Coffee Accessories
Coffee Accessories
For some, half the fun of brewing coffee is collecting all the great toys available at your local coffee shop. Here is only a small sampling of the accessories available to the coffee lover, ranging from inexpensive measures to very expensive grinders.
Here is a list of the items you'll find reviewed on this page:
Keurig's Reusable Cup for Classic Makers
The idea is to save money. Save the planet as well, a tiny little K-cup at a time.
I have always said the greatest thing about the Keurig is how darned convenient it is to simply pop in a cup, press a button and pop the used cup out. Factoring in the clean up process there is no other form of coffee making that's easier than this. But the cost of that bit of convenience is rather high.. How can you use the cheap stuff in your Keurig so it doesn't cost you a fortune in little cups? You use an aftermarket reusable cup, that's how.
I have always said the greatest thing about the Keurig is how darned convenient it is to simply pop in a cup, press a button and pop the used cup out. Factoring in the clean up process there is no other form of coffee making that's easier than this. But the cost of that bit of convenience is rather high.. How can you use the cheap stuff in your Keurig so it doesn't cost you a fortune in little cups? You use an aftermarket reusable cup, that's how.
Having to remove parts from the machine to use the cup is a negative.
There are several different brands out there, each taking a slightly different approach to the "no deposit, no return" goal we seek. Keurig has their own, called "My K-Cup."
Editor's note: This review shows the original My K-Cup for version 1 machines. There are specific models for version 2 and the newest multi-stream machines, which I will review over time.
The "My K-Cup" is the most elaborate of any of the reusable solutions I've seen, not only having a rewashable mesh basket but an entire holster that replaces the regular black one that comes with the coffee machine. The black one has the puncture needle in the bottom, and since the mesh basket has no need for this the gray colored "MyKC" omits this and simply funnels the coffee down into your cup. So, or a holster, a mesh screen coffee basket and a screw on top, you will part with about 17 dollars at Amazon. Not great, but not really that bad if you can go from 67 cents a cup of coffee to say ... 35 cents. The device would pay for itself in a single change of seasons.
But what sort of coffee does it make?
You have to practice with it.
There's little black markings inside the little black cup to help you get the right amount of coffee. That is, if you can see the little black markings. But the first set of brews were not all that good, a little off. But with more practice and patience I was able to get it to a state of ... just okay. I got it to qualify as perfectly acceptable, drinking while doing other things coffee. Not great, stop in your tracks and thank the coffee gods -coffee. But that's okay. If you want heart stopping, bring tears of joy to your eyes coffee, you'd have a 750 dollar Rancillo Silvia on the counter, not a Keurig. But there is some work ahead of you to get the most from this device.
I used some pretty good coffee to start with. I got a bag of Peet's Decaf Major Dickenson's, which is a darker roast that should hold up nicely to the Keurig's short brewing time. I find that lighter coffees suffer with the K- treatment, the water just isn't in contact with the grounds long enough to extract the lighter flavors. Darker does better, and the Maj. D. did just fine. I used pre-ground, as this is pretty close to perfect for drip (what the Keurig calls for) and the particles are pretty uniform in size. If you grind your own, beware of the blade type grinder, as they chop the beans up and have very irregular size. If you don't have a burr type grinder (more expensive but worth it) just buy it pre-ground and keep the bag sealed to air whenever it is stored.
The mesh does allow more oils into the brew, making for a stronger taste.
Just run the Keurig as you would normally do. Remember, there is a bit of exploration to be done here as you find the right amount of coffee and right serving size to best work for your tastes. As with the My K Cup, it is advisable to stay with a drip grind for the cup. Any finer and you risk clogging the mesh and making the brewing cycle too long.
Once done, I suggest rinsing out the cup pretty quickly, even while the cup is still warm from brewing. This makes for easy removal of the wet grounds simply with a running tap. Let the grounds dry and you're in for some scraping and washing. Do it, it only takes a minute while the grounds are still wet.
