The world is in the midst of a coffee renaissance, with single-serve brewers becoming more popular than ever before. But is this trend good for the environment? And can brewing your coffee at home really make a difference to the planet?
Thankfully, the answer is a resounding yes! Read on to learn about why buying and using a single-serve brewer is better for the planet than buying a coffee machine that brews in larger quantities.
Table of Contents
Less Water-Usage
The biggest environmental impact of drinking coffee is the amount of water that goes into making it. Brewing a cup of coffee requires between 75 and 100ml of water for every gram of ground coffee beans, which means that brewing a pot of coffee uses up to 4 liters of water. If you use a machine that makes multiple cups of coffee at once, this means that you’re wasting a whole lot of water every time you brew a cup!
By contrast, a single-serve coffee maker only uses around 70 ml of water for a single cup of coffee, so the amount of water you use can be significantly reduced simply by switching to one of these devices.
For the same amount of coffee, a single-serve brewer can use as little as 20% of the water used by traditional coffee machines. So not only are you saving yourself money on your energy bills, but you are also doing your bit to help the environment by reducing the amount of water you use every day.
Less Waste
Another big reason why single-serve brewers are better for the environment is that they use less plastic than traditional coffee machines. Traditional coffee machines typically come supplied with a plastic carafe or pod that is thrown away once you’ve finished your drink. While this may not seem like a big deal when you’re only making one cup of coffee at a time, it can quickly add up when these machines brew multiple cups simultaneously.
On the other hand, a single-serve brewer uses disposable capsules that you pop into the machine and then throw away after use. This means you are recycling the same material over and over again rather than throwing away a new piece of plastic whenever you want to make a cup of coffee. And it’s not just the capsules themselves that are made of recyclable materials; many single-serve brewers also come with a reusable plastic lid that you can snap onto the machine
Less Energy Usage
Another big environmental benefit of using a single-serve brewer over a traditional coffee machine is the fact that it uses a lot less energy. A traditional machine heats the water needed to make the coffee before it is even brewed, meaning that it uses a lot of energy to keep the water warm while you wait for your coffee to brew.
However, a single-serve brewer only heats the water as needed, meaning that it uses much less energy than a traditional machine while brewing your coffee. In fact, some single-serve brewers don’t even need to heat the water since all the water needed to make the coffee has already been contained in the pods or cartridges you insert into the machine. This means that they are much more energy efficient than their traditional counterparts.
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Cost Savings
Single-serve brewers are significantly cheaper to run than their larger counterparts and can save you a significant amount of money over the course of a year. As mentioned above, the cost of running a conventional coffee machine can add up quickly when you consider how often you need to make a cup of coffee in order to brew a full pot.
A typical drip coffee machine can cost around $0.20 per cup on average, whereas a single-serve brewer can usually cost less than $0.05 per cup. This translates into a significant cost savings of about $17.40 per month if you make 4 cups of coffee every day for a year!
Conclusion
Single-serve brewers are much better for the environment than traditional coffee machines because they use less energy and waste less water than traditional machines. They are also much more convenient than their traditional counterparts since they do not require any cleaning or maintenance once you have installed them in your home. If you are interested in purchasing a single-serve brewer for your home, you should contact an authorized dealer in your area or check online retailers for more information.