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Decaf K-cups: For Science!
I am one of those pour-over coffee snobs. But I also have way-too-early morning meetings and just don't have the time anymore. I owned a Keurig in my pre-snob days, and now they have the "strong" button, so I decided to give them another shot. I have to drink decaf now, which has really ruined the snobbery aspect of drinking coffee and measuring my grounds and water in grams, waiting 30 full seconds for the bloom, comparing color to a chart, etc. etc. since, you know, decaf. So I figured why not go back to k-cups. My K-Mini Plus came with a coupon for five boxes at half off, which on a per-cup basis is just too good to pass up -- it's a better price than the el cheapo store-brands and on par with Costco. I did a meta-search of k-cup reviews and picked out seven names that consistently ended up on the most best-of lists, and used a few tools to reject ones that looked like astroturfing. I added the one brand I really like when grinding my own and doing the pour-over (The Roasterie Kansas City Blend Decaf -- which is hands-down the best decaf coffee I've ever had) since they had a k-cup version. The two names that came up in often my search that I did not test were Illy and Costco. Illy was just too expensive for such a small box, and if I hated Costco I'd be stuck with a giant box of regret. Plus, all sources indicate that Costco is just Starbuck's house blend decaf anyway. If you like Illy, chime in! The contestants (add "Decaf" to each name): Dunkin Maud's World's Strongest Newman's Own Special Caribou Blend Original Donut Shop Starbuck's House The Roasterie KC Blend Maud's Tall Dark & Handsome The method: I brewed each on the "Strong" setting with exactly 8oz of filtered tap water. I then did a pairwise comparison between each and picked one of the two. Basically, I conducted a bracketed tournament. You can download a Google sheet for a simple pairwise comparison here: https://prioneer.io/rooms/new?ref=gsheet It's a great technique for choosing pretty much anything when you need to narrow down the field. Cars, furniture, spouses. No weighted scoring, subjective criteria, blah blah blah just pit them head to head and pick the winner. I think the young people call this "swipe right." The results: The two worst I'll never buy again, and probably won't drink the remaining cups in the box. The others were all fine enough to drink, and you could do OK just shopping them by price. Option Score Rank Notes Maud's World's Strongest 7 1 Good, Strongest Roasterie KC Blend 6 2 Good, Smoothest Maud's Tall Dark & Handsome 5 3 Good, Weaker than MWS but still stronger than RKC Newman's Own Special 4 4 No taste when hot, got smoother as it cooled Original Donut Shop 3 5 Nice smell but weak to no taste Caribou Blend 2 6 No taste, slight odd chemical smell Starbuck's House 1 7 Bad smell. Really bad smell. Think tire fire. Bland flavor. Dunkin 0 8 Somehow the most bitter and flavorless simultaneously MWS and Roasterie were more or less tied for the best, depending on whether you're in the mood for a strong dark coffee or a smooth flavorful one. 3 was very close to the top 2. 4 and 5 were close. You could just shop them by price. 6,7, and 8 all had very little flavor. Dunkin managed to be bitter while having no flavor, and Caribou and Starbucks both smelled chemical-y. Starbucks in particular had such a strong smell that I brewed another one just to be sure I wasn't getting a bad sample. It smelled like some sort of burning industrial chemical smell, like burning tires, or the smell you get driving by a refinery. That box I will probably throw out and not even finish. The others are at least good enough to get my money's worth out of the sale price. After tasting the Starbuck's, I'm not too worried about leaving Costco out of the test. The top three are good enough to replace my snob routine, and on par with caffeinated coffees. There's a deal now where you can get the machine for "free" if you subscribe to a year's worth of coffee boxes. Maud's and The Roasterie aren't available with that deal (not packaged by Green Mountain, no doubt), but the others all are. Newman's might be good enough for that. In the end, it's all a matter of taste. I mostly did this to have fun with the pile of half-off k-cups I got. I have to drink them all anyway (except the tire pile). Why not share my results? Feel free to let me know how bad my taste is! --SRF submitted by /u/SlideRuleFan to r/keurig [link] [comments]
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r/keurig |
SlideRuleFan |
Nov 21, 2023 |
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I am 33 years old, make $55,000 base salary plus commissions. This week I get a colposcopy.
Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE/comments/n0208t/i_am_32_years_old_make_55000_base_salary_and_get/ New from last post My grandfather passed away in June a week before I was supposed to see him in almost 2.5 years. His life insurance left me 5K initially and I may get another 1-2K after everything is fully settled in a few months. We got to have a socially distanced funeral service for him in the summer. He served in CA during WW2 and I received a flag in his honor at his funeral which was unexpected and very emotional. My company cashed out their pension plan like I mentioned in my last post, which I was originally ambivalent about but in December last year I received a 23K payout which was much more than I anticipated. I rolled this into my 401K to avoid any tax penalties. This fall I paid my dad down to 14900 on my student debt. At Thanksgiving when they were visiting, I was commenting on how much I have to save after paying them off to get enough for a down payment on a home. I also talked about my timeline (before 40) for buying a house. They casually said they could possibly help with money for a down payment and I assumed that meant I could get another Bank of Dad (BoD) loan to get out of apartment life. Two weeks later I called and asked what terms the 'down payment loan' would be (aka same as my student debt loan or more/less). They told me I had misunderstood- they had looked at their finances and end of life contingencies and determined they could 1) Forgive the rest of my student loan debt and 2) give me money toward a down payment. Not going to lie to you all but I cried myself to sleep that night. They gave me 18 K last year and can do around 28K this year (14 in this diary). I used a little to pay off some CC debt and everything else is in my Home Savings Fund. Section One: Assets and Debt (at end of week) Retirement Balance: 89,563.25. I have ~1,630 in a ROTH IRA from working at Starbucks, ~21,684 in an IRA from my graduate degree and ~66,549 in my current 401K. Savings account balance: 3100 in my emergency savings. 28K in my new Home Savings Fund. Checking account balance: 500 HSA Account: 6742 Credit card debt:1200 at end of week, all will be paid after next week’s Paycheck + Commission Student loan debt: 0 Car Loan: -15909. KBB 23000 because the car world is insane right now…. I also I get reimbursed through work (see income) Total debt: 17,109K Net worth: 132,202K Section Two: Income Current job update: I still make 55K base salary with 2.5% commissions on anything we sell that falls under ‘needing my assistance’ (basically attached to a computer). NEW JOB FUN: One of my sales guys has been out for the last almost 6 months on medical leave. He keeps extending his leave month by month but his final extension is supposed to end this month. I have been getting all of his emails, doing all of his work, and can see his commissions and know what I should have been paid for my extra work. Basically, I’ve gotten none of the commissions on what he makes because ‘he’s getting paid’ on them despite me doing all of the work. If he decides to come back I’ll forget the fact that I did his job without compensation but if he doesnt my boss and I will have a long discussion about fair compensation and correcting my %ages vs the sales positions. Main Job Monthly Take Home: Base salary I receive 1379 every two weeks which is 2,758K. My commission changes dramatically, my lowest take home was 200 after taxes and my best month was 18K. THis year was my ‘worst’ and I only made 85K. Section Three: Expenses Rent: 1,580K (1450+ 40 pet fee + 75 mandatory parking fee and 15 mandatory trash fee). New lease numbers will be coming next month and my apartment size is currently going for 2100 K so I assume a decent increase will happen to me then. Renters insurance: 168/year or 15.30 a month Utilities (Electric, water, sewer): average around 100 a month, paid to the apartment building. House Gas: ~35 a month Health Insurance: 344 total: HSA Plan 100, Dental 12, Vision 2; I max out my HSA contributions at 230 and my employer adds 50. Retirement contribution: I contribute 10% or 423 a month from base and 10% of all commissions. Savings contribution: Any extra commissions. Wifi/Cable/Landline: 96 this is a bundle for all three that would cost more to drop anything. This includes Disney+ Subscriptions: I get Netflix from my parents and they use my Disney+. I also accidentally paid for Instacart for the year 99 (ugh), and then I get a car wash plan for 35 a month Cellphone: covered completely by work Pet expenses: ~140 every 8 weeks for food and treats, new daycare rates are 580 for a 20 day package which is up from my last amount. Car payment / insurance: 380 for my car payment and 670 every 6 months for insurance. I have to drive for my job so I get a set +368 a month stipend for my car (which has to be a certain size and year) then a variable per mileage amount, usually around 20 cents average. I usually get around 580 a month that