Keurig Alta First-Look: No More Plastic K-Cups
Keurig Alta First-Look: No More Plastic K-Cups
Keurig Alta 初探：告别塑料 K-Cup 胶囊
Opinions on Keurig’s K-Cup System fall into two camps: fans who value the convenience of a quick java hit and coffee purists who sideline it as flavored water. I land somewhere in the middle: I grind my own beans and brew them through a reusable filter, but I let the machine do the rest. So, perhaps, I’m the customer that Keurig has in mind with its new Alta system.
对于 Keurig 的 K-Cup 系统，人们的看法分为两派：一派是看重快速冲泡便利性的粉丝，另一派则是将其贬为“调味水”的咖啡纯粹主义者。我的立场介于两者之间：我会自己研磨咖啡豆并使用可重复使用的滤网冲泡，但剩下的工作交给机器完成。所以，或许我正是 Keurig 在开发新 Alta 系统时所设想的目标客户。
The Alta is Keurig’s first single-serve coffee maker that uses plastic- and aluminum-free coffee pods—finally launching after years of development. If Alta takes off, we are likely seeing the beginning of the end for the disposable K-Cup, which launched in 1998.
Alta 是 Keurig 首款使用无塑料、无铝咖啡胶囊的单杯咖啡机，在历经多年研发后终于面世。如果 Alta 能够成功普及，我们很可能正在见证自 1998 年推出以来的一次性 K-Cup 胶囊走向终结的开端。
Whatever your thoughts are on how the perfect cup should be made, for nearly 50 million homes in the US (and not counting the many more in offices), Keurig is coffee. For almost 30 years, we’ve been trained to ditch the old drip-coffee maker for disposable single-serve pods. But now, Keurig wants us to leave (eventually) the K-Cup and embrace the AltaRounds pod, a compostable, compressed coffee round that works the same: Drop it into the machine, press a button or two, and out comes joe.
无论你认为完美的一杯咖啡应该如何制作，对于美国近 5000 万个家庭（还不算办公室里更多的用户）来说，Keurig 就代表了咖啡。近 30 年来，我们已经习惯了抛弃传统的滴滤咖啡机，转而使用一次性单杯胶囊。但现在，Keurig 希望我们（最终）放弃 K-Cup，转而拥抱 AltaRounds 胶囊——这是一种可堆肥的压缩咖啡圆饼，工作原理相同：放入机器，按下一两个按钮，咖啡就做好了。
During a presentation in New York City, Phil Drapeau, Keurig’s senior vice president of Future Coffee Systems, said customers wanted more than brewed coffee. They wanted to make fancy espresso drinks, from simple cappuccinos to salted caramel concoctions I sampled at the event (PSL fans, rejoice). But to do so, Keurig needed to invent an entirely new system.
在纽约市的一次发布会上，Keurig 未来咖啡系统高级副总裁 Phil Drapeau 表示，客户想要的不仅仅是滴滤咖啡。他们想要制作花式浓缩咖啡饮品，从简单的卡布奇诺到我在活动现场品尝的咸焦糖特调（南瓜香料拿铁粉丝们欢呼吧）。但要做到这一点，Keurig 必须发明一套全新的系统。
“We wouldn’t be able to do any of that with K-Cup,” Drapeau says. “It will fail. You have to brew it at the right temperature and extract. You can’t be constrained by the K-Cup system.”
“我们无法用 K-Cup 实现这些，”Drapeau 说，“那样会失败。你必须在合适的温度下进行冲泡和萃取。你不能被 K-Cup 系统所束缚。”
Robot Barista
机器人咖啡师
If the K-Cup was about bringing Dunkin’ home, then the Alta is about mimicking brewing third-wave coffee in the kitchen. Keurig looked at how coffeehouse baristas brew espresso, and how it can simplify the process by applying the K-Cup experience.
如果说 K-Cup 的意义在于把甜甜圈店（Dunkin’）的体验带回家，那么 Alta 的目标就是在厨房里模拟“第三波咖啡”的冲泡过程。Keurig 研究了咖啡师如何制作浓缩咖啡，并思考如何通过应用 K-Cup 的经验来简化这一流程。
With the AltaRound, you don’t need to measure and grind beans, tamp, or adjust pressure and temperature. The round is covered with a plant-based seaweed wrap that ensures the coffee stays compressed and fresh. After you insert it, pick a drink via the touchscreen, and the machine punctures the AltaRound and applies 10 bars of pressure to extract the liquid. Spent AltaRounds are dumped into a container.
使用 AltaRound，你无需测量、研磨咖啡豆、压粉，也不必调节压力和温度。这种圆饼包裹着一层植物基海藻膜，确保咖啡保持压缩状态且新鲜。放入后，通过触摸屏选择饮品，机器会刺穿 AltaRound 并施加 10 巴的压力进行萃取。用过的 AltaRounds 会被排入废料盒中。
The first-gen Alta coffee machine is sleek but enormous. It would take the space of my existing Keurig, coffee grinder, and Breville Bambino, and then some more. On the plus side, it has a built-in milk frother for drinks like lattes—it’s a separate process (a Keurig rep told me someone successfully made latte art with it)—and a built-in K-Cup brewer too. Keurig says this lets users keep brewing coffee styles not yet available in the Alta or if they want something quick. (At launch, AltaRounds come in single espresso, double espresso, and regular coffee.)
