Tag Archives: K-cups

Do DYI K-Cups Really Save You Money?

Posted on December 26, 2022 | Leave a comment

The Fill ‘n Brew disposable Cup Kit claims you can save up to 70% over K-Cup Packs. We did the math and we sampled the coffee this system offers.

The 24-cup starter kit, available at supermarkets and online.

The notion of do-it-yourself K-Cups has been around for almost as long as Keurig itself. The reasons for “rolling your own” cups are many, but the most-mentioned are:

  1. Save money.
  2. Use your own roast or pack a specialty roast
  3. Save money.
  4. Be a little greener by pulling the paper filter and grounds and composting them
  5. And finally, to save money.

The Fill ‘n Brew kit, distributed by Jacent Strategic Merchandising of Pennsylvania, contains the makings of 24 home made K-Cups. Purchased in the coffee gadget section of my local supermarket, the packaging boldly declares users could save up to 70% over K-Cup Packs. I honestly don’t recall what I paid for it at the store, but the same kit is available at the time of this writing for $5.49 at Walmart.com. The kit comes with two bundles of loosely-packed paper filters, the plastic cups marked with recycling type 5 (more on that later), clear snap on lids with pre-cut chad for a classic Keurig injector. Also included is a plastic support stand to aid in stabilizing the cup while the top is snapped on and an adapter clip intended for Keurig Plus models. Please note that this kit (as well as most DYI systems on the market) do not work with the latest “multi-stream” Keurig models currently available.

Fill ‘n Brew cup under construction. A scoop with a funnel keeps things neat.

How hard is it to use?

Kits like this will often have little issues an quirks. Many I’ve tried have the paper filters so tightly packed they are hard to separate. Others have loose fitting caps or lids that will leak or weep under pressure. I can report that I had no issues with the Fill ‘n Brew Kit. The filters separated easily for my hammy guy fingers and the supplied holder makes loading and capping the cup largely problem free.
I would suggest using a coffee measure that is narrow enough to let you easily pour into the mouth of the cup. A standard tablespoon measure is a little wide and some of your coffee will try to escape. A measure with a pour spout like this one was a real help.
I found that after the first couple, I could prepare and fill a cup in about a minute.

To offer the warning once again, this kit does not work with the more recent Keurig releases using multi-stream technology. I tried and I would up with a mess. The kit clearly states the cups will work with Keurig Original 2.0 and Plus series machines. Don’t try to sneak these into the new Keurig you just got for Christmas. You’ll be spending an hour cleaning up the mess.

The lids are NOT designed for the latest multi-stream Keurig models.

How’s the coffee?

I used Lavazza Classico pre-ground coffee for my testing. I found the filter would comfortably hold about a 1-1/4 tablespoon of coffee, which I think is a little light for a strong large cup of Keurig-brewed coffee (No, I didn’t weigh the individual portions, I wanted a cup of coffee, not a science experiment). I found cups brewed at the medium setting were of a good strength and pleasant to drink. No escaped grounds and the paper filter pulled some of the oil out of the brew, giving it a smoother taste than a cup made with a mesh screen cup. If you’re after a really bold cup, either go with a kit with a mesh strainer or one that can hold a greater coffee load.

Is it green?

No, not really. The cups are polypropylene, a plastic that is largely unrecycled. New processes are available to recycle this plastic, but don’t kid yourself thinking you’re doing Mother Earth a favor by using this kit. As a matter of fact, EVERTHING in this kit besides the filters, instruction sheet and front label is made of hard plastic. You can probably do some good by pulling out the used, wet filter and dropping the grounds into your garden, but that’s about it. It would be possible to reuse the individual cups a few more times with fresh filters and caps, but that gets to be a messy and laborious affair. Not recommended. The Keurig system was never focused on being overly green, and there really isn’t a good solution available at this time.

Is it cheap?

The claim that you can save 70% over store bought cups can be true if you compare the kit to the most expensive preloaded K-Cups available. I did the math and found that making my own from a 10 oz. bag of Lavazza and the Fill ‘n brew kit worked out to be about 50 cents a drink. To improve upon that cost in preloaded Lavazza cups one had to bulk purchase 160 from a vendor on Amazon. At my grocery store, the same cups cost $1.13 per unit when buying a little box of 10. So yes, the DYI route is worth it in money saved. The savings should get a little better when you buy refill filters, cups and caps.

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The Ekobrew Reusable K-Cup Review

Posted on March 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Keurig coffee maker can make good coffee.  It can make it neatly and quickly.  What it can’t do is make a good, cheap cup of coffee.

The problem is simple:  to make it easy and quick, the K-Cup manufacturers have to do a lot of processing to get it ready for you before you buy.  They have to grind, dose and seal each of those little cups.  All that processing equals greater cost for you, the end user.

But what if you’re willing to take on that processing yourself?  Buying your own coffee, grinding and packing it into a cup would certainly trim down the overall costs.  Keurig has a solution of its own:  The “My K-Cup” kit.  But at 17.99 at Amazon it is not the cheapest nor simplest solution out there.  This kit also requires you to pop out the cup holster for use, which is a bit more hassle.

