Little Knight in Shining Armour

The Solofill Cup is available at Newcastle Home Hardware.

The Solofill Cup is available at Newcastle Home Hardware.

Little Knight in Shining Armour
by Andrew MacMullin

It’s all the rage these days—single serve coffee that is—and it’s here to stay. Just look at the big gas stations moving from 20 flavours of fresh brewed coffee pots on the counters to the push a button and fill your cup single serve machines.

At home it’s the same thing, drop a packet in, push a button, and WHAM your hot beverage is ready. The best part is it’s already in your favourite cup. About three years ago I jumped on this ol’ bandwagon and bought a Keurig machine. Like I said, it’s all the rage and you have to keep up, right? The reason I bought this was because I was the only real coffee drinker, so I was brewing pot after pot almost daily and throwing away 75% of it. I figured this machine might be a little more per cup but I wouldn’t have the waste. Also my wife liked the flavoured coffees but it wasn’t practical to brew a pot and that would mean a second drip machine on the counter. A second machine didn’t make sense and we didn’t have the room.

We can all get a deal on K-cups somewhere and I have gotten them as low as $0.40 each. Not bad, but the average is $0.70 plus, so this has become a little expensive. Also I still can’t get the coffee I really want in a K-cup and I bet this is common problem with most of you. This was also the case when I used a drip machine because I would not brew a pot of my more expensive favourite coffee to just throw it away. That is what led me to this little “knight in shining armour” called the Solofill Cup.

This thing is great. I can now buy my organic free trade coffee or whatever my obsession is this week for less money than the cheap no name style or clearance K-cups. Yes, you have to rinse the filter but it is made of metal so it’s easy to clean, durable and no replacement filters required!

This single serve reusable filter was only $15.99. The coffee I am using this week cost me $12 for a 500g pack. I use an average of 13-15g in the filter so the quick and dirty is about $0.31 a cup. Use Folgers or Maxwell House and buy the 975g cans on sale for $6.99 and you are less than $0.10 a cup. Now that is what I call getting what you paid for!

Keurig makes their own single serve filter and it is also available at a larger price of course, but I’m sure it would work just as well. However, with the Solofill Cup you don’t need to remove the cup holder in your machine, and with the Keurig brand you do. This is just a good way to break or lose parts, so I’m still voting on the Solofill Cup. Happy Brewing! The Solofill Cup is available at Newcastle Home Hardware, 170 Pleasant Street. Visit them online at www.NewcastleHomeHardware.com Home Owners Helping Homeowners.

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