By now most people have seen or heard about the single-cup coffee makers that you use in order to get instant coffee available that you can make according to your liking. While they are not for everyone, for some they are a real problem solver. If you find yourself dumping out a partial pot of coffee regularly, grumble at grounds that end up in the pot or argue with your spouse about what kind to make each morning, then you might just want to consider getting one for your household.

There are currently three types of single-cup coffee brewers; k-cup brewers, pod brewers, and t-disc brewers. There are pros and cons of each type but this goes beyond the purpose of this article, which is simply to help you decide if you want to have one in the first place.

First, consider the cost. If you are one of those that regularly picks up coffee at a coffee house, you will love that each cup is cheaper; for example, a pre-filled k-cup will run between 40 and 60 cents. Obviously, this is much more than buying Folgers for example. Even if you like those pricier flavored coffees and pay about $10 per pound, you can imagine you’d get more cups of coffee from that than the equivalent 24 k-cups for that price. One of the nice things about the k-cup system, however, is that you can use your own coffee in a device you fill and put into the machine – you’ll lose the quickness and convenience, but still save from making a whole pot of coffee. There is also the cost of the brewer, which in most cases will exceed the cost of a basic drip brewer.

Second, consider convenience. Imagine no pot to clean, no filters to buy (disposable) or clean (gold filters), no grounds in your coffee or all over your counter and you have a nice hot fresh cup of coffee whenever you want it in under a minute. If this appeals to you, then this is a good reason to consider a single-cup brewer.

Third, consider variety. For a while, now the lack of variety ink-cups, pods and t-discs has been a detriment to those considering such a brewer. Only those that we’re content with just basic coffees were not frustrated. However, this market is growing rapidly – spreading into flavored coffees, teas, and even hot cocoa. And if your local stores do not carry what you want, there are a number of coffee clubs online with discounts, great variety, and sometimes even free shipping. And, of course, as mentioned earlier, with some types you can use your own coffees.

Also, when considering variety, such a brewer is a wonderful thing when there are two or more coffee drinkers in the household that like different types of coffee, or even if just one person that likes to switch flavors regularly. Since each cup is brewed as you want it, there is never any arguing about what kind is to be made. This also makes it convenient to have regular during the day and shift to decaf later in the day.

Fourth, consider waste. Do you manage to drink every drop of every pot made? Most of us don’t. While some frugal people will make ice cubes out of them for iced coffee, or reheat it later or even the next day, most just dump the rest of the pot. There is no waste with a single-cup brewer unless you don’t finish a cup that you’ve made.

Lastly, consider the trash. With a regular coffee pot, you may not have any trash other than the grounds if you use a reusable filter, otherwise, you have paper filters. One, two or even more of these goes into the trash (or compost if you’re doing that). While this is messy and uses planet resources, the single-cup methods are worse. Each cup uses either a plastic cup for k-cups or a filter pack for pods or discs. This is a lot of trash over a year’s time. Perhaps not the most earth-friendly choice. While you can compost the pods or discs, you can’t the plastic k-cups. This may be a reason for you to choose the pod or disc type brewer or just stick with your regular coffee brewer.

For this writer, the pros outweighed the cons and we just added a Keurig to our counter. With widely varying work schedules, we were always throwing away coffee. We still use the drip coffeemaker when we are actually together for coffee, but we feel you can’t beat the single cup’s convenience when tastes and schedules are not the same.