).
Overall: We tried the Van Houtte coffees and found them to be the best-tasting among the non-espresso contenders tested. Machine is a little pricey, particularly without frothing option. So this is best for a black-coffee fan who is serious about substituting it for a coffeehouse habit.
Least expensive
Machine: Melitta One: One Pod Brewing System, $50; www.1to1coffee.com or www.melitta.com.
Coffee: Melitta java-pods, like round tea bags (sealed individually), in six flavors of coffee. Also three types of tea.
Ounces per cup: 5 or 8; you choose. (Water tank holds about 24 ounces.)
Cost per cup: About 28 cents, (18 pods per $5 box).
Distinctions: Our test crew was split over coffee quality: One liked the dark roast almost as much as the high-end Nespresso espresso machine. Others thought they detected the B-word–bitterness–in one brew.
Overall: The most affordable single-cup brewer to produce a respectable cup of joe. Again, we liked choosing how much to brew. We also liked the design of the machine, both sleek and sturdy.
Frothy top
Machine: Senseo, debuts this month for $69.99; check www.senseo.com.
Coffee: Tea bag-type pods in mild, medium and dark roasts and decaf, from Douwe Egberts, a Netherlands subsidiary of Chicago-based Sara Lee Corp.
Ounces per cup: 7. (Tank holds 20 ounces.)
Cost per cup: 22 cents (18 pods per $3.99 bag).
Distinctions: Low-pressure system produces a frothy layer, like the crema of espresso, over top of coffee to preserve flavor and provide velvety texture. Can brew through one or two pods at once (for two servings or for larger serving in a single cup). Narrower range of coffees than some machines; no plans yet for cappuccino/latte type creamer pods.
Overall: Coffee flavor seemed richer and smoother than that of two other comparably priced systems. We liked the froth too.
Exceptional espresso
Machine: Nespresso 290D, debuts April 15 for $499 at Bloomingdale’s; www.nespresso.com.
Espresso: Nine kinds, including two decafs, in airtight single-serve capsules.
Ounces per cup: 2.2 or 1 3/4 (need we remind you, this is espresso). Tank holds 41 ounces.
Cost per cup: 45 cents (sleeves of 10 per $4.50 box).
Distinctions: No grinding, tamping. Attachment heats/froths milk for cappuccinos or lattes. Machine swallows used capsules. (Empty chamber occasionally.) The espresso is only at Nespresso.com, for freshness.
Overall: “Wow!” is the consensus. Our espresso veterans say it’s perhaps the best they’ve tasted. It converted one coffee featherweight–no harshness. Of course the price is tough to stomach. If you can live without a couple fancy features, we’re told Nespresso has another estimable machine for $199.
