by KJ Fallon
Dr. Cornelis points to literature showing that even at the same coffeehouse, if one person gets a cup of coffee and then returns an hour or two later and gets the same size, if the caffeine content of those two coffees is measured, despite being the same size they might have different caffeine levels. “Clearly there [are] some differences in making the brewed coffee,” she said. “It could vary, but with those single packets that’s a particular amount of coffee and you’re brewing it and you’re drinking it right away. There’s more of a control with the single serve.”
CHAPTER 12
Does Single Serve Fuel Too Much Separateness?
When Keurig decided to take its single-serve brewer to the home market, it was the beginning of a sea change in not only how people consumed coffee, but in how they thought about coffee. In the office, the single serve fulfilled a purpose—providing people in the workplace with fresh-brewed coffee no matter what the time of day. This would lead to more efficiency since workers would take fewer outside breaks to get a decent cup of coffee. It was right there in the office.
But in the home—what was the point? It likely was that the time families spent together was becoming increasingly fractured. People in a household would awaken at different times, and go off to work, school, or wherever at different times. Having everyone on hand simultaneously (or near enough to ensure that the coffee sitting in the coffeemaker on the kitchen counter was not getting over-brewed or depleted) was happening less frequently at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Household members were becoming more scattered and unpredictable when it came to when they would be where.
Sure, the K-Cup/single serve in the office provided a way for workers to get a decent cup of coffee without venturing far from their cubicle. And coffee is an integral part of the workplace environment. With more members of households being at home at different times, it naturally followed that what worked in the office as far as having a fresh-brewed cup of coffee available would work in the home.
And coffee is very important in the workplace. According to a story in the Harvard Business Review, “Workspaces that Move People,” the most productive office space is one that promotes interaction among the people who work there, and not just the workers in a specialized area or department.1 Another Harvard Business Review article, “The New Science of Building Great Teams,” shows that communication among workers from many departments in a company or organization is essential to “sociometrics,” how people and teams communicate with one another throughout a company. Poor sociometrics often results in poor communication and fewer new ideas.2 The Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor was looking for ways to increase engagement among the different components of its workforce. According to “Workspaces that Move People,” “The data collected over some weeks showed that when a salesperson increased interactions with coworkers on other teams—that is, increased exploration—by 10%, his or her sales also grew by 10% . . .”3
But what would be a way to set things up so the folks from the advertising department, for example, could interact on a regular basis with workers from the art department?
In this case, the answer lay with coffee. At the time, the company had roughly one coffee machine for every six employees, and the same people used the same machines every day. The sales force commiserated with itself. Marketing people talked to marketing people. The company invested several hundred thousand dollars to rip out the coffee stations and build fewer, bigger ones—just one for every 120 employees.4
Having the coffee brewers in strategically located places that would provide a reason for employees to go there—to get a cup of coffee—would serve as a place for workers from different areas of the company to happen to meet, resulting in a chance for people from other departments to hear about what was going on in other areas of the company. Some companies might provide a large, open space for people to gather but this is more forced and not conducive to a casual and frequent exchange among different workers like going to a coffee-brewing station is.5
So coffee can have a real effect on the workplace. The coffee machine can be a place where people from different departments brew a cup of coffee and, at the same time, have a chat with someone from another department that they otherwise might never had run into. This provides a healthy and productive “cross pollination” of ideas.
As for what kind of coffee brewing system most workers prefer, the 2017 National Coffee Drinking Trends Study published by the National Coffee Association found that while espresso machines were the most desired option for in-office coffee preparation, single-cup brewers came in second, with instant coffee coming in third and the drip coffeemaker coming in last.6
Since the single serve is the second-most popular, was productivity’s gain socialization’s loss? Maybe stepping out for ten or fifteen minutes with another colleague from their own or a different department was healthier in the long run. Conversing with colleagues while going out for a change of scenery and different air can be recharging and certainly more productive socially. Even stepping out of the office alone has long-term benefits.
Take Dr. Cornelis and her experience, for example. In her workplace, there is no coffeemaker in her personal office but there is a single-serve coffee brewer in the office kitchen. She remarked how she would go to the kitchen in the office and if people were there, she would interact with them while she used the coffeemaker.
She mentioned someone else who gets coffee another way, a colleague who doesn’t have access to a single-serve brewer and goes outside the office for coffee at a nearby Starbucks. This is obviously a very different experience than just going down the hall to make a single cup of coffee. This colleague is probably getting more exercise and possibly running into people at the Starbucks at different times. Using the brewer at the office means getting just minimal exercise walking to the kitchen.
Despite the popularity of the single serve, at home and in the workplace, specialty coffee shops continue to thrive and do a brisk brew business. As Heather Ward, Market Research Manager with the Specialty Coffee Association of America wrote, “SCAA’s latest consumer research study, conducted in early 2016, presented data that showed that although the majority of consumers still drink coffee at home, 94 percent of the study’s respondents also drink coffee at a coffee shop.”7 And while the sharp growth of coffee shops is slowing a bit, the number of shops has risen by almost 50 percent and more people are drinking gourmet coffee.