But Keurig is not the only game in town when it comes to reusable cup solutions.  There’s the Ekobrew reusable cup.  It’s 10.99 at Amazon.

The Ekobrew jumps out ahead of the My K Cup on design and ease of use.  Instead of several individual parts, the Ekobrew is one single piece, including a hinged top that swings completely clear of the basket for easy filling.  There’s nothing to lose, and more importantly, nothing to remove from the coffee maker as the My K Cup requires.  Once loaded, it acts just like a regular pre-packed cup.

It is easy to load as well.  The My K Cup’s mesh basket is very lightweight on it’s own and needs a couple of stabilizing fingers to keep it from tipping while filling with coffee.  The Ekobrew has a bit more heft and stayed in place for me.  This isn’t a big deal, but I found that balancing the coffee bag, filter and spoon required one more hand than I came equipped with.  The Ekobrew scored points for me here.

Once loaded, just snap the hinged top closed and drop it into your coffee machine.  Unlike manufactured cups, there IS a specific orientation for the cup to sit … the writing on the cap must be toward you.  This positioning allows the exit needle at the bottom of the holster to fit into a recess molded into the cup.  Otherwise you’d punch a hole in the hard plastic bottom and probably ruin the holster.  It would be hard to make such a mistake, as the cup won’t “feel” right as you set it down in your machine… it would wiggle and rattle and I found myself rotating the cup looking for the correct “fit,” which I found inside a half turn.

Just run the Keurig as you would normally do.  Remember, there is a bit of exploration to be done here as you find the right amount of coffee and right serving size to best work for your tastes.  As with the My K Cup, it is advisable to stay with a drip grind for the cup.  Any finer and you risk clogging the mesh and making the brewing cycle too long.

Once done, I suggest rinsing out the cup pretty quickly, even while the cup is still warm from brewing.  This makes for easy removal of the wet grounds simply with a running tap.  Let the grounds dry and you’re in for some scraping and washing.  Do it, it only takes a minute while the grounds are still wet.

How’s the coffee?
I made some tests with the same batch I used for the My K Cup tests, Peet’s Major Dickason’s blend decaf.  I found it to be quite pleasing and robust, not too bitter or oily, which is something I worried about when using a non-paper filter system.  The only downside is there’s a good bit of silt left over at the bottom of the cup, a sign that some smaller particles slipped by the mesh and wound up in my cup.  This is not a big deal, ask anyone who uses a french press…. but be aware that you won’t want to see if this cup is good till the last drop.  You’ll wind up with a small taste of coffee silt if you do.

Who wins???

For my money, the Ekobrew takes it between these two “roll your own” solutions.  It preserves the Keurig’s simple use mandate, it is easier to load and pops out of the machine without an issue.  It is also about 7 bucks cheaper at Amazon and can be found elsewhere on the web for less.  Grab one and give it a try.

But what if you want to take the “green” thing even a bit further?  I mean, the Ekobrew doesn’t really recycle the old plastic cups, it just replaces it.  What about a system that really live up to the “save the mama” doctrine and puts those old cups back into service?  We’ll look at the “K-Kap” system next time.

 

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Do It Yourself K-Cup: Keurig’s Solution

Posted on March 4, 2012 | 2 comments

The idea is to save money.  Save the planet as well, a tiny little K-cup at a time.
I have always said the greatest thing about the Keurig is how darned convenient it is … pop in a cup, press a button and pop the used cup out.  Factoring in the clean up process there is no other form of coffee making that’s easier than this.  But the cost of that bit of convenience is rather high … about 21 dollars a pound of coffee, by my estimate.  How can you use the cheap stuff in your Keurig so it doesn’t cost you a fortune in little cups?  You use an aftermarket reusable cup, that’s how.

There are several different brands out there, each taking a slightly different approach to the “no deposit, no return” goal we seek.  Keurig has their own, called “My K-Cup.”  The “My K-Cup” is the most elaborate of any of the reusable solutions I’ve seen, not only having a rewashable mesh basket but an entire holster that replaces the regular black one that comes with the coffee machine.  The black one has the puncture needle in the bottom, and since the mesh basket has no need for this the gray colored “MyKC” omits this and simply funnels the coffee down into your cup.  So, or a holster, a mesh screen coffee basket and a screw on top, you will part with about 17 dollars at Amazon.  Not great, but not really that bad if you can go from 67 cents a cup of coffee to say … 35 cents.  The device would pay for itself in a single change of seasons.

But what sort of coffee does it make?

You have to practice with it.
Oh, sure … there’s little black markings inside the little black cup to help you get the right amount of coffee.  That is, if you can see the little black markings.  But the first set of brews were not all that good, a little off.  But with more practice and patience I was able to get it to a state of … just okay.  I got it to qualify as perfectly acceptable, drinking while doing other things coffee.  Not great, stop in your tracks and thank the coffee gods -coffee.  But that’s okay.  If you want heart stopping, bring tears of joy to your eyes coffee, you’d have a 750 dollar Rancillo Silvia on the counter, not a Keurig.  But there is some work ahead of you to get the most from this device.

