I've been drinking coffee at my house from a Keurig machine with various brands of one-time use disposable K-Cups coffee pods for many years.

Most of the time, well actually all of the time, I've never found any brand of coffee in this format that actually tastes very good. I have to put a bunch of sugars and condiments in it to make it go down, since the coffee from these various brands of pods are always WEAK, and lack real coffee flavor.

So my question is, is it possible to have a better cup of coffee in this format, or is the only way to achieve coffee acceptability is to ditch this format ?

The fact is I don't want to invest, operate, or clean a REAL coffee maker. I've had some great coffee at friends houses who use fancy coffee making machines, and I know you get what you pay for, but I'm a lazy ass when it comes to making coffee.

So what are my options in the current format, or am I screwed with bad coffee if I'm not willing to stop using this format ?

If I have to ditch it however, I don't need a GREAT cup of coffee, just a BETTER cup than my Keurig machine can produce with the K-Cups I can get the various grocery stores in my neck of the woods.

What does the Great Sigforum say ?

Prefilled K Cups come in two varieties: Ones that suck, and ones that suck a little less.

So yes, you can find K Cups that will be a bit better than the average grocery store offering, but they're still not going to make a great cup of coffee, and they're still going to cost you $0.50 to $1+/cup (on top of the cost of the Keurig machine itself).

Or you can use the refillable K cups where you provide your own grounds, which helps a bit with the bean quality and price per cup, but that still doesn't help with the Keurig system itself making a weak and subpar brew simply by virtue of how it operates. (And the refillable cups can be a pain in the ass to clean.)

Keurigs are for those who prioritize speed and convenience over coffee quality and serving cost.


The things is, it's nearly as quick and convenient to just use an inexpensive pour-over, bean grinder, and electric kettle. The cost per cup will be way lower, and it doesn't take that much more time than brewing a K cup, meanwhile the quality of every cup will be significantly higher.

If that interests you, I'd recommend starting with this Oxo pour-over, which is basically foolproof:
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Bre...Water/dp/B0G6MRX8MY/

Grab that $20 pour-over, a $20 electric kettle, a $20 electric coffee grinder, a pack of brown #2 coffee filters, and a pack of the quality whole beans of your choice, and you'll be able to easily make genuinely great quality coffee one cup at a time for way less per cup than a Keurig and a supply of mediocre K Cups.

Pop the kettle on, and while the water heats, grind a serving of the beans, put the pour-over on top of your mug, put a filter in the base of the pour-over, put in the grounds, and stick the reservoir on top. Around that time the water will be hot, and you just fill the reservoir with the hot water and let it drip through for about a minute until it stops trickling. Then enjoy.

Nearly as fast and convenient as a Keurig, and way better quality and value.

Cleanup is just dumping the filter and grounds in the trash, and occasionally running the pour-over components under the tap or through the dishwasher if needed.

They do make refillable cups for the Keirig machines in which you can use your pick of ground coffee.

I constantly say that the Kureg on my desk is the hardest working thing in the office.
There’s probably 9 - 10 different brands of K-cups in my drawer.
Starbucks
Dunkin
Kirkland
Death Wish
Black Rifle
Donut shop
Cafe’ Bustillo
Green Mountain

Just off the top of my head.
I will say that coffee DOES taste different from the K-cup and ground from the same brand.

I, and the rest of the team go through Black Rifle and Death Wish quicker than the others.
I’ve tried the stainless refillable cups- not the same taste, it doesn’t steep long enough.

If you’re a bourbon fan, give this a try:

https://www.kroger.com/p/buffa...e-pods/0003606995025

It’s Nespresso for me. Significant expense, but the best coffee I’ve ever made in my home. Also fast, convenient, little maintenance and cleaning needed. And little counter space required.

I have the Pixie model that uses the “original” pods for plain coffee – none of the fancy stuff, which I don’t want.

Each of two buttons can be trained to run a specific amount of water through a pod. Superheated water at 19 bars pressure.

ETA: The anodized aluminum Nespresso pods are hermetically sealed. The coffee keeps good for a long time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

quote:

the coffee from these various brands of pods are always WEAK, and lack real coffee flavor.

The problem with the Keurig machine (and just about any other 'pod-type system') is the coffee to water ratio does NOT produce a flavorful cup of coffee. The amount of coffee is fixed, and even on the smallest size cup (of three settings on the Keurig machine we used to have) it was simply too much water. No matter how strong/flavorful the coffee itself, it always tasted watered down IMO.

We have a Braun BrewSense Drip Coffee Maker. The KF 7150 --> https://www.braunhousehold.com....html?pid=0X13211097

Also available on Amazon --> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EA5ZHIA

It makes EXCELLENT Coffee IMO. We use a paper filter in the 'gold-tone' filter to minimize any cleaning/hassle. My recipe/ratio is one rounded scoop of coffee to 4 oz. water, and I 'might' throw an extra scoop on top if I'm making a 10 cup (40 oz) pot of coffee.

I prefer Peets Major Dickason's Dark Roast...YMMV

I'd been using a percolator for years, but ran across a French press for $5 in a bargain/outlet store and thought, why not? Been using one (but not that one, it broke) ever since, along with a bean grinder (so as to have it freshly ground) and bottled spring water (my tap water is only so-so).

I do like French Presses too, but they're not as quick and convenient as a pour-over like I described above, and they're tougher to clean.

^^^ I have plenty of time. But I don't understand the tougher to clean part.

I'll typically use a heaping tablespoon of grounds per ~8 oz. cup.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
But I don't understand the tougher to clean part.

Pour-over: Carry to trash, turn over, dump out filter with grounds. It's now clean.