“Specialty coffee shops,” added Ward, “play a key role in shaping the consumer experience . . . In past SCAA research, specialty coffee consumers have consistently revealed the significance of their coffee shop experiences. They associate their coffee with social interactions, and they love the sense of belonging that comes from the barista knowing their name or remembering their favorite drink. Their relationship with coffee is deeply personal, and the human interaction that takes place in a coffee shop enhances the emotional connection and overall experience.” 8
It’s a Brew Ha Ha
One of the many examples of how a coffee shop can be a social connector is found in the Northwest corner of Pennsylvania. In 2015, Cathie Riehl McMillin started Brew Ha Ha at the Colony in Erie, Pennsylvania, recently named number three in the list of “The Ten Coolest Coffee Shops in Pennsylvania.”9 She wanted the experience to be like having coffee at home—with family and friends—with the best coffee you could get in Erie and with some accompaniments that you would not find in a big brand-name coffee shop.
Riehl McMillin says she knows at least 50 percent of the customers by name, and the place is bicycle and dog friendly. “Dogs are welcome on the outdoor deck and sidewalk table areas,” she said. “They get water and biscuits. Many people bring rescue dogs and puppies for socialization, as well as for themselves. We have ‘honor’ coffee where you can throw down two bucks in a jar and help yourself to a medium coffee to go, with no waiting in line.”10
They roast the coffee onsite and the staff take time with customers who ask questio
ns, and educate them about the origins of the beans, how they roast, etc. “People love that,” Riehl McMillin said. “So, I guess I opened a coffee shop for myself and the patrons. A place that I would like to visit, with the philosophy of serving the freshest, most varied, and delicious coffee and food. Being smaller, we are able to customize people’s drinks and work with them to satisfy their coffee needs.”
Shops to get a good cup of coffee and socialize will always be around. It is a place to not only get coffee, but to see what is going on, much like those then controversial coffee shops that sprang up centuries ago.
Does Single Serve Brew Loneliness?
What does it say, if anything, about the individual versus the group—even family—brewing and drinking coffee using the single serve as a one-at-a time, just-for-me method?
It depends upon whom you ask. About how single-serve coffee brewers with their one-cup-at-a-time focus can exacerbate isolation, Dr. Rebecca Nowland, psychologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Bolton, UK, said she is not sure how much this situation actually contributes to isolation or loneliness. She sees this as more of a cultural shift to be more and more individualistic and independent.
“I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on this for making loneliness or isolation worse particularly but it may be a result of a move towards a more individualistic culture,” Dr. Nowland said. “It also may be the result of employers not really wanting people to socialize at work and increase the productivity of staff.”11
While you can have a virtual coffee klatch with social media friends and contacts, the one-on-one interaction of sharing a cup of java and ideas or experiences is not there. And at the office, there is no more gathering around the office coffee pot for whatever reason, to complain about who didn’t make a fresh pot of coffee, or left the mostly unfilled glass pot on the warm burner so that what was in the pot looked like, and probably tasted like, melted tar. The terrible coffee that no one would be held accountable for. Maybe single serve in the office is a viable option. But so is stepping outside to a specialty coffee shop for a few minutes.
And at home, there seems to be little time anyway for family to gather as a group so the single serve probably makes sense. Family members come and go separately, taking their mugs of coffee with them and heading off.
Of course, you can have speed and an individually-prepared coffee shop coffee at the same time with minimal human contact. Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Intelligentsia, and others have apps that allow the coffee lover to order on the go and not have to wait while the drink is being prepared. Place the order and, by the time you get to the coffee shop, the order is waiting for you.
Full Circle
Ironically, in 2015 Keurig came out with an option that is almost a throwback to making coffee by the potful, the K-Carafe, which makes a carafe of coffee, for home use. (Back in 2013, they offered the Keurig Bolt, since discontinued, which made a pot of coffee, mainly for offices.) So, in some way, we have come full circle. Now you can use the method that was invented to make one cup of coffee at a time to make a pot of coffee that makes up to five servings at a time. The K-Carafe pod is also recyclable.
So now you can make a pot of coffee from a giant K-Carafe pod.
A pot of coffee. It is almost like a throwback to the past. Almost.
CHAPTER 13
Just What is Single Serve Anyway?
While single-serve coffee usually means those one-time-use coffee pods or cups, not everyone thinks this or agrees that this is a way to make a good cup of coffee.
Mané Alves, a native of Lisbon, Portugal, has worked in the wine and coffee industries for over twenty-five years. He travels extensively to coffee-producing countries throughout Central America, South America, Africa, and conducts calibration tests, teaches seminars on coffee production and quality standards, and offers Q Grader courses (A Q Grader is someone who has received credentials from the Coffee Quality Institute to grade and score coffees using the standards that the Specialty Coffee Association of America has developed).1 You know that he is not going to suffer single-serve coffee pods gladly. But, he understands.
