Do you love your Keurig? It is no secret that the coffee you get from your Keurig is not synonymous with specialty coffee that we are passionate about. And a lot of coffee snobs shudder in disgust at the mention of coffee from K-Cups.
But we get it. The appeal of Keurig machines comes with their convenience of use. Rather than worrying about a complicated brewing method, you have your morning coffee ready within seconds and a push of a button.
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If you own a Keurig, you have probably noticed that the price of convenience creeps up quickly. And it doesn’t come from buying the machine itself than from buying the single-use K-Cups.
If you don’t want to give up your Keurig but you are looking for ways of making your caffeine habit more affordable, we found some of the cheapest K-Cups online.
Let’s talk about Keurigs first.
Quick Summary: Cheapest K Cups
 | Our Top Choice
Revival Roaster 96-Count Variety Pack
| Check on Amazon → |
 | Donut Shop Blend 120-Count Medium Roast | Check on Amazon → |
 | Happy Belly Dark Roast 100-Count Pods | Check on Amazon → |
 | Maud's House Blend 100-Count California Roasted | Check on Amazon → |
 | Solimo Dark Roast 100-Count Coffee Pods | Check on Amazon → |
The Appeal Of Keurig Machines
It is not a suprise that coffee aficionados aren’t big fans of Keurig. That doesn’t change the fact that the nation is. There are around 121 million households in the United States, and Keurig has a machine in about 20 million, or 16%, of them.
The main reason for its popularity is the convenience of brewing. You don’t need to worry about any of the steps that traditional brewing involves, such as grinding or portioning the coffee, correct brewing temperature, or time. Not to mention the cleanup.
With a Keurig machine, all you need to do is put your K-Cup inside, press a button and you have your coffee ready within seconds. Since many Americans would rather choose to spend the extra minutes in bed than brewing coffee, the appeal of Keurig machines is understandable.
However, this popular coffee machine comes with multiple negatives that you should consider before committing to this convenient brewing method.
Convenience At A Price
While buying a Keurig machine is not a cheap venture in itself, the real affordability challenge comes with the K-Cups. While buying these is still better than buying coffee at a cafe, when comparing the price per cup with buying a bag of whole bean coffee, the K-Cups cost a lot more.
Depending on what brand you use, a 32-pack of K-Cups costs around $15 whereas a 12-ounce bag of ground coffee by the same brand only costs around $13 and will be enough to make 62 cups of coffee. This means that one cup of K-Cup coffee costs s around $0.40-0.60 USD while if you’re brewing coffee manually, it comes to around $0.20-0.30 USD. That’s right, that makes manual brewing pretty much half the price.
Concerned With Sustainability
With a high demand for coffee and a high percentage of Keurig users comes a large amount of plastic waste coming from K-Cups. In 2015, over 10 billion K-Cups were produced in the United States and only four brands of K-Cups in 2016 were recyclable. All the ones that couldn’t be recycled ended up in the landfill.
In an effort of improving the sustainability of your caffeine habit, switching to reusable K-Cups is a good idea.
Keurig Coffee Is Inferior To Other Brewing Methods
Aside from all that, Keurig even makes a worse cup of coffee. While it generates slightly more pressure than standard drip coffee, it is not even remotely as high as when using an espresso machine. This means Keurig is only able to produce a watery espresso-like coffee that is not as strong and brewed at a higher-than-optimal brewing temperature.
So by choosing Keurig, you’re opting for inferior coffee at a higher price. Not ideal, is it?
Not As Much, Not As Fresh
You might not be aware of the fact that the amount of coffee that fits in a K-Cup is only 7-8 grams, which is only half of what is normally used for brewing a standard double espresso. So for getting the same caffeine buzz as you would from a standard espresso-based drink, you would need to consume two Keurig coffees. Making it half the strength and double the price.
If you know a thing or two about coffee, as we are trying to teach you here at Roasty, you would know that the freshness of the coffee makes a big difference. And the ugly truth is that K-Cups are filled with low-grade and stale grounds.
Because Keurigs cannot match the taste of other superior brewing methods, the main appeal of using one is convenience and speed rather than quality. The interesting and vibrant tasting notes that you can taste when brewing your favorite single origin are impossible to reach when using a Keurig machine.
We hear you though. You love your Keurig machine, you just want to reduce the impact it has on your wallet. So let’s have a look at some of the cheapest K-Cups we could find.
