Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I’ve had a never ending problem with caffeine that I’ve talked about for over ten years:

• Starling Fitness – Caffeine Withdrawal
• Starling Fitness – How To Quit Soda
• Starling Fitness – Diet Mountain Dew
• Starling Fitness – Carbonation, Soda, Aspartame and Caffeine Withdrawal
• Starling Fitness – Avoid Caffeine
• Starling Fitness – Make Coffee At Home: Save Bucks AND Calories
• Starling Fitness – Is Soda Bad For You?
• Starling Fitness – Caffeine!

I have limited my caffeine intake to a single Coke Zero every day. I’ve always said that coffee is the cheapest way to get a caffeine dose, but a cup of coffee is not consistent. What I get from a pot of coffee at a convenience store is different from my automatic drip coffee maker at home, which is also different than what I would get from the local barista.

Know what IS consistent? Keurig coffee makers.

I get the same amount of caffeine every time from that machine, if it will keep working. We LITERALLY have returned three machines because they keep on breaking.

Now, I learn that Keurig is trying to prevent people from using coffee pods from other companies in their machines.

• Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market | Techdirt

“Green Mountain has announced a new anticompetitive plan to maintain its monopoly by redesigning its brewers to lock out competitors’ products. Such lock-out technology cannot be justified based on any purported consumer benefit, and Green Mountain itself has admitted that the lock-out technology is not essential for the new brewers’ function. Like its exclusionary agreements, this lock-out technology is intended to serve anticompetitive and unlawful ends.”

So, when my current machine breaks, (and it WILL very soon, I guarantee it because they all do) the new machine will only work with pods that pay for the extra DRM or that come from Keurig. It’s kind of a crappy thing to do to your customers, so I’m sending the Keurig machine to the thrift store.

As Wil Wheaton says: “Friends don’t let friends use pod coffee makers.”

Update 08-03-14

I DID send the Keurig machine packing. Right after writing this article, I pulled down the automatic drip machine from the top of the cupboards and started using it, leaving the Keurig unplugged, but ready for me if I wanted to go back. The thing that I liked best about the Keurig was the variety of flavored coffees. I had no idea that I could get so many varieties for my automatic drip machine, but Folgers has been VERY busy.

• Folgers Flavors Hazelnut Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers French Vanilla Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers Flavors Cinnamon Swirl Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers Flavors Chocolate Silk Ground Coffee at Amazon.com
• Folgers 1/2 Caff Ground Coffee at Amazon.com: They even have coffee that’s half decaf for those crazy times when I decide to go off caffeine.

They also have a wide variety of roasts (i.e. French, Country, Breakfast, House) for every taste. EVERYTHING that I loved about the Keurig has been easily replaced with my old automatic drip coffeemaker and each cup costs me a few cents instead of a dollar. I haven’t missed the Keurig for the last few months, so I gave it away and didn’t look back.