Manés Alves views single-serve coffee this way: “There [are] two ways to serve the single serve. One, is if you are just looking at what is out there in the marketplace, most of the single serve that’s in the marketplace are things that are like Keurig cups. There’s other systems besides Keurig. That is a step up in terms of availability, but it’s not a step up in terms of quality. It’s easy.” But, as he pointed out, there are other problems. One obviously being the issues with landfill and waste. While the majority of these cups are not recyclable, Alves feels that the cups that are recyclable require so much work to recycle them, that most customers just don’t do it.2
“The reason they buy those cups is because it’s easy,” he reasoned. “Not because they have to do twenty steps to recycle. Otherwise they would just do coffee normally.” While he sees that convenience as an asset of the single serve, he doesn’t consider single serve comparable to specialty coffee. “In terms of the specialty side, I don’t consider that specialty. That is mass market.”
On the specialty side, there are a lot of cafés that will brew a cup of a specialty coffee that is ground and brewed upon the customer’s order. The customer can ask for almost anything.
“I’ll give you an example.” explained Alves. “If you go to a supermarket and you see a coffee that sells for twenty-five dollars, you’ll probably cringe and run away. If you go to a café and someone gives you a coffee for four bucks, well, the vast majority of people are already paying four bucks at Starbucks for a cup of coffee or cappuccino or whatever. If someone gives you a straight cup of coffee, that of course, if you want to add milk you can, but it would be a crime, but a coffee that is an incredible coffee in terms of taste, and that we can sell that for four bucks, then it’s completely different than a market that was not accessible to the customers before.” These options did not exist a couple years ago, at least on a wide scale.
Alves believes that it all depends on expectations and how much effort a coffee drinker wants to put into getting that first cup of coffee in the morning. “If you need to have the coffee ready by the time you put your foot out of bed, then you want to buy an automatic machine that grinds and prepares the coffee [using a timer],” he said. “Usually that doesn’t produce a lot of good coffee. If you can do two steps, then you have a much better cup of coffee. If you can do three steps, meaning, if you have the coffee, you grind the coffee, you put it through the brewer, then you get an even better cup of coffee.” So if you put more effort into preparing the coffee, you will get a better cup of coffee.
But Alves is realistic. “We know the vast majority of people want to have everything ready,” he said. “They don’t want to deal with it. They want a good cup of coffee, but they don’t want to deal with anything. If they’re conscious in terms of throwing the steps away, if they don’t care at that level either, so that would be easy for them to go with a K-Cup style.”
Intelligentsia Coffee, founded in 1995 by Doug Zell and Emily Mange, has roasting works, training labs, and coffee bars in about five cities in the United States. Now Intelligentsia is a part of JAB Holding. Andrew Atkinson, Intelligentsia’s Retail Regional Manager of New Markets & East Coast, as well as their Green Coffee Buyer, said that Intelligentsia won’t consider the single serve like a K-Cup any time in the foreseeable future. “I think it would really have to come a long way I think technology-wise for us to feel comfortable putting something out there like that.” He said that right now K-Cups are difficult. It is difficult to brew excellent coffee using them, since it is an automated process. The machine has control, and the company creating the pods and the machine that’s making the coffee has control over the inherent quality. “You suddenly remove the personal dial-in of the coffee or the creation of the recipe of the coffee from the person and you’re suddenly sticking your name on something that should inherently have automatic qualiti
es or the quality will be purely dictated by a machine and a pot,” Atkinson said. “The technology doesn’t exist yet for us to be able to do that and hit the sufficient quality marks we would want to.” Atkinson thinks that single serve can be thought of in a nonautomated way, for example, brewing a single cup using a Chemex, a coffee preparation device that uses the infusion method (similar to the drip method).3
Intelligentsia opened a coffee bar and retail store in Chicago and roasted their own coffee in the store. Even though they had to use equipment that was on the antique side, they honed the coffee process until it was perfect. Atkinson said that their original roaster, Geoff Watts, developed their coffee-purchasing system. Geoff, he said, “really wanted to create a system in which there was more direct relationship and communication with producers, seeing that traditionally the use of importers created an inherent lack of accountability in communication both ways.”
Watts started traveling to farms and, with Peter Giuliano (formerly of Counter Culture), developed Intelligentsia’s coffee-buying program, his codification of what a direct trade relationship should be. Said Atkinson, “Direct trade really is our own internal branding of a coffee that meets certain criteria around transparent relationships and quality so it’s not necessarily like a third-party certification that one can pick up.”
Atkinson said that while everybody seems to use the term “direct trade,” Geoff said he was going to have rules for the company that he was going to make public so people would know what it meant when they saw his direct trade sticker and logo on the bag. Counter Culture, said Atkinson, “developed that side-by-side, pretty well, and they have their own set of standards. But really, aside from those two, it’s very difficult to say, well what does this whole direct trade thing mean, right?” Exactly. Direct trade can mean different things, depending on whom you ask.4 The short answer is that with direct trade the producer interacts directly with the customer and they come to an understanding that benefits them both.5