Tag: Keurig

Categories
Food and Beverage

Koffee Cap brings morning roast and plastic to the woods

Ahh, the great outdoors. For most, it’s a rarely visited oasis of natural beauty that creates a special connection harkening back to simpler times. But parting ways with the concrete jungle doesn’t mean that the daily dosage of caffeine isn’t coming along for the ride. What to do when one can’t order their molto-venti-frappe-grande-mocha-latte?

The Koffee Cap is a portable K-Cup brewer for those unable to swap out their black gold with the invigorating fresh air of the outdoors. The top of the Koffee Cap holds a pin that breaks a K-Cup’s seal when the body of the product is squeezed, forcing hot water through it to concoct a cup ‘o joe.

Continue reading “Koffee Cap brings morning roast and plastic to the woods”
Categories
Food and Beverage Interviews

The Backerjack Interview: SYNEK’s Eric Stoddard on tapping into the countertop beer market

Having raised nearly $650,000 and netting a Backerjack Editor’s Choice Award, the SYNEK countertop beer dispenser has been dubbed, somewhat misleadingly, “the Keurig of beers.” Backerjack caught up with Synek’s director of customer engagement Eric Stoddard, to trade drinking stories about how company came back from a slow campaign start and was accepted into the camaraderie of small, local brewers

Backerjack: Could you talk a little bit about what SYNEK is?

Stoddard: Sure. It’s a countertop beer dispenser that gives you access to any beer at home on draft at very high quality. The bag holds up to 30 psi, and you can get it from any tap anywhere — whether it be your local brewery or wherever it may be — and you can take that home and you get a shelf life of 30 days.

Backerjack: So, unlike Keurig where you can buy a K-Cup, this is more like a storage method where it stores already brewed beer?

Stratter: Yeah, we’re sort of packaging company, a social packaging company because of how ingrained we are with breweries and helping them connect with their customers. There’s a lot of big issues in this industry, and how we came about as an idea was by considering the problems affecting lots of breweries. Smaller guys can’t afford to buy equipment because it’s a huge fixed investment upfront, so they have no way to get beer unless they use growlers.

The bad thing with growlers is that the beer only lasts for two days, three days if you’re lucky, once opened. It isn’t the most feasible option for most people. We’re trying to expand on that where now we offer this gallon size bag that’s able to be filled up the exact same way you would a growler and it’s available to a larger group of people. Now, these smaller breweries have a way to get higher quality beer out of the brewery.

Continue reading “The Backerjack Interview: SYNEK’s Eric Stoddard on tapping into the countertop beer market”
Categories
Food and Beverage Organization

Abacus coffee pod rack aligns your pods in hanging squads

Most of us use Keurig machines or something quite similar. As a result, our cupboards are inundated with K-Cups, pods, and other products. The Abacus Pod Rack goes in the kitchen and attaches to the underside or just side of any cabinet. Coming in several colors, this rack won’t be an eyesore. It stores columns of pods/cups to make choosing the perfect beverage easier. To insert, slide up and in. To remove, just pull each cup out. It holds up to 36 pods and attaches with adhesive strips. One of these Aussie products will cost $19 AUD. Abacus hopes to raise $15,000 AUD on Kickstarter.

With the prevalence of convenient coffee machines in people’s home, this product makes sense for storage. It’s more for the beverage enthusiast who has lots of different flavors for their brewer. There are lots of other storage options out there, however, like the DecoBros organizer that keeps K-Cups in a mini drawer. Nonetheless, Abacus comes with the perk of keeping your counters clear by adhering to cabinets. While this may be more for the finicky of heart, it’s a great storage solution for those little pods that fuel America.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Koffeepress French press lets you brew Keurig K-Cups on the go

The Keurig brewer and K-Cups have made brewing single servings of hot beverages easy. Unfortunately, Keurig machines aren’t portable, so anyone wanting a fresh beverage while out of the house needs to stop at a cafe.

KoffeePress is a new way to enjoy Keurig K-Cups on the go. This 10 fl. oz. cup is insulated and clear, able to hold hot or cold beverages. To use, just insert the K-Cup inside and the KoffeePress acts like a French press, pushing the coffee or tea down in the cup to brew. This product is microwaveable and dishwasher safe. For $15, $20 and $25, early backers will get the KoffeePress at a discounted price. At regular cost, the product goes for $30 with an estimated delivery date of March 2015.

We’ve seen a couple of variations on this idea of brewing coffee on the go. Hey Joe uses a battery to brew coffee and regulate water temperatures. In addition, it requires its own specialized coffee cartridges, which is not ideal. The Mojoe had slots for the user to fill with their own coffee, cream and sugar, making it more cost-effective, though the mug itself cost $90.

Even without the convenient temperature regulation for water that KoffeePress lacks, it still has the added bonus of compatibility with K-Cups which can be found everywhere and come in tons of varieties even though they’re pricier than grounds. The mug is also cheaper than most and has the cool French press effect for true coffee enthusiasts. With hot water and K-Cups readily available, this mug makes on-the-go brewing easy.