Soon We Will All Be Drinking From Pods

Keurig machines boldly accelerated the path to a caffeine fix, getting rid of the measuring and the whole-pot wait. With the simple drop of a pod into a machine, a single-serving of coffee-flavored drink is made within seconds. But what if instead of having a mug full of steaming hazelnut brew dispensed, you got a cold bubbly beverage? Well, it’s happening – Coca-Cola will be working exclusively with the makers of Keurig to produce Coke-branded single-serve, pod-encased cold drinks.

According to CNN Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the maker of the Keurig, is developing a cold system that will likely be released in late 2014 or 2015. Similar to the Keurig machines that sit in waiting rooms and office lounges, “Keurig Cold will use formulated single-serve pods to dispense cold beverages including carbonated drinks, enhanced waters, juice drinks, sports drinks and teas.” The Wall Street Journal reports that the soda pods will have two chambers: the first will have a liquid syrup for flavoring and the second will contain “a pre-form of carbonation” that will be released once the drink-making process starts. (Your guess is as good as ours as to what that consists of: just compressed CO2?)

Although disposable Keurig pods have become quite popular and useful to make a quick cup of coffee, the K-cup technology has been attacked for filling up landfills and not being the nicest to the environment. The plastic of the pods are recyclable, but combined with other materials such as the aluminum foil covers and leftover coffee grounds renders the pod unrecyclable. Keurig is looking into ways to offer a more sustainable product, but it seems that there hasn’t been much development.

Will the new machine do to SodaStream‘s at-home fizzy-drink business what Keurig pods have done to coffee? We’ll have to wait and find out. Until the clash of countertop pop-maker titans commences, we can just imagine all the other foods that will soon be delivered in handy pod form.