How's the coffee?
I made some tests with the same batch I used for the My K Cup tests, Peet's Major Dickason's blend decaf. I found it to be quite pleasing and robust, not too bitter or oily, which is something I worried about when using a non-paper filter system. The only downside is there's a good bit of silt left over at the bottom of the cup, a sign that some smaller particles slipped by the mesh and wound up in my cup. This is not a big deal, ask anyone who uses a french press.... but be aware that you won't want to see if this cup is good till the last drop. You'll wind up with a small taste of coffee silt if you do.
Who wins???
For my money, the Ekobrew takes it between these two "roll your own" solutions. It preserves the Keurig's simple-use mandate, it is easier to load and pops out of the machine without an issue. It is also about 7 bucks cheaper at Amazon and can be found elsewhere on the web for less. Grab one and give it a try.
But what if you want to take the "green" thing even a bit further? I mean, the Ekobrew doesn't really recycle the old plastic cups, it just replaces it. What about a system that really live up to the "save the mama" doctrine and puts those old cups back into service? We'll look at the "K-Kap" system next time.
Keurig's kit involves multiple parts, rather than one cup/lid combination.
Gaggia MDF Grinder +DYI Enhancement
When I first stepped into the world of coffee-as-a-hobby, my gear of choice was Gaggia. It offered an approachable price point and seemed to be a few rungs up from the espresso machines available at big box appliance stores.
The machine comes in black and white covers.
(Photo courtesy WholeLatteLove.com)
As my tastes and equipment moved up the ladder, I lusted for a coffee grinder that could do more than chop my beans into an uneven hash. I wanted something that would give me that fine, magic powder that would extend my shots and yield that mythical crema.
I stayed brand loyal (for cost reasons) and bought a Gaggia MDF Grinder. It was stout, heavy and had that mid-1990's look and feel to it. It had the built in doser that I never really ended up using, but most importantly it had what seemed to be endless click stops for adjusting the grind. It has an affordable price tag for this level of grinder, about $169 USD in January 2023. All reports I read indicated it was made to last, so I took the plunge.
Losing My Steps - The cleaning accident
The MDF performed well for me, grinding both store bought roasts and my own attempts a roasting. I learned my way around the grind settings, picking my favorites for French press, drip, and espresso. I made a point of cleaning the MDF fairly often, as many of my favorite beans were oily and left a good bit of residue in the machine. During one cleaning, an accident happened. Once could say it was a "mis-step".
The Gaggia MDF comes apart easily. Here are instructions on how to do it.
I had taken off the hopper and unscrewed the heavy brass carrier that holds the top grinding plate. As with all grinders, there were pockets of packed coffee grounds stuffed in the corners. I turned the unit over and shook out the old bean dust. Unfortunately, that's when the accident happened. An essential part fell from the grinder and into the trash. Two indexing pins (they sort of look like dark metal bullets with a spring in the back) dropped out and I didn't notice they were gone until I reassembled a few days later. Of course, the trash was long gone by then.
Replacement Indexing Pins - a specialty store item.
I looked around on line and found the part at Whole Latte Love. For some reason I didn't actually order them at the time. I'm not sure why I didn't, perhaps my interest in coffee was on the lull, or I was making due with a KitchenAid Proline Coffee Grinder I had gotten hold of. I would try to use the once proud MDF every so often, but I had to now HOLD the hopper at the correct grind number while grinding, something that never gave good results.
The Gaggia MDF wound up sitting in my parts box for about six years.
Unused. Forgotten.
The Modification That Made The Difference
I recently experienced a rekindling of the coffee hobby with the gift of a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. I tried using store-bought ground coffee, but found myself unhappy with the resulting too-fast shots and lack of crema. I went back and dug out my old Gaggia MDF.
