Does the Keurig do anything except add hot water to the little whatsits?
(I am not disputing that adding hot water is still doing more. I am just mildly curious, since if asked I could not swear to a Keurig doing anything more than that.)
Technically, it's properly pressurized water, using almost the same process as a traditional coffee maker with ground roasted beans on a filter, just that the filter is suspended within the cup, and the water through the cup is much more pressurized than in a drip coffee maker.
Brewing coffee in this manner is very different from preparing "instant coffee," which is the addition of hot water to a powdered, dehydrated version of a coffee that had been brewed as per the above process. The powdered "instant coffee" is dissolved by the water -- but the ground beans in the "brewing" of coffee just "infuse" some of their oils are are not dissolved. Similar to how tea leaves are not dissolved when brewing tea.
Beer is made with a similar brewing process, where barley and hops infuse hot water and are not dissolved, but with beer there's another step of fermentation.
Since this new doodad is just a little refrigerator and tap for a bag full of beer that was in a perfectly drinkable form when you brought the bag home from the brewery, it's not actually performing any of the preparation steps for you at all, it's just refrigerating and preserving the beer for you while you enjoy the aesthetics of having a beer "tap" on your kitchen counter.
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(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-10 07:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-14 03:02 am (UTC)(I am not disputing that adding hot water is still doing more. I am just mildly curious, since if asked I could not swear to a Keurig doing anything more than that.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-14 05:51 am (UTC)Brewing coffee in this manner is very different from preparing "instant coffee," which is the addition of hot water to a powdered, dehydrated version of a coffee that had been brewed as per the above process. The powdered "instant coffee" is dissolved by the water -- but the ground beans in the "brewing" of coffee just "infuse" some of their oils are are not dissolved. Similar to how tea leaves are not dissolved when brewing tea.
Beer is made with a similar brewing process, where barley and hops infuse hot water and are not dissolved, but with beer there's another step of fermentation.
Since this new doodad is just a little refrigerator and tap for a bag full of beer that was in a perfectly drinkable form when you brought the bag home from the brewery, it's not actually performing any of the preparation steps for you at all, it's just refrigerating and preserving the beer for you while you enjoy the aesthetics of having a beer "tap" on your kitchen counter.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-07-10 11:59 pm (UTC)