Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Stacking Green Mountain Coffee Pods Against The Other Choices

While they're not even actually coffee pods in the traditional sense, Green Mountain Coffee Pods are one of the most well known coffee pod brands out there. Actually, they are K-Cups. This means they'll only work in a K-Cup brewer, which is made be Keurig. We won't be talking about traditional coffee pods at all, so if that is all you're looking for, you should look elsewhere. If you own, or plan to buy a Keurig K-Cup machine, though, read onward.

Who Is Green Mountain Coffee?

With a name like green mountain, you would think that the company was rather old and from Ireland or something. In reality, Green Mountain Coffee was founded in Vermont in 1981. This makes them very new to the coffee world, especially with older companies having been around since the mid 1800s. The company actually started as a tiny cafe in rural Waitsfield, Vermont, where they roasted and served coffee. It didn't take long before local restaurants began clamoring to buy Green Mountain Coffee to serve in their own establishments.

What Makes Green Mountain Special?

In such a competitive industry, that Green Mountain Coffees grew so fast is nothing short of amazing. So, how did they manage to make such an impact? It probably had a lot to do with their strange mixture of selections and flavors. Since the big guys pretty much have your average decaf and house blend type offerings locked up, Green Mountain Coffees went a completely different direction. Some of their blends are fairly mundane, with breakfast blend, French roast, and "Our Blend", which is their version of original, mixed in with their greater than 100 various coffees.

Green Mountain Coffees And Your Pod Coffee Maker

Unless you have a Keurig K-Cup Brewer, Green Mountain Coffee Pods will not work in your pod coffee maker. Green Mountain does not, and probably will not ever make a more generic coffee pod, such as what would fit in the Home Cafe pod coffee makers. This is because Green Mountain Coffees actually owns Keurig. In fact, since Green Mountain purchased Keurig in 2006, it's probably not much of a stretch to say that Green Mountain Coffees is the reason for the success of K-Cups and the Keurig brewers in general. If you're into making your own coffee pods, however, you could always buy Green Mountain's loose coffee to go in your coffee pod machine.

Does Green Mountain Make Anything Other Than Coffee?

Although you may have to look under some of their other labels, Green Mountain does produce items other than coffee. Their hot chocolates are under the name of Cafe Escapes, while their teas live under the Celestial Seasonings name. However, just like with their coffees, these can only be had as a K-Cup, so unless you own or intend to buy one, you'll have to go with a different brand.