Back in November I wrote a short diatribe about Keurig – the massive, rich coffee company that is on just about every kitchen countertop these days.
In January 2015 this mysterious video hit YouTube titled “Kill the K-Cup.”
Pretty cool, right? I thought so, but the best part about this video is that it got a lot of press.
By the end of January the video had been covered by and discussed on Huffington Post and NPR along with a host of fringe blogs. More recently, as of the writing of this prologue The Atlantic is the latest big name to cover the video in their piece titled “A Brewing Problem.” The Atlantic took it a step further by interviewing Keurig co-founder John Sylvan as well as some higher-ups inside Keurig itself. The consensus? Nobody is happy about where K-Cups are at, and where they are heading.
As a result of all this discussion and increased awareness, I decided to update my diatribe. It now features a brand-new prologue as well as an edited conclusion to help the Keurig faithful turn a new leaf.
Below is the PDF. Please download it and share it with your friends, family, and co-workers. I’m not making a dime from any of this, and couldn’t care less about exposure. My only goal is to get these facts out in the open.
Starbucks hasbeenmakingbig headlines lately after they announced, earlier this month, that they will be offering a new drink at store locations all across the U.S. The drink in question? The flat white. While New Zealand has been trying to stake its claim in the invention of this drink, the general consensus is that it is Australian in origin. Apparently Aussies are even laughing at Starbucks’s attempt to mass market their famous milk-based espresso drink.
A flat white I had in Sydney
So what’s the big deal?
Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of visiting Australia and staying with a close friend. I had heard much about Australian coffee, and I was excited to grab a cup as soon as I got into town. And then I looked at the menu.
Short black. Long black. Flat white. Cappuccino.
Three of these are not like the other.
Thinking that I’d try something new, when the waitress came back to our table I proudly announced that I would like a short black, please. When she brought me a shot of espresso back, I was rather confused.
Through trial and error, I was able to glean that a “short black” is a single shot of espresso, while a “long black” is an Americano (or sometimes a brewed coffee). A flat white seemed simple enough – I’ve heard people order cappuccinos “flat,” and I naturally assumed that it was the same thing. But upon ordering it, I received a latte instead. What?
At this point I was learning to just roll with the punches, and I got on with my life. Like an ex-girlfriend who has my new phone number, however, the flat white is back in my life and demanding I make amends. It’s making headlines across the U.S. and I’m forced to once again wrestle with the uncomfortable notion that there may, in fact, be a difference between a a flat white and a latte.
As it turns out, there is a rather large difference. The main, obvious dissimilarity is that a flat white is traditionally served in a much smaller container compared to a latte; typically a flat white is around 150-160 milliliters while a latte is 200 or more.
The source of my confusion isn’t how the drinks are different on paper, however, but how they are actually so similar in America.
A flat white is supposed to be halfway between a latte and a cappuccino. While a latte is supposed to be almost entirely steamed milk and espresso, with a dollop of foam at the very top, a cappuccino is supposed to have a large head of foam that one must sip through before getting to any milk. But if you separate milk-based espresso beverages into their individual parts, there is a third, very important, piece that is not usually focused on in either lattes or cappuccinos. It’s called microfoam. Whether or not it makes it into you morning cup of coffee depends entirely on the quality of barista.
When a bad barista steams milk they pay little regard as to what kind of foam is created. Lattes get no foam, cappuccinos get lots of foam.
When a great barista steams milk, they are able to control how much foam there is. Foam can either be very bubbly, or have a velvety texture filled with extremely small bubbles – microfoam. The best baristas will knock the milk container, or perhaps swirl the milk inside, in an attempt to pop the largest bubbles and maximize the amount of microfoam. Microfoam makes it possible to make latte art, while the thick foam found in many cappuccinos is harder to work with. The barista can then decide how much foam makes it into the finished beverage based on their pour.
A latte is supposed to have no foam, or a very small amount. A cappuccino is supposed to have a wealth of foam. A flat white is supposed to have a dense layer of microfoam. See what I’m getting at here? Many American third-wave coffee shops have turned a “latte” into a flat white. The evidence of this is latte art; the only way to make great latte art is by creating a layer of microfoam with which to draw. The only thing truly setting these drinks apart is the serving size, and that’s where the Starbucks marketing team comes in.
Americans are going to be confused by the flat white. They’re going to call BS on the marketing for it, claiming it’s a cash-grab for a product that Starbucks has sold for years. In my opinion, however, this confusion is actually rooted in the fact that we have been spoiled by well-made lattes topped with a delicious layer of microfoam for years.
If this means the bad baristas are going to have to learn the magic of creating delicious, velvety microfoam in an attempt to copy the Starbucks flat white, I think this will ultimately be a fruitful endeavor. In my experience, the Australia model, while confusing at first, produces outstanding coffee.
The Coffee Guy
For a more in-depth analysis of the differences between a latte and a flat white, check out this great post.
If you’ve been following coffee news lately, you know that the new Keurig 2.0 system is receiving less than stelar reviews – and for good reason. Their new DRM system is making a lot of enemies with businesses that once supported the Keurig brand, and it’s prompting some people to go as far as hacking their coffee machines. I’ve never been a fan of K-cups: they brew weak coffee with stale beans, they are over-priced, and they are environmentally irresponsible.
With Black Friday approaching and the holiday season following close behind, I believe that it’s time to step up and voice our concerns with friends, family, and co-workers to keep these things out of homes and businesses. It’s time we step in to kill the Keurig.
To help with this, I’ve written a short essay and am distributing it as a PDF. I’ve embedded it below, and you can also click here to download it. I’ve included the introduction text in this post to give you a little taste.
Please share this with your friends on Facebook and tweet it. Send it to your favorite coffee shop. I didn’t put this together for blog hits or for exposure – I did it because I love the coffee community, and I hate seeing it tainted by overpriced, bad beans.
The process of getting a coffee bean from the plant to your mug is incredible. Expert growers spend their entire lives painstakingly cultivating their farms and creating relationships with distributors. Master roasters spend years practicing and alternating between degrees down to the decimal point to find the perfect temperature for their single origin and blended roasts. Baristas train and compete, taking great care and putting incredible effort into each and every cup that crosses their portafilters and pour-over cones. I have a huge amount of respect for the individuals that take part in this process daily.
The more I learn about the method and skill necessary to create high quality coffee, the deeper my resentment towards Keurig gets.
This short diatribe is primarily meant to be informational – as backwards as that sounds. As I’ve talked to people about Keurig, I’ve found that many folks like their coffee and the variety of options that they make available, but don’t know much about their coffee or what differentiates their machines from traditional brew methods. If that’s you, I beg you to read on. If you’re like me and dislike Keurig already, you’ll probably find yourself nodding along with my conclusions – I ask you to share this with your friends that fit into the first camp.
This essay contains three short chapters, and trust me when I say that each only scratches the surface of their respective topics. We’ll begin with history, then discuss math and money, and finally talk about the environment. I encourage you to do your own research on these topics as well.
In the sage words of Khan in the newest Star Trek film – “Now, shall we begin?”
Edit 11/20/14
This post has received a strong positive response with over 600 views and great discussion. Thank you for passing it around! I encourage you to continue to do so, especially as we get closer to Black Friday. #KilltheKCup
Edit 01/12/15
The campaign that this post and essay pushed is over, but I hope they both continue to shed light on why I believe Keurig is a less-than-stellar way to make coffee. Keep sharing the love!
