In the case of office coffee, the advantage of old burned Mr. Coffee coffee is that you can get a cup right away, instead of dicking around with the machine every time anyone wants one. However, since office coffee is generally pretty bad, I always managed to sneak in a little German coffee machine of my own which I hid under my desk; the genius of this machine is that it drips the coffee into a vacuum flask, so the coffee doesn’t burn but does stay hot for quite a while – long enough to get me through the day, actually. I think the attraction of the Keurig is not efficiency but anti-efficiency and gratuitous mechanism – I kind of conspicuous consumption which is exercised not to show off to others but to gratify oneself. It’s sort of like a vending machine of one’s own.
I have seen one turned to good use, however. When Olivia, the single middle-aged but still very attractive Hispanic executive-floor receptionist wanted to promote a tête-à-tête with someone, she’d invite him into the Executive Pantry (which she alone controlled) to sample the Keurig coffee for a change. Happily she finally hooked up with Mr. Right, so the machine did somebody some good.
Your basic Coffemate 12 cup brewer is a pretty efficient little machine. As for the freshness of the coffee, just buy less pre-ground coffee more often. It’s not like you only go to the grocery store once a month.
I don’t understand what’s so damn difficult about “traditional” (how the hell that became “artisinal,” I’ll never know) brewing. Only in infomercials is life this difficult.
My old office got a Starbucks-branded Keurig (back when that was a thing); they offered a dozen flavors and an industrial-sized machine. After years of awful office coffee, it was wonderful, and we all drank tons of coffee from it. A month later, it suddenly vanished. I asked the company owner what happened. “The first month was free. Turns out you guys drink too much coffee,” he grumbled.