covers these two expenses. Annual and random expenses: Summer CSA: 1K paid early (Nov) for the increased veggie cost from last year, plus a dozen eggs every week and 1 lb of local cheese every other week. The whole summer was so satisfying and not having to get my CC out for eggs (cheese is new), plus getting to go out to the farm and making THE BEST pasta sauce completely from my CSA share is worth the price. Life Insurance: I have a 126K life insurance plan that I pay 233 yearly. I also have a Term life plan for some percentage of my salary through work. Money Diary Day 1 (1/13) 7:20- Finally out of bed after debating with myself how long I can stay in bed and still get to my 9 am appt. I get up, wash my face, take my Thyroid meds and then take my dog S on a walk. Once we're back in I hop into the fastest shower ever and head out the door to drop S at camp. 8:10- Getting gas (51.50) at Wawa and then drop S at camp (in expenses). Then I head to Dunkin because the line isn't that long and it's usually on the wrong side of a divided highway compared to my normal morning drives. I wait in line, get one bacon wake-up wrap and some sort of cold brew cold foam sugar cookie coffee (7.61) (will never get again) and then at the window the workers inside are having some sort of very spirited argument which I would totally stay and watch but I have to get to an appt so I drive off. 9:00- Checked in, drinking wayyy too sweet coffee and then eventually get ushered back for my colposcopy ( cervical biopsy). I have one of the many fun forms of HPV from some unknown dude in college, it's not one of the ones covered by the vaccine which I did get, and not one of the really aggressive ones but it does mean this is a part of my annual health checkup pretty much every year. It is physically uncomfortable and I say it's OK for the trainee to see my cervix- always need more doctors who know what they’re doing! 9:45- head down to the testing department because i have an appointment with a podiatrist in the building next week for a new fun foot pain and she wants X-rays. Thankfully this place is super fast and I am out by 10:10 11- Drive into the city to one of my research groups, where I finalize a new installation for a few hours and work on configurations and talk with the group about their new system. 3:30- Head home and work from home for a few hours. Eat and apple and some veggies plus herbal tea while I’m home. 5:00- Pick the pup up from camp and see an apartment friend in the dog park when we get home. She has a few interviews at big tech companies and so we talk about how exciting that is while the pups play for a while. Then I head inside to settle S and then head out for a massage at a place walking distance away. 6:00-Head in for my massage which is soooo relaxing, I received gift certificates from multiple aunts for Christmas to various massage places and so I only charge a tip (17) 7:30- Stop by the grocery store for some fritos to add to my chili at home and then some cookies. (6.80) 8- Watch TV and eat my frito-chili mixture. End up not wanting the cookies and go to bed around 11:30 Daily Total: 82.91 Day 2 (1/14) 7:30-We’re up! After snoozing the alarm, obviously. I have only ever woken up once without an alarm and early and that was after Trump won the presidency. I hope to never repeat that so I lean into the alarm- based wakeup system. I do my normal morning routine with taking S out and taking my meds and decide I want to try Dunkin again for breakfast. I drop S off at camp and I get a different iced coffee which is still too sweet and two wake up wraps (9.19) 9:30- On a remote session with a client who doesn't seem to realize that without admin access I can literally do nothing. About 40 minutes of explanation and confusion later I let him know once his IT group gives him access I can do something about the issue. I then hop on another session which is mildly more successful, although still slow, but at least the IT guy is on the other end of the line. It turns out that their OS is blocking some important communications for ‘safety’ reasons so I send him our internal documents on configuring Enterprise systems so they’re not complete trash. Its fun accomplishing nothing while being very busy for hours. 11-Wrap up my sessions, eat some leftover chili and head into the city to the system I set up yesterday. End up running windows updates for a few hours until I do a training session around 2 pm. People wander in and out during the afternoon and more training sessions are scheduled for next Friday when people have more of their… act… together. At least I got emails done while Windows was updating… 5- Stop at the brewery by S’s daycare and have 2 beers and an appetizer. The place is pretty busy but it’s very open and separated and the beer is quite delicious! (32.40) 7- Home with S and I spend the evening watching the Witcher season 1 and planning out groceries. I open a bottle of wine and have one glass over the course of the night. Daily Total: 41.59 Day 3 (1/15) 8- Normal morning routine, add in the fact that S was super snuggly so we have a morning cuddle sesh before going outside so he can sniff Every. Single. Plant. Around the building. 