Keurig, Tassimo or $20 cheapy from Wal-Mart?

[Bronwen]

Hey everyone

DH and I drink a lot of coffee and our frequent Tim's runs are getting rather pricey, especially for student living! We have made the decision to buy a coffee maker, but we're overwhelmed with how many options there are!

Do you have any recommendations? I hear a lot about Keurig and Tassimo. Maybe just cause they're the fad right now...

Factors to consider for our purchase are:
- Price of machine (would like to keep it below $150)
- Whether there are coupons (for the machine itselfand for the coffee we'd be buying all the time)
- Ease of use/speed

If you can share with me your experiences and maybe even explain to me a bit about what K-cups are, how you find your machine, etc, it would help us greatly in our decision making! Also, if you know of any deals atm let me know!

Thanks for looking

[Zonny]

There's lots ofl Tassimo/Keurig threads in here. I have a Keurig myself and we really like it, never tried a Tassimo. It makes a cup of coffee in under a minute. It's great for us because DH and I only each drink one cup a day usually (maybe more on the weekend), it's not really worthwhile to make a whole pot.

The coffee is great, but what I don't like is all the little plastic cups that end up going in the garbage. You can get a refillable k cup and use your own coffee, but I never was very pleased with mine, it dripped and was a bit of a PITA to fill and wash.

[gourmetsue]

We have a Keurig and a Dolce Gusto. Couple of things.

The KCups can get expensive. I have purchased from keurig.com and I now hear there is a place in cambridge (and guelph) that is a little cheaper, but expect to spend about 65 - 90 cents per Kcup. If you're not into the fancy stuff then costco (if you have a membership) has good deals on K cups in big boxes. They also have the best rates on the machines, I think. You can use your My K Cup to put your own coffee in, but from what I remember some folks here had trouble with it dripping. I've had ours a couple of years and never used it.

The Dolce Gusto - great for "fancy" drinks. Like Lattes, cappuccinos etc. Our biggest issue is that it doesn't get super hot. If I'm making tea (using a bag) then I have to microwave it a bit afterwards. There aren't a ton of varieties. I've only just right now learned there is a decaf option. I've never seen it in the shops, just found it online. For a regular cup of coffee, you are looking at 8.49 (on sale for 6.49) for 16 pcs so 53 cents a cup. The fancier drinks are the same cost per box, but you need 2 of the pods so the price is double $1.06 per drink.

So overall, it's cheaper to get a Keurig / Tassimo / Dolce Gusto than to go to Tim's for two people everyday, but the MOST cost effective way, especially if you're drinking a few cups at a time is to get a good old fashioned $20 jobby.

Good luck with whatever you pick.

[torontogal12]

We have a Keurig. Only my husband drinks coffee and the smell of coffee really bothers me. The single serve means less smell wafting throughout the house and no wasted pots of coffee for just one person. It brews in less than a minute (even hot water) so its great if you need hot water for tea too.

Coffee can get expensive but Future Shop and Best Buy sometimes have half price sales. You can get them at Canadian Tire with your scratch card winnings, or use one of the many Folgers K-Cup coupons available for either $1 or $1.50. For Timothy's and Vanhoutte, 18 packs are about $12.99 regular price and 12 packs are 9.99 regular price. Folgers is less. Some Timothy's cafe locations will let you custom mix and match a box of 24 for $17 so if you like having a different flavour every time like my husband does, it makes it easy because you don't need to use up a whole bag to switch to your next flavour.

Tassimo is more of a "fancy" coffee machine and makes things lattes and cappuccinos so if that's what you are looking for, you should probably go with that.

The coffee for these single serve machines is more expensive than the pot, but cheaper than Tims. If you just pour most of the coffee pot down the drain, or want the different flavours, this might be a good solution for you

[matrix82]

Any reason why you are looking at a machine that takes the little packs? You can get coffee makers where you can make a whole pot or just a cup, cuisnart makes one nice model.

For the price of a Keurig or Tassimo you could buy a nice regular coffeepot, and a coffee bean grinder and a milk frother to make tons of fancy drinks for pennies.

