WHAT'S NEW 1994-08-22

Robert McMath

It was perhaps only a matter of time before Kraft General Foods would get into the act with a Maxwell House version of a "tea bag" full of coffee. The recent trend really started in mid-1986 when Martinson Coffee launched Microwave Coffee Bags, originally with Microperk Coffee -- 100% ground roast coffee. These offered "fresh-perked coffee every time," a real way to brew a good cup of coffee from a bag full of ground coffee beans. The company fought hard to gain success regionally in the Eastern United States. A number of other specialty coffee companies also tried their hands at the concept, but nobody seems to have taken the basic microwave concept further. At least one company even sold its coffee bags with a portable water pot kit in which to heat the water to make the coffee. Folgers from Procter & Gamble jumped in in late 1986 with its coffee bags called Coffee Singles. These have been modified and are now in national distribution.

The basic problem in using coffee bags is that coffee brews satisfactorily when the water reaches around 190 degrees Fahrenheit. If people use water that isn't that hot, or that doesn't stay hot long enough, the ground beans in the bag will not brew properly. Martinson suggested 2 minutes and 40 seconds in the microwave, plus three dunks of the bag.

But without a guarantee of hot-enough water, most manufacturers augment the ground beans in the bag with instant coffee, which will dissolve in nearly everything but cold water! That, however, doesn't make a "brewed" cup of coffee as far as coffee connoisseurs are concerned. KGF can umbrella its new entry under the Maxwell House ad budget. This is a household name and the package illustration showing a bag in a cup makes it very clear what you are purchasing. But "roast and ground coffee and concentrated coffee" are in these bags -- meaning the largest share of the taste will be derived from the "instant"/concentrated coffee when it is made up casually. With a retail price from $2.79 (regular) to $3.18 (decaf), it is an expensive way to make a cup of coffee. It is likely to be perceived as high when compared with other methods. Packages contain 19 coffee bags. (Not using an even number is a trick manufacturers sometimes use so that consumers cannot work up the exact cost by dividing an easy number in their heads.) Each cup of coffee made this way costs between 14 cents and 16 cents a cup. Cheap ground coffee can run a little over 4 cents a cup to make -- better ground coffee, 5 cents. And users are back to repurchase (one hopes) three times as often with a bag!

Does it taste better with a mixture of ground and concentrated coffee? Is the convenience and taste of a "brewed" cup by the bag worth the extra cost per cup? Isn't this another case of "me-tooism" -- but on an idea that is questionable as it has developed?

Robert McMath is a new-product consultant and director of the New Products Showcase & Learning Center in Ithaca, N.Y.