8:30- S has been fed and I head to Wegmans. The veggie area is a bit sparse but I get potatoes, onions, shallots, garlic, tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, cauliflower, snap peas, a duck breast, mussels, paneer, almonds, mini naans, canned corn, dried cranberries, sesame seeds and egg roll wrappers. I also get a bunch of flowers to brighten up the kitchen (121.56). I also stop by the Pharmacy and get my Thyroid meds (11.90). On the way out I see if the coffee shop has the bourbon vanilla flavor but they're all out so I head home. 9:20- Unpacked and efficient! I make myself some Jingle Jam Java coffee flavor and also some Jammy Eggs with Skyr: https://lindseyeatsla.com/jammy-eggs-with-chili-butter-and-garlic-yogurt/ minus the bread. I resist the temptation to share with S. Afterwards I spend the morning cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry and taking S on short walks because HOLY BALLS IT’S COLD. 12:30- Have more chili for lunch and then take S on a longer walk, where we apparently are ghosts because 3 different cars almost hit us while we’re going through intersections. I will fully admit I cussed and flipped off the last two because we’ve never been that unsafe before! I know people could see us because we interacted with other humans and dogs out walking but for some reason everyone in a car was completely oblivious this afternoon. 3- Finally find a cart and bring S’s Chewy order up (see normal expenses). I unpack it and give him a treat because I'm sure the whole box smells amazing. I continue cleaning and then take a quick shower (don't wash my hair) before heading out to meet a friend for dinner. 5-This place is packed! My friend comes here very very regularly and so gets us a good table and her favorite waitress. I splurge on a steak and have 2 glasses of wine. We chat about life, her weight loss, home buying/owning issues that shes been through in the last year that I’m just starting to get my feet into and many other things. We hold the table up for 2 hours and I pick up her glass of wine to celebrate meeting up. I also tip a lot for taking the table up for this long! (90.80) 7:30- Take S out and play in the dog park for a while. Head inside, snuggle on the couch and turn on HGTV. I manage to finish off the bottle of wine I opened yesterday and also have a black manhattan. I mayyy drunk text my mom about what I’d like to see in a renovation on my future home and what ‘I really need in a house’ before I pass out with S in bed past midnight. #stayclassy #isthisadulting Daily Total: 224.26 Day 4 (1/16) UGHHH Past 30 hangovers are the worst. I have Monday off so I use today to be completely and utterly useless. I eat leftover chili at some point, take S out on many small walks, snuggle on the couch and make mac and cheese with baked beans mixed in (dont @ me until you try it). We also watch way too many episodes of NCIS and I drink many bottles of sparkling water. 7- its snowing! Outside to the dog park with S to play with snowballs until we’re both cold and hes dumped too many into my shoes. Once inside I have herbal tea and watch more NCIS until maybe 11:30 Daily Total: 0 Day 5 (1/17) 7:30- Good morning! That ‘lazy’ day means I am awake and ready to go this morning, so I take S out and we have… no… snow. My parents are in upstate NY and have 12 inches but it rained here last night so it's just super dreary out. I make more Eggs and Skyr for breakfast plus Highland grog for coffee. I watch some NCIS-NO while eating and cleaning up the kitchen. I also text my colleague to see if I need to drive to Princeton to pick up a computer from him for a demo and he says he’s snowed in and it will have to happen tomorrow. 11- I use up leftovers in the fridge plus the potatoes and corn I got at the grocery store to make corn chowder with lots of veggies and low sodium. After it’s done I portion it out and keep one portion in the fridge and then put the rest in Souper Cubes to freeze for lunch some other time. 1-Take S on a very cold windy long walk where we are miraculously noticed by all of the cars and are acknowledged by all of the drivers! What a change from Saturday where everyone was a douche. Once inside I make Thai broth mussels with a side of rainbow carrots- surprisingly S passes out on the bed and doesn't come mooch for food. 3-spend the rest of the afternoon doing some cleaning and then searching zillow for houses. I also start some basic spreadsheets for what I would want in a house and what I can realistically afford. At some point I see online that it is Betty White’s 100th birthday and people are donating to animal shelters in her name. I log into the website of the local shelter I occasionally volunteer at and donate 50 for Betty. (50) 6- I make my duck breast in an Indian curry with a spice packet and recipe from the Spicery. It is very delicious and I have leftover sauce so I freeze it to eat later with some other meat or veggies. I watch some more NCIS and then take a shower, Olaplex my hair and use a grapefruit shower steamer (like a bath bomb for the shower) to relax. 