How Does A Keurig Work? What You Need to Know

Keurigs have held up the single serve home appliance world on its back for quite some time now. With their start in the 90’s, they have only grown since, evolving into a staple in modern homes. However, while this appliance is extremely popular, there are still those out there who don’t understand how a Keurig works. Even those that know the basic working of a Keurig might not understand the technical ways a Keurig functions. 

If this is you, don’t get worked up just yet. We are going to give you the full rundown on Keurigs and their abilities. Knowing how a Keurig functions can help us take better care of our machine as well as master the brewing process. 

How Do Keurigs Work? 

So how does a Keurig coffee maker work? Getting through the basics, a Keurig uses single serve pods to brew one cup of coffee in just a few minutes. So how do these single serve pods work and what does the brewing look like under the hood? Great question. 

The single serve pods are filled with the one serving worth of grounds and have a plastic seal that gets punctured when entered into the Keurig. This is how the coffee is extracted from the grounds and brewed through the machine into the cup below. 

This broad explanation of a Keurig comes from an idea the founder, John Sylvan, had quite some time ago. However, it has taken loads of perfecting to go from the beginning of their journey until now. When Keuirg first began, it required a water line, and took quite some time and effort to get up and running. Now, with one click of a button, your cup can be filled with tasty java in less than a minute. Talk about innovation and improvement. 

There are loads of other ways keurigs have improved over time. With larger reservoirs, strong brew buttons, and cup sizes being just the beginning of all there is to explore in the world of Keurigs. 

Why Keurig?

Why is Keurig a good option for you? The biggest pull towards a Keurig over a standard drip coffee machine is that it is designed for a single person. If you’ve ever brewed a pot of coffee, then you are aware that there is often inevitable waste that comes along with it. Unlike drip options, Keurigs make what you need, keeping waste out of the picture. 

Another benefit is that every cup is hot and fresh. For the corporate world, this is a game changer from the all too familiar stale cup of lukewarm coffee that tends to be left when you arrive for the long day ahead. You can also customize the single serve cups aka K-cups. 

This means you could try Colombian coffee while the person after you could try a light roast or even a cup of tea or hot chocolate if they aren’t a coffee fan. The possibilities grow exponentially when you have the versatility of so many single serve options. 

Downsides

What are the negative components of how a Keurig works? There are a few reasons why someone might now enjoy how it functions. The first on the list would be the quality of the coffee. This is up for debate, but some argue that the quality of the java suffers at the expense of ease and single serve pods. Like most things, this comes down to personal preference, so it is always worth giving it a shot before you knock it out. 

Second, many people argue that Keurigs are problematic since their K-cups aren’t recyclable and can be very wasteful. However, while this is a valid concern, there is another alternative if you are trying to lessen your negative environmental impact. Try buying a regular bag of grounds and getting a reusable K-cup. This allows you to fill it with any grounds you could want which not only helps eliminate waste but also opens the door for even more variety when it comes to flavor and roast options. 

There are also zero waste boxes which hold up to 600 pods and can be recycled in case you don’t want to go through the hassle of adding grounds to your pod every morning. All of this to say, even the downsides of how a Keurig operates can be flipped to work out in the end. 

Now that you know how a Keurig coffee maker works, ways to get around the downsides, and a bit of the history, you can give this a try with knowledge and see if you are a fan like so many others.