It's the pods that gets expensive. A regular coffee machine would be cheaper per cup.

[matrix82]

here is an example of a cheap one cup coffee maker:

$15.
http://www.amazon.com/Toastess-TFC-3.../dp/B000FQX150

This is a more expensive make a pot or make a cup machine:
$99

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...ff2baeffd6en02

The second one has more features such as being able to set a time for the machine to start brewing etc.

This one:
$110

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...2d5001895den02

It allows you to make the pot, or 1-4 cups, or just hot water.



All that being said, people seem to really like the Tassimo and the Keurig when they have them. I've tried both and found them pretty much the same.

I really want to get a new coffeemaker. I want a programmable one, but until our $20 Black and Decker wears out, we are stuck with it.

[Bronwen]

Thanks everyone you were all very helpful! I like the option of a single cup serving because we never have more than one cup each at a time... I always see people looking for Van Houtte coupons on here - do they apply to the k-cups for any machine?

[Mia]

I completely agree with matrix82! If you like coffee from Tim Hortons just buy an ordinary coffee maker + coffee grinder + milk frother and make your own coffee whichever you want depending on your taste and why not, also mood

I was also thinking of buying Keurig or Tassimo (though I totally changed my mind about Tassimo because a reusable filter cannot be applied for that, and being dependant only on T-Cups? - no, thanks, I love coffee, not T-something). But honestly, though Keuring has a reusable filter option, after reading reviews about some program errors after 1 and a little more year of using that, and thinking, that all the "coffees" from coffeemakers are the same (it depends on the way you brew that - of course, I don't mean K - or - T - cups, they have so many "non-coffee", fancy varietes), so I decided to buy a $20 Black and Decker coffeemaker from Amazon (but that was free for me with Superpoints and Swagbucks gift cards).

But that has to be your own decision, it's just my opinion. Actually, for me coffee is COFFEE from a regular coffee pot (or jezve), the other "coffee"s are just a little change for once a while to my ordinary lifestyle with a strong, 1 teaspoon coffee + less than half teaspoon sugar brewed coffee in jezve (a small, ordinary, stainless steal coffee pot) for 1 small cup of coffee (not a mug, of course).

That's why I decided to stay away from Keurigs and Tassimos. For me Black and Decker is fine.

As for coupons for Van Houtte, well, if you're really thinking of buying something like Keurig, Tassimo or Dolce Gusto, just go for Keurig and buy a reusable filter for that (that will make you good savings). Then buy a bag of Van Houtte coffee with coupons (or Melitta with coupons), and don't make yourself dependable on K-Cups.

Just a reminder:
You can do better coffee by yourself in a reusable filter for a Keurig (if you really want Keurig - Tassimo - Dolce Gusto), than a K-cup has! It's just a matter of time and experience! Just experience with measuring of coffee + sugar, and then adding milk (if you like coffee with milk), eventually you will be the master of your taste!

[Emma24]

Hello Everyone,

New here and a Keurig owner, mother has a tassimo in my family we practically all coffee lovers & always looking for the best deals.

Now to answer some of your questions bronwen. A keurig brewer depending on the model you could be looking anywhere from $85 to $199, but with all the benefits of easy usage/cleaning, coffee in less than a Min, k-cups sold practically everywhere, great customer service it comes to be a great deal.

I have the Elite brewer K40 it was $84, single cup brewer, you can make all sorts of beverages like Tea, cocoa, iced beverages, great tasty coffee. There are over 250 variety of K-cup to choose from, so far i have tried Timothys, Van houte, Lipton ... and there so much more.

check online at keurig http://www.keurig.ca/brewers/keurig-...brewing-system they provide lots of benefits, discounts & contests i am always out on a look for great deals.

[Jessica81hou]

Keurig!!

[Lynn49]

We have a Keurig...I love the flavoured coffee pods, hubby uses the refillable container with normal coffee...love it!!! We use our regular drip maker in the mornings, but if we're craving coffee any other time of the day, we head for the Keurig....!