Single Cup Coffee Maker Wars

About Coffee[s] Staff

In the world of single serve coffee makers, the argument over which coffee brewer is better is as hot as the beverage itself.

For those that don’t know, the single serve coffee maker landscape is dominated by two brands of coffee makers: the Keurig and the Tassimo. Each of these coffee machines takes its own type of coffee packet to brew single cups of coffee.

These packets, called “K-cups” or “T-discs,” are for the Keurig and the Tassimo respectively. Each of these coffee machines are aligned with different coffee bean companies.

Starbucks announced recently that it will sell single cup coffee pods of its grinds exclusively for Keurig brewers. Problem for some, is that Tassimo used to have an exclusive deal with Starbucks. The news is a loss for Tassimo users, many of whom bought the coffee machine out of loyalty to Starbucks.

In March of 2011, Starbucks split from Kraft Foods, who saw the Tassimo gain popularity in large part because of its partnership with the Starbucks.

Obviously the Starbucks fallout with Kraft proved beneficial for Keurig, as Starbucks has recently unveiled plans to sell K-Cups throughout the United States in November and in Canada next March.

According to the president of global consumer products for Starbucks Jeff Hansberry, sales are forecast to top one billion dollars USD.

The split does not mean the end of Kraft. It sells 25 options for the Tassimo including Nabob and Maxwell House and isn’t oblivious to the frustration of Tassimouser users.

“We recognize some Tassimo consumers are disappointed,” says director of corporate affairs Kathy Murphy. She continued by saying that the company intends to continue bringing in more beverage choices, including Gevalia. Gevalia is a premium Swedish coffee that until now has been hard to come by in North America.

The questions is will that stop Tassimo users from switching to Keurig?

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