French press: Carry to trash and dump out grounds. Then scrape out most of the rest of the grounds that didn't come out. Then rinse out carafe to get the last of the stubbornly clinging grounds out. Next, vigorously rinse mesh screen and plunger to get most of the grounds out. Then disassemble mesh screen from plunger assembly to rinse again and get all the grounds that were still lurking inside. Then reassemble. It's now [finally] clean.

French Presses aren't all that difficult to clean. But the pour-over is basically as simple as a Keurig's "toss the K-Cup and done" level of convenience, whereas cleaning the French Press is more involved than that and more like washing actual dishes.

I've had my Delonghi Dedica since 2018 and in 2020 it went into heavy use working from home. It lets me know when it's time to descale about every 4-6 months based on use I assume. I had a Krups espresso maker that basically died from scale build-up. So, apart from just buying a new Keurig or Nespresso machine, it's nice to have a machine that lasts (knock wood).

Keurig is about convenience more than quality imo, and it has a place, but these days, avoiding mold and microplastics take a higher priority.

I have many ways to prepare a cup of joe from a simple moka pot to French press to my La Pavoni (when I get the urge and have the patience). I haven't made coffee to fill a carafe in a long time. Good coffee ain't so cheap anymore so I appreciate the small inconvenience of grinding my beans and getting a semi-decent crema over just pressing a button for questionable coffee quality, source, and additional processes to put in a pod or k-cup.

Folgers Singles. Like a tea bag but coffee. If you follow the brew instructions it makes pretty good coffee. You can make a 16 oz coffee with one bag. No machine to buy or clean.

^^^^^^
That’s an interesting option, Fly-Sig. Here it is on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/03f6i0RM

I use a Visionsware 1 liter pot with lid. Like you, I do not want to deal with the coffee contraptions, nor concede countertop space. It takes longer of course. Maybe thirty minutes. The clean up is fast. Open back door, throw out the grounds.

The only Keurig I've used was at work or elsewhere, never had one. That said, I agree with everyone else, the coffee was week and uninspiring.

At home, I slpurged (thanks SigForum) on a Moccamaster and brewed freshly ground beans for many years.

Recently, I put it in the closet and now use an electric percolator. The flavor seems so much richer out of the percolator. I just grind a weeks worth of beans and good to go. Yes, clean up is more involved, but it's worth it

For about 25 years I drank 2 cups of Folgers every morning at the office and was generally fine with that arrangement. I was not a fancy coffee person. Well I have been working for myself lately, don't have to rush out the door at 6:30am and have leveled up.

I've had good K-cups, but have never had great. I don't think you can level up on K-cups. I found the next level when I started grinding my own beans with a $90 BURR hand grinder.

I bought a bag of beans (by mistake, thought I was getting ground) at a coffee shop this summer on vacation and instead of taking them back to get them ground, I thought I'll just buy a hand grinder and see what this is about. I bought a $27 hand grinder at the hardware store, and by Day 3 I was ready to throw it in the trash. If I can offer any advice, do not waste your money on a cheap blade grinder (hand or electric). The blade hand grinder took 4 minutes grinding by hand to make 2 cups of mediocre coffee. Nobody got time for that. A cheap electric blade grinder won't be any better.

I think a decent BURR HAND GRINDER, starts at about $60. The BURRS are where the magic happens. I bought a Timemore C5 Pro ($90 on sale off Amazon) and some locally roasted beans and with a French Press started finding out what good coffee at home really tastes like. Even grinding beans fresh for the regular coffee maker are a BIG improvement. I'll be getting a pourover kit next.Hand grinding on the C5 takes 55 seconds for 2 cups of coffee and the results are worth it.

I got the itch to search for even better and ordered a Timemore S5 for $143 off Aliexpress shipped from China. I'd love to find an American made hand grinder but they don't exist. You can get the S5 Pro version (Pro in their nomenclature just means folding handle) off Amazon or the Timemore US website for $179. The S5 is even better and I look forward to using the 2lb. beast of a manual hand grinder every morning. To put it in terms our readers understand, I think the S5 is the SIG P226 of the hand grinding world. Yes, I said what I said!

After some reading, I think the next level of flavor comes from an electric grinder with 64mm flat burrs in the $400 range. If you have a bunch of people in your house, or drink whole pots of coffee, electric is worth it. That idea would have been crazy to me a year ago, but I enjoy good coffee so much now that I might spend $400 on just the grinder.

TLDR: I went from Folgers is fine, to grind my own beans and suddenly "I'm tasting notes of berry and a hint of pecan" with a $90 BURR hand grinder. The secret to leveling up is good beans and a burr grinder.

I'm subscribed to Community Coffee brand. I like the French Roast & my wife likes the Breakfast Blend. You might want to give them a try. I think Sam's Club and Amazon have them available online, as well as directly from the source.

Try something that doesn't come off the grocery store or warehouse shelves. Direct from a real roaster, local if possible, shipped if not. Yes they are still ground much sooner than ideal for brewing, but less so than something that was shipped all over the country and warehoused for months.

Places like Longbottom. Just an example, but theirs are pretty decent.

quote:

Originally posted by vinnybass:
I'm subscribed to Community Coffee brand. I like the French Roast & my wife likes the Breakfast Blend. You might want to give them a try. I think Sam's Club and Amazon have them available online, as well as directly from the source.

I was raised on Community Coffee. It's locally owned to me and I still drink it. I order the K Cups by the case .

If you like strong coffee get Lucky Goat Black Gold.

If you like a smoother coffee get Lucky Goat Breakfast Blend, (also called Billy Goat)

Sometimes they are on amazon, sometimes not but you can order throught their website.

I think it is the best K Cup by far, my clients agree as well.