第一代 Alta 咖啡机外观时尚但体积巨大。它占用的空间相当于我现有的 Keurig、咖啡研磨机和 Breville Bambino 加起来的总和，甚至更多。好的一面是，它内置了用于制作拿铁等饮品的奶泡机——这是一个独立的过程（一位 Keurig 代表告诉我，有人成功用它拉出了花），并且还内置了 K-Cup 冲泡功能。Keurig 表示，这让用户可以继续冲泡 Alta 尚未涵盖的咖啡风格，或者在想要快速饮用时使用。（发布时，AltaRounds 提供单份浓缩、双份浓缩和普通咖啡三种选择。）
The machine is wonderfully easy to use, but the process from inserting the AltaRound to drinking takes some time. It’s still faster than using a traditional espresso maker, and you do get flavorful coffee with that must-have crema on the surface. A fellow journalist/coffee enthusiast didn’t find it special, but for a K-Cup drinker like me, it’s a game changer.
这台机器使用起来非常简单，但从放入 AltaRound 到喝上咖啡的过程需要一些时间。它仍然比使用传统浓缩咖啡机快，而且你确实能得到风味浓郁、表面带有标志性油脂（crema）的咖啡。一位同行记者兼咖啡爱好者觉得它没什么特别，但对于像我这样的 K-Cup 用户来说，这绝对是一个颠覆性的产品。
Keurig is offering a bundle in the US that includes the Alta brewer (in four color choices), four boxes of AltaRounds, and Flur glasses for $500. The preorder has already sold out, which suggests strong interest. There’s no announcement on when the Alta will be on sale en masse and exactly how much (likely also $500, but without the bundled extras), but a pack of eight AltaRounds will cost $10 to $11. (Stay tuned for our full review.) With that high price, it will be some time before the K-Cup dies (well, plastic never dies) and the Alta takes its place.
Keurig 目前在美国提供一个售价 500 美元的套装，包含 Alta 咖啡机（四种颜色可选）、四盒 AltaRounds 和 Flur 玻璃杯。预售已经售罄，这表明市场兴趣浓厚。目前尚未公布 Alta 何时大规模上市以及具体售价（可能也是 500 美元，但不含捆绑赠品），但一盒 8 个装的 AltaRounds 售价为 10 到 11 美元。（请持续关注我们的完整评测。）鉴于如此高昂的价格，K-Cup 要彻底消失（好吧，塑料永远不会消失）并被 Alta 取代，还需要一段时间。
It’s no secret that Keurig has been exploring a revolution in coffee pods to replace the K-Cup, and has already been beta-testing a prototype in homes. Customers have also been asking for something environmentally friendly that’s compostable and free of plastics and aluminum. (Foil wrappers and cardboard are still used in AltaRounds packaging.)
Keurig 一直在探索咖啡胶囊的革命以取代 K-Cup，这早已不是秘密，而且他们已经在家庭中对原型机进行了内测。客户也一直要求提供环保、可堆肥且不含塑料和铝的产品。（AltaRounds 的包装中仍使用铝箔纸和纸板。）
The K-Cup has been exhausted in terms of innovation. Specialty coffee for the Keurig doesn’t taste great (Nespresso does it better), and Keurig hasn’t been able to innovate beyond the K-Cup’s original intention: basic brewed coffee.
K-Cup 在创新方面已经走到了尽头。Keurig 的精品咖啡口味并不理想（Nespresso 做得更好），而且 Keurig 一直无法在 K-Cup 的初衷——基础滴滤咖啡——之外实现创新。
Beyond sustainability, the Alta’s technology echoes issues that plagued the K-Cup. To tell the machine which pod you inserted and to adjust the right settings, each AltaRound has a QR code that the brewer scans. In the past, Keurig ran afoul with consumers and advocates when it tried to implement a printer-toner-style DRM that would have shut out third-party pod makers. For now, Alta users can choose AltaRounds flavors from Keurig and Peet’s, both owned by the same parent company. Will Keurig allow other makers into the Alta system down the road, as it eventually did with the K-Cup? Time will tell if this is the pod revolution we’ve been waiting for.
除了可持续性之外，Alta 的技术也让人联想到曾困扰 K-Cup 的问题。为了让机器识别你放入的胶囊并调整正确的设置，每个 AltaRound 上都有一个二维码供机器扫描。过去，Keurig 在试图实施类似打印机墨盒的 DRM（数字版权管理）以排斥第三方胶囊制造商时，曾引起消费者和倡导者的不满。目前，Alta 用户只能选择 Keurig 和 Peet’s 的 AltaRounds 口味，这两家公司同属一家母公司。未来 Keurig 是否会像对待 K-Cup 那样，允许其他制造商进入 Alta 系统？时间会证明这是否是我们一直期待的胶囊革命。