KRUPS Cup-On-Request Coffee Maker Review

Ever since the boon of the single-serve Keurig K-Cup coffee maker, coffee lovers have been enjoying just-brewed coffee one cup at a time. It's an excellent, convenient way to enjoy your daily Joe. That said, we've come across another product that's certain to give the K-Cup coffee maker a run for its money. KRUPS has come out with a coffee machine that offers the advantage of serving one cup at a time, perfectly brewed and dispensed, but without a K-Cup, or pod. This latest and greatest is the KRUPS Cup-On-Demand KM9000 coffee maker. While the Keurig machines offer high-quality coffee and convenience, it might make more fiscal sense over time to opt for a Cup-On-Demand by KRUPS.
Cup-On-Request vs. Keurig Coffee Makers
At first glance, the KRUPS Cup-On-Request coffee maker (when compared to the popular Keurig B70 coffee machine) is plus or minus $20 more expensive than the Keurig machine to purchase. You have two great machines here, so you might be thinking, "I'll save myself 20 bucks and go with Keurig." Not to take anything away from Keurig and their quality products, but if you think about it in terms of the long run, you'd save money going with the KRUPS machine. If you look at Keurig, you have to purchase their coffee pods (they call them capsules) for use in their machines. 18 capsules go for approximately $10. So, you have 18 cups of coffee for $10, which turns out to be.55 a cup. When you compare that to picking up a cup of coffee at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, that's pretty good; however, with the KRUPS Cup-On-Demand coffee maker, you use the coffee of your choice that you get from the store--figure around $8 a pound right now. A pound of coffee renders anywhere from about 60 - 80 cups of coffee--I'll err on the side of conservatism here, and say 60 cups. Do the math and you're looking at.13 a cup with the Cup-On-Demand machine. Clearly the savings over time would be dramatic. It's also less expensive on the environmental side; less plastic packaging gets tossed in the garbage.
KM9000 Coffee Machine - The Mechanics
What's very cool about the Cup-On-Request coffee maker (among several other bells and whistles) is that KRUPS developed a patented heating system, called Precise Warming Technology™, which keeps the coffee in the removable stainless steel coffee tank a the precise brewing temperature (185 degrees F.) for up to 4 hours. KRUPS explains it more scientifically, but essentially, there are two heating elements--one heats the inside and the other heats the outside of the tank. You can brew up to 12 cups of coffee in the machine, and it dispenses the amount of coffee you choose (it's fully programmable for size of cup, height, automatic brewing times, etc.) in a straight, splashless stream. If you're like me, you end up with grounds and spillage on the countertop when using traditional automatic drip coffee makers, so I find this particular feature very attractive. The machine also tells you how long it's been since the coffee was brewed which is important to me as a coffee enthusiast.
At the end of the day, both of these single-serve coffee technologies are great for a cup of freshly brewed coffee, but knowing how much money the KRUPS machine saves me, along with being able to brew any coffee I want, seals the deal.
Cheers!