Ditch the K-cups if You Want Quality Single-serve Coffee

First let me explain the K-cup phenomenon for those under a rock:  K-cups are tiny plastic sealed cups that are pre-filled with ground coffee (ick!).  They are placed in a special coffee brewer and used to brew a single-serving cup of coffee.

It's a great concept, but one that is nowhere near to being new.  It is a method that was developed to make money on, forgoing quality.  The K-cup idea is also for the ease of doing it all and a supposed better tasting cup of joe.  But not so!  Single serve coffee (one cup at a time) is an old idea but one that is still alive with Melitta, Clever and other companies that have quality coffee in mind.

I have been asked to sell K-Cups by several people.  Whenever I am asked this I always answer no.  No. NO NO NO!  The reason is quality.  What you ask?  Well let me count the ways…if you DON'T want a quality cup of coffee that is.

1. Coffee beans should never be ground until just before you brew your coffee.  That's Coffee 101.  Us coffee geeks talk this stuff all the time because coffee is porous and will stale very fast after grinding.  You can't guarantee that the ground coffee in a K-cup is ground and placed in the cup and sealed in a matter of seconds.  I won't believe you if you say it!  I will believe one word though: stale!
2. Whatever they tell you they put, squirt, inject, spray, yadda yadda yadda in the K-cup to keep the coffee fresh will not keep ground coffee beans fresh.  It's as simple as that.  Grind, brew, enjoy.  Not, grind, let sit out forever, package in a cup, store, ship, display on a store shelf forever…..yikes that is scary!
3. How long has the package of K-cups been on the grocery store shelf?  Wait!! There's a date on the package!  Savior!  Not!  I'll say it again, once coffee is ground you need to brew it in a matter of minutes or it's throw away time.

There is also the invention of the My K-cups, which are reusable.  These may be a tad better because at least you can grind your own beans to use in them.  However you are still at the mercy of a home brewer that will most likely eventually not heat water correctly (195 to 205 degrees) or stop altogether.  The heating elements on these types of brewers are not made to last.  Not even for a $100 brewer.  So what do you do?

I have been enjoying single serve coffee for years.  There are many methods to accomplish a quality single cup of coffee one at a time but I am going to share one of them with you.  And guess what?  It's a lot cheaper than K-cups and the expensive brewers you have to buy in order to brew bad, stale coffee.

Newsflash!  You can buy a Melitta single serve pour-over brewer for about $3.99 (Google it).  All you need additionally is hot water, a cone filter, a coffee grinder, thermometer, your favorite mug and fresh roasted gourmet coffee beans.  Most people have these items already.  But if not, the most expensive thing to get is a hand grinder.  You can get these for about $20 at Target.  Giddy yup!

And by the way, try to avoid buying coffee at the grocery store as well.  It's usually stale too, even the whole bean coffees.  Get your beans from a quality, independent coffee shop or roaster.  Look them up; I'll bet there's one within a mile or two of your home.

I know you're thinking this is a lot of work for a cup of coffee though.  Hey, I didn't say you didn't have to work a little for it.  Remember that the beautiful city of Rome was not built in a day ok?  If you want to enjoy what probably will be the best cup of coffee you have had in years, trust me this is quite worth the effort.

Be sure to grind your coffee slightly between auto-drip (normal) and coarse grind.  Use the unbleached (brown) cone filters and drop your grounds in.  Put the Melitta brewer on top of your mug.  You can use a kettle or pan on the stove top to heat the water between 195-205°F (for proper extraction).  Then, pour about 1/3 of it onto the grounds and be sure they get totally saturated.  Count to about 20 then pour the rest of the water in.  It should take about 2 mins to brew through completely.  Voila, you just made an excellent single-serve cup of quality coffee, better than any K-cup will ever get you.  Congratulations!

Now, who needs bad coffee in K-cups and expensive coffee makers for them?  Certainly not you!  You can enjoy a great single-serve brewing method at home.

And there are many coffee shops that make a single-cup of coffee like this and charge a premium price for it, topping $3-4 and up for a 12oz cup!  You can enjoy organic and decaffeinated coffee this way as well.  Trust me it's worth the effort to produce a great cup of coffee, at home or at a quality coffee shop.  Sip it, savor it, repeat.