I knew I had to fix the indexing problem. The indexing "bullets" were still available, but the compression springs were not. I had to try and hunt around at hobby shops or online to find these tiny springs. Wanting to get this grinder back in service, I chose to try a "mod" or modification that coffee forums had suggested. It allowed the MDF to become "step-less" and do away with the indexing bullets. The method is described here in a post on home-barrista dot com. It involves disassembly of the unit down to unscrewing the upper plate carrier, cleaning all the coffee dust and oil from the actual grinding area, and then wrapping the fine threads with teflon pipe wrapping tape, available at any hardware store. The teflon tape is wrapped around the threads 5 layers deep so the act of screwing the upper plate carrier (and thus adjusting the fineness of the grind) requires a good bit of hard twisting. This stiffness will keep the grinding plates at exactly the spot you selected, making it possible to grind at 2.5 steps or 3.75 steps.
I did the mod (after a complete cleaning of all parts and surfaces) in about 10 minutes. It was truly easy and works exactly as billed. Now, I have my grinder set to about a 3.25 setting or so and getting store-bought whole bean coffee to yield great flavor and amazing crema.
If you have one of these grinders, they are worth cleaning and putting back in full service. Do this modification if you dare, so for my results have been worth it. If anything, CLEAN your grinder by taking it apart, as there is no substitute for a detailed wipe down and wash. Your coffee will thank you for it.
The MDF looks at home on a Kitchen countertop.
Ekobrew Reusable K-Cup
The Keurig coffee maker can make good coffee. It can make it neatly and quickly. What it can't do is make a good, cheap cup of coffee.
The problem is simple: to make it easy and quick, the K-Cup manufacturers have to do a lot of processing to get it ready for you before you buy. They have to grind, dose and seal each of those little cups. All that processing equals greater cost for you, the end user.
But what if you're willing to take on that processing yourself? Buying your own coffee, grinding and packing it into a cup would certainly trim down the overall costs. Keurig has a solution of its own: The "My K-Cup" kit. But at 17.99 at Amazon it is not the cheapest nor simplest solution out there. This kit also requires you to pop out the cup holster for use, which is a bit more hassle.
But Keurig is not the only game in town when it comes to reusable cup solutions. There's the Ekobrew reusable cup. It's 7.99 at Amazon for the "Classic" version, which is not compatible with the newest "multi-stream Keurigs.
Just fill with your favorite coffee, ground for a standard drip machine.
The Ekobrew jumps out ahead of the My K Cup on design and ease of use. Instead of several individual parts, the Ekobrew is one single piece, including a hinged top that swings completely clear of the basket for easy filling. There's nothing to lose, and more importantly, nothing to remove from the coffee maker as the My K Cup requires. Once loaded, it acts just like a regular pre-packed cup.
It is easy to load as well. The My K Cup's mesh basket is very lightweight on it's own and needs a couple of stabilizing fingers to keep it from tipping while filling with coffee. The Ekobrew has a bit more heft and stayed in place for me. This isn't a big deal, but I found that balancing the coffee bag, filter and spoon required one more hand than I came equipped with. The Ekobrew scored points for me here
The mesh does allow more oils into the brew, making for a stronger taste.
Just run the Keurig as you would normally do. Remember, there is a bit of exploration to be done here as you find the right amount of coffee and right serving size to best work for your tastes. As with the My K Cup, it is advisable to stay with a drip grind for the cup. Any finer and you risk clogging the mesh and making the brewing cycle too long.
Once done, I suggest rinsing out the cup pretty quickly, even while the cup is still warm from brewing. This makes for easy removal of the wet grounds simply with a running tap. Let the grounds dry and you're in for some scraping and washing. Do it, it only takes a minute while the grounds are still wet.
How's the coffee?
I made some tests with the same batch I used for the My K Cup tests, Peet's Major Dickason's blend decaf. I found it to be quite pleasing and robust, not too bitter or oily, which is something I worried about when using a non-paper filter system. The only downside is there's a good bit of silt left over at the bottom of the cup, a sign that some smaller particles slipped by the mesh and wound up in my cup. This is not a big deal, ask anyone who uses a french press.... but be aware that you won't want to see if this cup is good till the last drop. You'll wind up with a small taste of coffee silt if you do.
