Meet my new Keurig

It’s a K-compact model, priced very reasonably and works just fine as long as you read the small print. Some folks don’t read it and end up with a mess that they blame on the manufacturer.  More about it later.

My new Keurig stands just under 12 inches high and fits nicely on the kitchen counter. Even with the lid up, it is still two inches clear from the upper row of the cabinets. Things can get slightly complicated if you place a drawer under it. This is the smallest brewer from the Keurig line with a reservoir. The K-compact has automatic shutoff that at times comes very handy. It meets my definition of being studio friendly.

Now on to the small print. You think coffee is always made by brewing?  Well, there’s brewing and there’s pod brewing.  To add to the confusion, the K-compact belongs to the latter category.  That is, it’s a Pod brewer and uses K-cup pods for its mission.  Here they are.

K-cup pods are genetically different from K-cups and produce less waste, therefore are environmentally friendly. The problem is, you can’t mix them. I’ve found out about this absolutely accidentally, while shopping online for the K-cups that work with my Keurig. Being big on a fine print, I noticed that a certain flavor of a K-cup is not compatible with my K-compact model. Starting digging in further, I found out why.  Here now, a package of a Caribou flavor of K-cup pods.  See what it says in the lower left corner?  It’s exactly what you should be looking for if you’re blessed with a K-compact Keurig. ‘Pod’ is a keyword here.

 

This is just the matter of a compatibility. It’s like Windows and Mac. To help with the confusion, I would have called them K-cups and K-pods, respectively. That is, if you ask me.

Cup of coffee, anyone?