8- Final walk for S and then when I’m inside I dry my hair completely and then end up reading Terry Pratchett in bed before falling asleep. Daily total: 50 Day 6 (1/18) 7- Mentally calculate how long I can stay in bed and still drop S off before I have my remote Therapy session this morning. 7:45- Finally up, take S out, feed him then get ready for the day and head out the door around 8:20. I drop S off at camp and then head north to Princeton. During the drive I have my Therapy session. I started working with this Therapist after my last diary to deal with situational anxiety. We discuss more general anxiety things this week and how I've been coping with my big triggers (heights, elevators, tunnels and high bridges- such fun). I feel so much better after working with her for the last 8 months! 10- Computer is acquired and I head to one of my favorite breakfast places in Princeton to do some work. I get coffee and a Big easy benedict plus a decaf Chocolate Raspberry Mocha when I leave. During breakfast I discover my mail client on my phone is not connecting to my work email so I email IT with an urgent query and they recommend updating my phone’s OS and getting back to them. Going to be interesting doing that on university guest Wifi! Once I’m done eating I start driving back into the city. (36.06) 1- Put together a demo system with another colleague, have a meeting with the research group about what they’d like to see during the demo, panic about not having a critical part that ends up being in a separate box (phew) and finalize the setup around 4:30. I also slowwwwly update my phone and it fixes the email issue. 6-Head toward S and realize I am starving and have no prepped food so I stop at the same brewery near S’s daycare to get a pizza and a beer before picking him up from camp. (37.20) 7- Do required security and legal online trainings for work while I have some down time. I have both of the trainings going at the same time, pass one on the first try but have to take the other over again. It is about California data laws that we have to take because some of our sales people work in Cali… it is a blast. Also email people and eventually wrap up around 9:30. Read reddit until I fall asleep. Daily Total: 73.26 Day 7 (1/19) 7:15- We’re up and do the normal morning routine. Check my accounts and see I have a 14K deposit from my dad in my checking account! I transfer it all to my house savings fund immediately. 8- I have oatmeal with cranberries and vanilla for breakfast and make Highlander Grogg coffee. I also superheat and pack up the portion of soup I saved in the fridge and put it in my thermos for lunch, in addition to an apple and a few reeses cups. Take S to camp and then head into the city for the first day of the demo. 9:30- Finalize the demo configuration and then do demoing all day, end up eating my lunch at some point and then we finish up around 4:30. Also text some friends coming into town this weekend what they want to do and eat. We plan on open houses, dog walks, and to eat at my place because one of my friends is starting a new semester of nursing school and has to save money. She also has a nursing interview so we plan a mock interview session so she rocks it. 5:30- Home with S and I heat up a freezer burrito. Text my boss to see if we have any info about my colleague who is out and whether he is coming back (today was ‘a deadline’ whatever that means) and he says there still isn’t any news. SO FUN! I work on writing out a thank you note to my parents on my Ipad. Once I have down what I want to say I'll transfer it to a physical card. I watch HGTV and snuggle with S for a while then head to bed, very exhausted! Daily total: 0 Total Expenses: Food and drink: 146.80 Groceries: 121.56 Health and wellness: 28.90 Gas: 51.50 Donations: 50 Total: 427.66 Lastly, reflect on your diary! This was a fun procedure week for me, and I spent more on going out than normal because of the nice dinner out with my friend and more on am coffee than I have in quite a while. I don't normally donate money, usually time, so that was out of the normal for me as well. Work was nice and busy and setting up systems mean commissions and demoing them means I might sell some and get more commissions. Update on the biopsy- came back low level dysplasia which means I don't have to do anything except come in for a pap in the fall. This is my holding pattern with these things but I’m glad I don't have to do any more procedures! submitted by /u/MDThrowAway_01 to r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]
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r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE |
MDThrowAway_01 |
Jan 21, 2022 |
United States
