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Here Comes the Keurig of Everything
Tekla Perry writes: Keurig made a huge business out of single-serving coffee machines. Now, as more complex machinery shrinks in size and cost, many companies are trying to duplicate that success for other types of food and drink. Startups are introducing the Keurig of cocktails, the Keurig of Jell-O shots, and the Keurig of dinner (it makes stir fries, stews, and risottos). The question is: does having a single- or limited-purpose device make really make sense for consumables that aren't coffee? Counter space is not infinite, and most people want more variety out of their lunches, dinners, and nightcaps than they do for their morning pick-me-up. (Also, let's retire this metaphor before we get a Keurig for cats.)
A kitchen device that can only be used for one purpose is a waste of space.
>> does having a single- or limited-purpose device make really make sense for consumables that aren't coffee?
If you can find enough suckers to buy them and yield big profits, then yes. (See the original Keurig, for example.)
Coffeebots SUCK!
If you're not spending at least 40 minutes on your grind and brew ritual, you're just a philistine drinking gunky swill.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
This is horrible. Keurig coffee is crap, and it creates a huge amount of disposable waste.
Me, I have a small water boiler to get the water up to 208 degrees F, two grinders - a hand-turned grinder and an electric one for when I'm in a hurry and the noise isn't a problem, and a french press. I keep the coffee beans whole in a brown paper bag. Just grind, pour in a way that doesn't leave grounds floating above the water, and I can take the french press back to my desk and pour into a large mug in five minutes.
It's still simpler than a PBJ and I don't create a huge pile of plastic garbage. Jeez, will someone get the marketing departments some psychotherapy already?
Your Marklar is marklar! What a marklar, you.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Some would argue that the Yugo was a single serve car experience. So there's that.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
My favorite single use kitchen appliance of all time was the Presto Hot-Dogger. Something about the beauty of simplicity combined with being inches away from a mini-electrocution chamber that I can't find in today's boring appliances.
A few years ago I bought a top-of-the-line Japanese rice cooker. It cooks any type of rice flawlessly, and easily allows me to specify in advance what time I want the rice to be ready. Yes, it takes up counter space, but it's an investment I appreciate every time I use it.
The Chinese don't really know very much about rice. That's why the purpose of other dishes in Chinese cuisine is to help the rice go down.
The Japanese are the real rice connoisseurs. In Japanese cuisine, rice is a thing of worship, probably as an artifact of the Shinto religion where everything has a soul. A Japanese person will tell you that their domestic rice is the best, followed by California rice. But to the Chinese, rice is rice.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.