A wave of plastic-free coffee pods and machines

Huh, cool. If you want to save a few bucks you can go with a stainless steel French press or a mason jar if you're into cold brews. You're symbolizing a different kind of status though.

This summer was sunny and hot in Colorado, so every morning I'd make a jar of sun coffee. I'd leave it out through the day and overnight. The next morning I'd pull it in, filter it, refill it with grounds and water and take it outside again. It was cool enough to enjoy and really smooth.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even the $10k slayer espresso machine has a plastic water resevoir. Granted the brewing assembly is mostly plastic free.

While I sympathize with the sentiment to eliminate plastic from the transport chain for anything ingestible, it's practically impossible in the modern world.

Simple is usually best; glass or ceramic pour over, stainless press, or even the traditional South American coffee sock[0]

[0]https://perfectdailygrind.com/2016/01/coffee-sock-old-school...

These already seem pretty common in Italy, with the biodegradable plastic-free pods

So, what's new about that? Philips's Senseo machines have been available now for 20+ years and they use pads without plastic? Ok, they probably don't count as a "status symbol" and some might turn their nose up at them, but still...

I like Moka pots. Zero plastic

But seriously it's a shame how hard it is to find products like coffee makers and electric kettles with no plastic. Heat and plastic don't mix

A pair of weeks ago I've had the opportunity of trying a Lavazza Tabli' in one of those event they do at malls were you can try new coffe machines for free.

I was attracted by the removal of the plastic waste, but the coffe has been very underwhelming. Not in the sense that it was not to my taste but that was plainly bad. I know that it might have been a single fluke, the machine or whatever, still tho, did not like the coffee.

My wife and her friends tried it as well some hours later and told me the same thing without me influencing their opinion with mine.

I am happy to see a change in that way but I don't feel it's a viable alternative to traditional capsule machines, meanwhile I'll stick to my dear Moka.

(context: I'm italian)

I have a Technivorm Moccamaster KBG-V and they use good plastic for their parts but it's still plastic (except the thermal carafe etc). There's a new copycat version that's all glass and plastic (Simply Good I think?) but not sure how it actually performs.

What I'm surprised at is that no one has made non-plastic drop-in replacement parts for the reservoir, basket, and funnel. The KBG-V is highly modular so it's strange to me that no one has gone this route. It shouldn't change anything significant in the brewing process or quality of the coffee.

I use a stainless steel moka pot, which I find very efficient (a minute or less to get coffee ready), healthy and eco-friendly. I hate capsules because of the waste they create once used and the energy that goes into making them.

From what I've read, it's true that the oils aren't filtered out as well as with paper filters, but their contribution is minimal.

By the way, always coffee with milk.

Aeropress makes a glass version although I was never too concerned about the microplastic risk

Typical paper cups that are used to serve coffee produce massively more plastic particles and they are more toxic. One cup per year exceeds what whole year of coffee maker plastic releases..

plastic coffee maker: 7-20 particles

paper cup : 25000 particles

https://getplasticproof.com/blog/does-coffee-have-microplast...

https://sifts.co/blogs/microplastics/microplastics-and-coffe...

https://sprudge.com/hot-to-go-which-type-of-coffee-has-the-m...

Aeropress is a similar amount of effort and just as quick.

When I drank coffee I would use a Hario V60. Avoiding plastic is trivial (and cheap). $40-50 for the entire setup. I preferred to waste my money on expensive beans instead.

Join team instant coffee. It's way better then its rep. No microplastics either.

I make coffee in an electric percolator. It’s stainless steel, the coffee never touches any plastic. People online say this is the worst way to make coffee, but it tastes fine to me.

I used to grind my coffee and manually make espresso. Years ago though I switched to an all-in-one. I was very adamant that it had to have ceramic grinders so that it will last forever. I've since had to replace some internal parts and I'm sure the display will eventually fail and not be replaceable, but those grinders are going to last centuries!

I mean, among real coffee snobs the status symbol is mostly not using a Keurig or Lavazza machine at all. Pour overs, Espresso machines, most status symbol coffee equipment is pretty light on the plastic already.

A Chemex with properly weighed and proportioned beans makes excellent coffee. It’s also plastic free and there isn’t a wait list.

Do people take pods coffee seriously? If you want to signal true status with coffee you pull your roasted coffee beans from a very exotic place, ground them in your very expensive stainless steel manual grinder and make a very strong, very flavorful espresso in your generic chinese espresso machine (that steo is just heat, water and pressure, no need to go overboard there).

I would enjoy a plastic-free drip machine with a thermal carafe for convenient large batches. For now, been enjoying a stainless steel french press and pour over.

Love my La Pavoni.

good thread to lookup : https://x.com/levelsio/status/2088235859887726696

Hmm, is all the metal food safe? To what extent?

Does it fix the weird chemical taste of pod coffee?

i just use a stainless steel electric kettle, and a glass ikea french press

$55ish CAD total

So ridiculous we already have ESE pods for traditional expresso machines. We replaced the Nespresso machine in the office with a normal expresso machine so people can make bring their own ground coffee if they want but we also offer ESE pods for people who don't care but still want a good coffee.

Status: titanium credit card at expensive local coffee shop.

I hate it that Apple products still have so much plastic in them. Makes them look flimsy.

I must be hot shit then, my portafilter has no plasic and neither does my grinder.

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I think the status symbol is not having enough time to make it at home and also being able to afford it at Starbucks.

Only in America is a coffee machine without plastic something special.