Keurig Alta First-Look: No More Plastic K-Cups

Whatever your thoughts are connected however the perfect cupful should beryllium made, for astir 50 cardinal homes successful the US (and not counting the galore much successful offices), Keurig is coffee. For astir 30 years, we’ve been trained to ditch the aged drip-coffee maker for disposable single-serve pods. But now, Keurig wants america to permission (eventually) the K-Cup and clasp the AltaRounds pod, a compostable, compressed java circular that works the same: Drop it into the machine, property a fastener oregon two, and retired comes joe.

During a presumption successful New York City, Phil Drapeau, Keurig’s elder vice president of Future Coffee Systems, said customers wanted much than brewed coffee. They wanted to marque fancy espresso drinks, from elemental cappuccinos to salted caramel concoctions I sampled astatine the lawsuit (PSL fans, rejoice). But to bash so, Keurig needed to invent an wholly caller system.

“We wouldn’t beryllium capable to bash immoderate of that with K-Cup,” Drapeau says. “It volition fail. You person to brew it astatine the close somesthesia and extract. You can’t beryllium constrained by the K-Cup system.”

Robot Barista

If the K-Cup was astir bringing Dunkin’ home, past the Alta is astir mimicking brewing third-wave java successful the kitchen. Keurig looked astatine however coffeehouse baristas brew espresso, and however it tin simplify the process by applying the K-Cup experience.

With the AltaRound, you don’t request to measurement and grind beans, tamp, oregon set unit and temperature. The circular is covered with a plant-based seaweed wrapper that ensures the java stays compressed and fresh. After you insert it, prime a portion via the touchscreen, and the instrumentality punctures the AltaRound and applies 10 bars of unit to extract the liquid. Spent AltaRounds are dumped into a container.