Now there’s a single-serve brewing system that’s fully compatible with all the standard Keurig K-cups available (with or without the microchips). Touch T414S is a remarkable machine in so many ways – I’ve been really been enjoying using it for a month now.
This machine is so versatile, it allows you to custom brew each cup with Mild, Medium and Bold settings and delivers a choice of 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14 ounce servings.
Touch T414S
Black section of the base slides out for large travel mugs.
Probably the three most important features of a single serve brewer are: taste, time to brew and choice of coffee. The Touch T414S excels in each.
Taste
Tests have shown that the best coffee is brewed with water between 195-205°. The Touch brewers can attain these temps with its unique flash heating system. The water also has more time to contact the grounds, extracting even more flavor than machines that shoot the water through at high speeds.
Time to brew
Despite the fact that the water is streamed through more slowly, the Touch brewer still completes each cup faster than the competition. Even if the pot is off for the night, you can turn it on and have your first cup of coffee within one minute. I was amazed, but it works.
The pot turns itself off after a short period of inactivity and I was thinking that was going to be an issue, but literally it still beats Keurig’s brew time, even from a cold start.
Another advantage is the 90 ounce holding tank – you’ll be refilling it less often.
Choice of coffee
Sales results show that Keurig blew it when they tried to force their microchip design on consumers, but Touch has gone completely the opposite direction. They have made their brewer to work with any K-cup – whether by Green Mountain or any other mfr. You can use your own refillable cups as well, although I found mine to be a bit weaker than I expected.
XLARGE coffee pods are great for travel mugs or two small cups of coffee.
In addition to the 12.5 gram K-cups already available, they are coming out with a line of XBOLD cups that pack 2.5 more grams of coffee per cup than the K-cup versions. Also available are the XLARGE cups which pack 18 grams of coffee or 25 grams of hot chocolate. The XBOLD will also work in Keurig first generation pots as well. You can even get two small cups of coffee from each XLARGE cup.
I got to sample some of the first run cups and they taste great. They are especially ideal for the travel mugs that hold the full 14 oz. brew. They should be available any day now at http://touchbrew.com/.
There’s also a refillable dispenser available that will hold up to 40 grams of your own coffee for a small pot or carafe.
A giant 40 gram fill-it-yourself pod lets you brew your own ground coffees.
If you are in the market for a single brewer, you owe it to yourself to check out the T414S at CoffeeIcon Superstore.
Disclaimer: Touch Coffee and Beverage provided me with a 414S unit to review for this article