Cheapest K-Cups
InfuSio 96-count Variety Pack Revival Roaster
With InfuSio, you get 96-pack of K-Cups for under $30 which makes one cup of coffee $0.28. That is much more comparable with the price you pay when buying a bag of coffee.
You can choose from different packs such as a classic breakfast blend but also single origins such as Costa Rica or Kenya AA. And if you want to try a few different ones, the variety pack includes the favorite blends, single origins as well as flavored coffee.
The K-Cups are compatible with most Keurig machines and coffee is carefully selected to meet your caffeinated flavor expectations.
Victor Allen’s Coffee Medium Roast Donut Shop Blend
Buying your K-Cups in bulk is guaranteed to save you some extra dollars. Plus, having over 100 pods in your cupboard should stop you from worrying about running out of coffee. With Victor Allen, the more coffee you buy, the better value per cup the purchase is. If you buy 120 single pods, you pay $0.33 per cup. But if you choose the 200 pack, the price goes down to $0.26 per cup. That’s a bargain!
The affordable price doesn’t mean you have to compromise on flavor. The coffee used for these pods is sourced from 25 countries in the world, always premium 100% arabica and roasted, ground, and expertly produced in the United States. Victor Allen’s K-Cups promise great taste and a smooth flavor.
Amazon Brand Happy Belly Dark Roast Coffee Pods
Amazon’s own brand also offers packs of coffee pods that will allow you to save money on your daily cup. The 100 pack goes for around $30 and the pods are compatible with both 1.0 and 2.0 brewers.
They take the quality of the coffee seriously and the blend is made out of coffees sourced from Latin America, Africa as well as Indonesia. The coffee is full-bodied, with a rich flavor but a mild acidity. You can choose from a dark or a French roast depending on your preference.
Maud’s House Blend Coffee Medium Roast
If the strong dark roast profile isn’t your thing, a well-balanced House blend medium roast from Maud’s could be a great choice. The coffee is still rich but smooth to drink at any time of the day. The coffee used is 100% arabica and it is defined as 6 out of 10 when it comes to its roast profile.
When buying Maud’s House blend, a cup of coffee will only set you back $0.40. And if sustainability is an even bigger concern for you than the affordability, look no further. Not only they use organic and Fair Trade beans, but the K-Cups are also 100% recyclable.
Solimo Amazon Brand Dark Roast Coffee Pods
Other options from Amazon’s own brand are the popular Solimo coffee pods. The coffee is also sourced from Latin America, Africa, and Indonesia, providing a full-bodied but smooth experience.
These pods also come with an amazing satisfaction guarantee and you can return them within a year if for any reason you are not happy with the coffee. However, the massive popularity and happy customers with over 13,000 ratings on Amazon and at a price of less than $0.30 per pod, it’s a pretty safe choice.
With Solimo, you can also choose a blend depending on what kind of intensity scale you prefer, including light roast, Kona blend but also Colombian blend, dark, or the strongest French roast.
Alternative Brewing Methods On A Budget
The appeal of Keurig machines is understandable. Producing a tasty cup of coffee requires minimal effort and cleanup, as well as no barista skills. But if you’ve been using your Keurig for a while, you know that there are some hidden negatives of this brewing method. The coffee is not as high-quality as you would get from an espresso machine and the single-serve capsules pose a significant challenge to sustainability. Not to mention your wallet.
The good news is that there are some other alternative brewing methods that will save money on K-cups as well as produce tastier coffee. Buying bags of ground coffee rather than capsules when using the espresso brewing method reduces the cost instantly. And nowadays there are good-quality espresso machines that will set you back less than $200.
And if you have developed a more delicate taste for your daily cup, try the not-so-mainstream brewing methods like pour-over, French Press, Aeropress or Chemex. These cost less than $50 and will produce a superior cup as well as allow you to experiment with some delicious single origins. The only downside is that they require some level of skill. But don’t worry, you can find guides on how to brew a perfect cup using these methods here at Roasty.
Not Parting With Your Keurig?
If the convenience outweighs the negatives and you don’t want to part with your Keurig machine, there are ways of reducing the cost and the environmental impact of the single-serve capsules. Aside from buying reusable K-Cups, there are also brands that offer cheap ones that cut the cost of your daily cup in half.
We’ve included some of the best brands of affordable K-Cups that we could find. While placing importance on quality too.
Happy caffeinating.
