Using K-cups vs regular coffee

[momof5boys]

I'm just curious why so many people seem to be switching from using regular coffee machines to these newest K-cup ones. I checked the price difference and it is huge! I'll stick to my old coffee machine lol....is it just for convenience or does the coffee actually taste better.

[tammy8701]

l would like to know also

[sheetsofemptycanvas]

We switched to a Keurig for a number of reasons. The main one being that we all get up at different times and someone always ended up with stale coffee/bottom of the pot/etc. With the Keurig everyone gets a fresh cup!

I also like to try different varieties of coffee and it's easy to do it with k-cups as opposed to buying a whole can of coffee only to find out you don't like it. There is a small shop nearby that sells k-cups individually for .75c so I can try as many as I want!

I love that it's so quick, too. 10 seconds and I've got a fresh, hot cup of coffee

[Zonny]

IMO, it tastes much better.

DH and I only have one cup per day, so it's a waste to make a whole pot of coffee (I don't find it works as well making a half a pot).

Plus DH likes flavoured coffee, and I don't.

When I have company over, they can choose which kind of coffee they want.

The K cups are kind of expensive, but there is a reusable filter thing that you can get. I've tried it, wasn't very pleased with the results, but maybe I didn't try long enough! Plus I'm lazy.

[marstec]

I think if you compare it to going out for a coffee, it is less expensive. But as far as comparing it to a regular coffee maker, they're way expensive (for both the maker and the coffee product). I don't have one and do not have plans to buy one, but they sure seem popular here and from people I know.

I think Braun first came out with the Tassimo system (back in the 90's), and it never really took off. Perhaps Keurig was the company that brought the idea of coffee pods into favour with their k-cups?

[aussie]

I bought mine because I only drink 1 cup per day, and I tried the instant stuff... and I didnt like it... back home in Australia pretty much everyone drinks instant coffee and theres more variety, and it tastes better!

[tvwatcher]

I think it tastes better too, and there's so much variety it's difficult to choose what to make!

[KrazE]

I'll cheat & paste my post from another response elsewhere on the forum lol

But to start with - I might drink 1 coffee in a day - making an entire pot is a waste of $$, so the Keurig just makes sense for us here at home. Having said that, here is my pasted post.

First of all, I hate flavoured coffees, and I'm not a fan of other name brands besides Tim Hortons; the idea of a Keurig is to save money using it in lieu of hitting Tims so...

A tin of Tims costs me $6.99 - it is 12 oz in size and for a mug of coffee, I would use about 1 tablespoon in the My Keurig so....

There are 2 tablespoons in an ounce - that means a 12oz tin of Timmies would yield 24 mugs of coffee at home.

$6.99 / 24 mugs = $0.29 per mug

I have also discovered that I can get away with my own tea in there (Red Rose or Salada) by just popping the teabag in the K cup. I have a stockpile of tea of course as it's something I drink regularly at home (I never ever drink anything but the two brands mentioned). The last 3 boxes of RR that I bought were on clearance - $2 for 48 teabags.

Using the My K cup again is $2 / 48 mugs = $0.04 per mug.


I use filtered water, but this doesn't change my cost because my fridge has a water dispenser that is filtered.

Honestly, the time it takes to clean the My K cup is very minimal (at least to me) as I have always used reusable filters in my coffee makers; my Mother did as well, so it's second nature.

[Jessica_25]

As many people have posted, I too find it quick to just brew a cup and I'm out the door. I seem to always be in a rush in the morning. Plus I only have one cup a day so brewing a pot for me would be a waste - plus again I wouldn't due to time.

I don't buy the tea k-cups as I just brew hot water and put the tea bag into my mug as usual. I also do this with hot chocolate. I only buy the k-cups when they are a good deal. It's also nice to have a selection of different coffee. Since I'm the only one in my household who drinks coffee, I would never buy more than one brand/ flavour due to the fact that it wouldn't be used before the expiry date. Now with the Keurig and the fact that I can split a box with my brother who also purchased one, I am enjoying not having the same coffee everyday. I also just bought the my k-cup but have yet to use it as I am still using up the k-cup packs that came with my keurig for free.

[abbasgirl]

People who go out for coffee everyday will find it a lot cheaper.
I would personally find it too expensive because I'm used to brewing my own coffee. I always make one cup at a time and it works fine for me.
I do see the fun factor in it though. There are a lot of different varieties. I've tried a few different kinds from people who own a Keurig and it is really good. Just not that good that I could justify the expense.

[momof5boys]

Thanks for all your responses. I'll just continue buying the more expensive Van Houtte coffee with coupons and continue to brew the old way

[BAHB]

I've come a long way recently in my savings from my coffee habit. I use to only go to Tims, never home brewed. At one point I was spending up to 40/week, on coffee muffins etc. I then cut back to just Tims 3 times a week, now it's been over a month. I brew my own at home now, still using the Tims at $8/small can.

I measured 56 tbls into one small can. I use about 4 tbls/brew just because I need to put enough in to at least cover the bottom of the filter. I usually only drink 1 large mug a day. This all works out to about 0.50/mug assuming my calculations are correct. Not quite the savings I was hoping for considering a single serve K-cup is 0.50 cents. On top of that I use the 10%cream at $3.80/L, about 0.20/mug, and 0.04 for a filter.

I may be switching to the Keurig soon. My wife hates my ugly black and decker coffee maker, I admit the Keurig does look pretty neat. Does anyone know if it heats the water all the time? or does it somehow just heat it quickly when you make the coffee. If it heats all the time it would be interesting to know what it costs in power to do this.

[Stac]

wow i must be a coffee aholic cause i have a keurig tassimo and a regular 12 cup coffee maker. the keurig is beside my bed (im a little y without it first thing) the tassimo is in my office and the regular one is switched on as i walked down stairs in the morning with my first cup

[KrazE]

I may be switching to the Keurig soon. My wife hates my ugly black and decker coffee maker, I admit the Keurig does look pretty neat. Does anyone know if it heats the water all the time? or does it somehow just heat it quickly when you make the coffee. If it heats all the time it would be interesting to know what it costs in power to do this.

I do not leave mine on all the time. I power it on when I am going to make a cup, and it's got the water ready to go in the time it takes me to put my scoop of Timmies into the My K cup & pop it into the Keurig. Once it makes my cup, I power it back off.

[Zonny]

I may be switching to the Keurig soon. My wife hates my ugly black and decker coffee maker, I admit the Keurig does look pretty neat. Does anyone know if it heats the water all the time? or does it somehow just heat it quickly when you make the coffee. If it heats all the time it would be interesting to know what it costs in power to do this.

It does have an on/off switch, it's only heating the water when it's on. Mine has a timer so I can program it to turn on before I get to it in the morning and it's ready to go (in case I can't wait that additional 60 seconds! ).

We have one at work too, but it is an office version and it is on all the time and is often heating water even if no one is using it. It gave us a bit of trouble for awhile, before people realized it was drawing power even if you weren't making coffee. If someone were using the microwave on the same circuit, even if the Keurig wasn't actively making coffee it was heating water and we'd blow the breaker. We had to get an additional circuit in there so we weren't continually having it reset.