The man who invented the K-Cup coffee pod almost 20 years ago says he regrets doing so, and he can’t understand the popularity of the products that critics decry as an environmental catastrophe.
John Sylvan worked at Keurig in the 1990s when he devised a simple product that could create a small mug of coffee out of a plastic pod.
Originally aiming it at office workers, Sylvan said he thought the product might have some limited appeal to people who would normally go Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or other coffee chains in the morning, because now they could get a cup of coffee at work that was cheaper, faster, and no fuss.
“That would make it environmentally neutral, because you wouldn’t have those Starbucks cups [everywhere],” Sylvan told the CBC’s As It Happens in an interview.
He says he doesn’t begrudge the company for its success, or for wanting to make money, but he does question consumers’ slavish devotion to the things.
The company’s latest product, the Keurig 2.0, which allows users to use pods to make larger cups and pots of coffee, is a great example of that.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The man who invented the K-Cup coffee pod almost 20 years ago says he regrets doing so, and he can’t understand the popularity of the products that critics decry as an environmental catastrophe.
John Sylvan worked at Keurig in the 1990s when he devised a simple product that could create a small mug of coffee out of a plastic pod.
Originally aiming it at office workers, Sylvan said he thought the product might have some limited appeal to people who would normally go Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or other coffee chains in the morning, because now they could get a cup of coffee at work that was cheaper, faster, and no fuss.
“That would make it environmentally neutral, because you wouldn’t have those Starbucks cups [everywhere],” Sylvan told the CBC’s As It Happens in an interview.
He says he doesn’t begrudge the company for its success, or for wanting to make money, but he does question consumers’ slavish devotion to the things.
The company’s latest product, the Keurig 2.0, which allows users to use pods to make larger cups and pots of coffee, is a great example of that.
The original article contains 740 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!