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This is the Life: Think before using non-recyclable K-Cups

We don’t often think of the environment when we make consumer choices, says columnist Lorne Eckersley...
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Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.

I must be missing something. Admittedly, I must be missing a lot when it comes to coffee. The appeal of coffee outlet chains that sell brewed coffee, for instance. Or of the coffee that sits in the drip maker all day. Or pretty much any restaurant coffee, come to think of it.

Okay, so I am fussy. But I truly do not get the appeal of the latest fad, and great producer of non-recyclable waste — Keurig and similar brands. Exactly how rushed is your day when you think that paying a premium for second-rate coffee in order to save a few seconds is considered good value?

With my trusty little AeroPress I can make a much better cup in about the same time, at a much lower cost. The AeroPress, for the uninitiated, is a sturdy plastic gizmo in which a chamber (a.k.a. tube) is inverted and pressed lightly onto a plunger. Coffee grounds are measured in, boiling water is poured over and given a quick stir. A minute or less later you screw on a filter cap (I have long since abandoned paper filters in favour of a stainless steel one), invert the contraption onto a cup, and then gently press the coffee into the cup.

Each AeroPress owner I know has his or her own measurement and time preferences. But they all agree that the result is a smooth coffee without the acidic tastes of a drip version. With those easily controlled variables the real key is in the coffee used. We buy only whole beans and typically grind enough to last us the day (I rarely have more than one a day, so it isn’t a lot) because oxygen doesn’t do ground coffee any favours. We buy good dark or medium roast beans and our grinder is of good quality. Use a cheap little blade grinder and you won’t get anywhere near the flavour that a burr grinder produces. Mine cost about $300 but I have had it for more than 10 years and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. We keep the setting on a fine grind because Angela uses it to make the espressos for her daily two or three lattes.

There is another benefit to the AeroPress system. With the use of a stainless steel filter (which, like the plastic parts, requires only a quick rinse under hot water to clean it — no soap, please. Same goes for the espresso machine parts) the only waste is the spent grounds and they can easily be dumped into the compost bucket that sits on our counter.

By contrast, the ridiculous Keurig thingies are non-recyclable (the company promises a switch to recyclable materials by 2020) so they add to the landfill burden. And, at about 65 cents and up, they can’t really be described as cheap. I understand the convenience factor in snapping a K-Cup into a machine and hitting a button, but that convenience is gone when you opt for a refillable gizmo so I am guessing they aren’t all that popular.

Imagine my surprise to learn that these coffee makers can also be used to make tea. Seriously? Tea needs to be steeped, not with water pushed through a little plastic cup. Same cost, too, it seems. About four or five times the cost of the double bergamot teabags that I buy when they go on sale.

We humans are a weird species though, and we don’t often think of the environment when we make consumer choices. And we don’t get much leadership from our governments, either. Haven’t you been getting a kick about learning that global companies like Nestlé are pumping British Columbia’s water into plastic (recyclable, at least) bottles to sell to gullible consumers? Not so much the fact that they are doing so, but that they haven’t been paying anything for the resource. And now the provincial government announces it is going to finally start charging. How much, you might ask. How about $2.25 per million litres? Of course, there will be a plan for a bulk purchase discount (I’m being sarcastic here) but that hasn’t been announced.

Decisions about consumer choices don’t require a whole lot of thought. Would your day suffer if you didn’t have a Keurig-like machine to save you a few seconds? Probably not. Could you survive without plastic bottles of water? Probably. At least those are my guesses.

Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.