Who wins???
For my money, the Ekobrew takes it between these two "roll your own" solutions. It preserves the Keurig's simple-use mandate, it is easier to load and pops out of the machine without an issue. It is also about 7 bucks cheaper at Amazon and can be found elsewhere on the web for less. Grab one and give it a try.
But what if you want to take the "green" thing even a bit further? I mean, the Ekobrew doesn't really recycle the old plastic cups, it just replaces it. What about a system that really live up to the "save the mama" doctrine and puts those old cups back into service? We'll look at the "K-Kap" system next time.
The Ekobrew cup saves on waste and does save money over preloaded cups!
KitchenAid ProLine Coffee Grinder
KitchenAid is a brand that evokes a sense of heavy duty service and product overdesign. Anyone over 40 has memories of KitchenAid equipment in the family kitchen, whirring away as another great meal was prepared.. Based on the legacy of the brand, a buyer might expect KitchenAid to produce a coffee grinder that's the best of the best, ready for generations of grinding. Unfortunately, they have not. The KitchenAid ProLine Grinder is a flawed machine, and the flaw comes down to the design and manufacture of one important part. Let no one say that the grinder itself isn't a beautiful design. It lifts styling cues from mixers of the past, and uses a hopper and container system that keeps the device looking really clean. It is darned heavy as well, just like that metal and chrome mixer sitting in the corner of your mother's kitchen counter. But users will discover that this is not the machine for grinding espresso. Not even close. Espresso requires a very fine grind, in some instances just microns sort of a fine powder. It also needs to be very uniform in consistency or the pressurized water will sneak by the "boulders" in the puck and yield a watery shot. This machine was never able to grind to anywhere near this fineness. Even after several attempts at re-calibration, the very best I could get was a chunky grind applicable for drip coffee. If you're interested, here'sKitchenAid's page on cleaning and recalibration.
Chunky, non uniform fragments of coffee at step 5.5 out of 8 (8=finest)
So what's up with this problem? An assembly problem? No, it's a beautiful machine. An issue with the hopper? Nah. It all comes down to what may be the very heart of any coffee grinder: the burr plates. The burr plates are the teeth of the system. They break up the coffee beans into small, hopefully uniform particles of ground coffee. The grinder has a powerful, slowly rotating motor that will smash the beans as they fall between two burr plates. One plate is spinning, the other is fixed. A good set of burr plates will cut into the beans instantly and pulverize them to a specific uniform consistency. But not in the KitchenAid. The edges of the cutting pattern have very little of the sharpness needed to bite into the beans. As discussed on several internet forums, the plates seemed to be cast from a metal that loses what little edge they have very quickly. I noticed my grinder outputting a coarser grind within a few months of use. Cleaning and adjusting did no good, and after a recent tear down for cleaning it seems the burr plate is no more than some textured ripples in the metal. This is after only moderate home use.
The Achilles' Heel. Does that look like stainless steel to you?
The only other comment I have currently on the KitchenAid ProLine Grinder is the fragile ground receptacle. This small customized bowl fits perfectly under the grinding chamber, minimizing static flyaway. It also looks really nice as part of the overall design. The down side is the bowl is made of rather thin glass and will crack or chip with a forceful bump. Think wine glass sort of thickness. Because this bowl is constantly being handled, chances of cracking this vessel is pretty high. It's not cheap either. A scan of online parts resellers show prices between 25 and 35 dollars in June of 2019. We'll see how the new burrs help, but if you're considering this grinder for 200 dollars, I suggest holding out for another 100 dollars and getting a Barzata Sette or even a Rancilio Rocky. The extra dollars are worth the trouble.
Stylish and imposing, the KitchenAid ProLine Grinder has a fatal flaw.