I used some pretty good coffee to start with.  I got a bag of Peet’s Decaf Major Dickenson’s, which is a darker roast that should hold up nicely to the Keurig’s short brewing time.  I find that lighter coffees suffer with the K- treatment, the water just isn’t in contact with the grounds long enough to extract the lighter flavors.  Darker does better, and the Maj. D. did just fine.  I used pre-ground, as this is pretty close to perfect for drip (what the Keurig calls for) and the particles are pretty uniform in size.  If you grind your own, beware of the blade type grinder, as they chop the beans up and have very irregular size.  If you don’t have a burr type grinder (more expensive but worth it) just buy it pre-ground and keep the bag sealed to air whenever it is stored.

I found a few quirks with the MyKC design.  First, you do have to swap holsters whenever you want to roll your own.  Not a big deal at all, but I’ve already gotten frustrated calls from home when I forgot to put the original holster back in and a family member couldn’t get her regular cup to work in the machine.  Loading the coffee in the mesh bag was a challenge because you need three hands:  the basket/holster won’t stand up on the counter due to the holster’s tapered bottom.  If you have holster in one hand, coffee spoon in the other, then you need to hope your bag of ground coffee won’t fall over while you’re spooning out the dose.  I found a way around this:  I stand up the mesh basket/holster assembly in a demitasse cup while I hold the spoon and bag in my now-free hands.  The lid screws on easily, but you are warned not to over tighten …. the plastic might break.

Actually brewing with the MyKC is no different than any other K-Cup device.  The brew runs out the bottom and a shot of steam/air clears the upper piercing needle.  I noted that the flow of coffee seems faster and greater than with a regular plastic cup.  I wonder if the additional time the water is in contact with the grounds gives the standard cup an advantage, allowing a little more extraction and a fuller flavor.  I found that a full basket/large mug setting got me a decent flavor and boldness.  I think that running a small mug would make it quite strong … maybe to some folks taste, but if I want strong I’d rather use an espresso.

Cleaning is simple, but I recommend doing it immediately after brewing.  Just pop out the assembly, pop open the top under running water and rinse out the basket.  You don’t want the grounds to dry to any degree, as they will “set” in the basket and turn to a hard crumbly substance.  This makes for a clean up thats at least twice as long and will mean lots of coffee grounds under your fingernails.  Just do it when it is wet, and it will flush clean with just holding it under the tap.

All the parts are machine washable, and I’d recommend that after a few days.  The coffee oils do cling and begin to discolor the plastic.  Keeping parts like this perfectly clean is important for flavor, so make a point to run them through with the dishes when you think of it.

All in all, My K-Cup is a good add on for the Keurig.  Points off for the additional hassle of having to change cup holsters and NOT being able to stand the holster up while filling with ground coffee.  Points on for a well built and easily cleaned mesh basket that looks tough enough to last a good long time.  Keurig also sells extra baskets so you can reload for guests with a minimum of rinsing and drying.

There are other choices in the “roll your own” category of K-Cup replacements.   We will look at another popular choice, the eko-brew, in the coming days.

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The Blizkeurig!

Posted on January 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

They – Are – everywhere!

Leading up to the holidays, I noted that just about every store in my area had Keurig machines available for purchase.  Not just a couple, but damn near all of them, or so it seemed.  Sure the big-boxes had them, but also fashion-department stores, electronics stores, even home improvement centers had rows of coffee machines and stacks of small “kup” boxes.  It seems that the Koffee juggernaut had staged a world-wide conquest.  And if the picked over shelves were any indication, the blitzkrieg had been successful.  I decided that it was time to learn more about these machines, as they now seem to be firmly entrenched in homes across the globe.

Making fun of Keurig.

I have in recent months (now years) made fun of the Keurig coffee machine.  When I first looked at one, I immediately thought back to my very first career job, working in a place that had a coffee vending machine.  You may know what I’m talking about: a big, refrigerator-like device that had an itty bitty little door that would put on a show for 25 cents.  After eating your quarter a little paper cup would drop down and a stream of hot brown liquid would pour in.   This brown liquid was a mix of “brewed” coffee with a dusting of some instant flavor and coloring.  A healthy hit of powered creamer and sugar got this close to drinkable.  Close.  NOT drinkable.  I unfortunately associated this sad performance with the counter top Keurig.

The old coffee machine of the bad old days.

 Giving the Keurig a break.

While the Keurig could be accused of putting on a similar show, it is not fair to lump the K-machine into the same catagory of those old change-stealing machines.  For starters, the brewing technology is rather interesting.  Unlike that old refrigerator that tried to make coffee, Keurig says there is no “instant” flavorings or other accelerants to make up for a very brief brew time.  They’ve also made a brewing system that at the heart of things is very clean, very convenient and attractive on the countertop.  You’re always about 45 seconds away from a Keurig brewed cup, and that alone is reason for looking into this device.

And look into I will.  I turned a thoughtful but mis-sized clothing gift into a “Special Edition” Keurig, and I’ve been testing it since Christmas.  I will have a running report on the system, it’s ups and downs, and what I think of the available coffees for the system.

 

 

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