A fast way to make an excellent cup of coffee.

Over the years of doing the Giz Wiz Leo Laporte & I have talked about lots of coffee makers. (We’ll find out what OMGChad uses to make coffee when we record this episode.) But in all those years I never reviewed a K-cup maker. That changes with my review of theKeurig Elite K45 Single Cup Coffee Maker. It’s selling just under $100 (MSRP $120) so it’s probably the most affordably priced Keurig kitchen brewing system. (There’s an under $80 version, but it’s more for dorms and doesn’t offer many features.) You can use K-Cups to brew coffee, tea, and hot cocoa. The Keurig Elite K45offers three-cup sizes and a programmable Auto On/Off switch. The 48 oz. removable water reservoir holds up to 8 cups before refilling. The 3 cup-size options are 6oz, 8oz, and 10oz. And the machine can accommodate travel mugs. You can make a really great coffee fast, without the mess of grinding coffee beans and loading grounds into coffee filters. Although making a cup costs about 50-55 cents, that’s way lower than the cost of a coffee house brew. And you have the convenience of brewing it instantly in your own kitchen. Also the variety of coffees and other drinks is huge. The Keurig system offers hundreds of K-Cups varieties. There are companies making 95% biodegradable K-cups, and you can even buy a reusable K-cup and use your own ground beans. My favorite so far is Green Mountain Dark Magic Extra bold. The Elite 45 is available in black, white and blue at $99.99. 

Company website: www.keurig.com  

Leo & I love the AeroPress. We both have them. Here’s some info:

Fast and convenient, the AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker makes one of the best cups of coffee you'll ever taste. This innovative uses the ideal water temperature and gentle air pressure brewing to produce coffee and espresso that has rich flavor with lower acidity and without bitterness. It makes 1 to 4 cups of coffee or espresso (enough for 1 or 2 mugs), features a micro filtered for grit free coffee, and takes just 1 minute to make coffee (actualpress time takes only 20 seconds). It's not as fast as a K-cup coffee maker, and involves about 4 different steps, but it does make great coffee. It's about $30 and can be found online.