Can K-Cups Be Used More Than Once?
So I decided to do a blind experiment.
Using K-Cups Twice: The Experiment
In my experiment, I would have her try a cup made with a brand new K-Cup vs a cup made reusing the same K-Cup.
Without telling her exactly what I was doing, I made the two cups of coffee putting them in the same style of cup. To each cup of the caffeinated liquid I added one packet of sugar, and one French vanilla creamer. I stirred both vigorously and told my wife to close her eyes. She tasted the first one, then the second and said, “Yup, you can use them twice.”
Apparently she was on to my experiment.
Use K-Cups Twice – You Can’t Tell the Difference!
She took both cups of coffee and sat down on the couch, taking sips between the two. She reiterated that she couldn’t tell the difference. The fact that she seemed to be on to my experiment, and the fact that she continued to take alternating sips seemed to imply that she was trying to convince herself one way or another. But her conclusion was, even if there was a difference it seemed to be quite small.
Third Time Is Not A Charm
I decided to push the limits and make a third cup of coffee using the same K-Cup. I could tell instantly by the markedly lighter color the coffee would not be as flavorful. My wife’s taste test confirmed my suspicion.
Cheaper than Starbucks
If you are going to recycle K-cups, consider buying good quality coffee so you have the best chance of a quality second cup. A favorite is the San Francisco Bay OneCup, Fog Chaser
which ranks number 2 in sales on Amazon.com.
Price is important also. A pack of 80 K-cups of the Fog Chaser costs about $39. If you use each K-Cup once, you’ll pay 49 cents per cup of coffee. If you re-use each cup one time, your price per cup falls to 24 cents. That’s dirt cheap when you compare it to the $2.25 cost of a small 12 oz. cup of Starbucks coffee. You can have 4 single use K-Cup coffees for the price of one Starbucks, 9 if you reuse each K-Cup once. That’s an unbeatable deal when you compare it Starbucks store prices.
Maybe recycling K-Cups is frugality gone a bit too extreme, or maybe it’s breaking through the barrier setup by the Keurig marketing department saying we should only use them only once to maximize their sales. However the economics of it are pretty compelling.
Buying K-Cups
If you like this idea and want to get some more K-Cups for yourself, the best way to get some of the San Francisco Bay Coffee Company’s Fog Chaser on Amazon. You can find them here, or you can click on the picture below:
Its a really excellent brand that you can use twice – I like it and recommend it.
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Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.
I tried that also and thought that the second cup was not as strongly flavored as the first. But I love my Keurig even though it is more expensive than buying a 3 pound can of coffee. I don’t have to make a full pot and then toss the unused. One cup in the morning is about all I ever use, so while the K-cups are more expensive, I waste a lot less.
@kathy – it’s one of those things that you pay for convenience…..but like you said, you only have to make one cup at a time. We used to have a 4 cup coffee maker, and not only did my wife have to make more coffee than she wanted to drink, but the big can of coffee ended up going bad before we used it all. Thanks for your comment!
Yes. it is only the convenience I paid for.
I used my kcup twice and it taste the same first I hit the large size button and when that’s done I hit the medium size button fits perfect in my coffee mug and tastes great taste just like if I just pressed the large button what they should have is an extra large button but I love this thing it is great
@Jay- thanks for sharing your experience with reusing kcups. Of course they will stick to the perspective that they are single serving use only……because the manufacturers make more money that way.
^^^What he said…
@slickjonz – One would think they would figure out a way to completely exhaust the kcup with one use…..that way they could use less product per kcup, and the manufacturer could reduce it’s cost of production!
I have a Keurig, but don’t buy K-Cups. Instead, I use a little K-Cup filter basket. It’s reusable, so there’s much less waste. I have several of the baskets, and they have more than paid for themselves in the savings from not buying K-Cups.
Also, I can buy any type of coffee I want, and even mix them up if I desire. I keep a large empty powdered creamer container into which I dump used coffee grounds. I save that up until it’s nearly full, then dump it into my flower bed, because coffee grounds are good for plants.
@Nancy – that’s a great point…..we have one of those as well. I bet you could reuse a “fill” of the reusable basket too. 🙂
I too am the only coffee drinker in my household. I also adore my K machine and would not part with it for the world. My husband & I live on his $1100 a month Disability checks so I have
Learn to cut corners and be very frugal. I bought two of the little refillable pods. Our Walmart has little packets of flavored coffee on a side cap(attached to an endcap) on the coffee aisle. These packets are for 1- eight cup pot of coffee and cost $1.00 each. I usually buy six packets a
month at $1.00 per packet. I then use these in my DYI pods. Most times I get seven cups per pack.
So, 6 packs per month X 7 cups per pot = 42 cups per month for $6.00 per month. I do use the large setting and most days only drink one cup.
The best part, all the yummy flavors. One day I can have Butternut Crunch and the next day have Kona Blend.
@Tracey – That’s definitely getting the most value for your money! Thanks for sharing!!!
I also invested in the reusable k-cups (not the Keurig My-K attachment). Much simpler cleanup and no swapping back and forth between the regular attachment and the My-K-cup thingy.
Anyhow, I try to use coupons and buy bags of coffee when they are on sale and then just fill the reusable k-cup as I go. That is also much less expensive even than reusing single use k-cups. I do splurge once in a while on special blends and cappacino cups that I know I don’t drink as often or just around the holidays.
Here’s a quick look at the math http://www.wellkeptwallet.com/2013/04/save-money-with-a-refillable-k-cup-for-your-keurig/
@Chrissy – I wonder if you could use a refillable cup more than once before you put fresh grounds in?
@Brock – yes. I didn’t mention that, but I have done that. I do like to let the grounds dry out and then I (gently) shake the cup around so that the water doesn’t flow back through the same spot. I don’t know if that really makes a difference, but I like to think it does. I do that also when I re-use the regular cups as well.
@chrissy – I wouldn’t have thought to shake the cup around…..I’ll have to try that! 🙂
We also ditched the K-cups in favor of the refillable cups. K-cups just generate so much waste on top of being expensive. It was hard to justify buying them anymore. I buy whole bean coffee and just grind what I need for the day. I haven’t tried using the grounds twice, but I drink mine black so there’s nothing to cover up a decrease in strength or flavor.
@Chuck – even if you can’t use it more than once, I’m sure you save a TON of money by using freshly ground coffee beans. And, it’s probably much better coffee!
I reuse Keurig coffee sometimes.
But I use a Clever Coffee Dripper ($16 amazon), which is like a Melita filter holder but lets the coffee steep for as long as you want, like a french press.
I always rip open the top of the Keurig pods and compost the coffee (the plastic is not recyclable : ( ).
Sometimes I rip open the top and dump 2 “used” pods into the Clever Dripper, then fill with 200 degree water for 3 minutes. It makes an excellent cup of coffee. I find I need 2 used pods to make a good cup of coffee.
I will say that once you have the Clever Dripper and a supply of coffee you love, you’ll probably ditch the Keurig machine. I do this at work where we have the machine.
@Bill – I’ve never heard of a Clever Coffee Dripper…I’ll have to check it out. Sounds like something right up my alley! 🙂
This test simply showed the person in question drinks coffee for the flavor enhancements (full packet of sugar + french vanilla creamers) and that is mainly what they taste. Using a k cup for two 8-ounce cups of coffee makes the second extremely watered down.
I LIKE weaker coffee and dont want to spend a small fortune on cups. I tried to reuse a BOLD cup 4 times and the coffee was GREAT the 3rd and 4th times (maybe acceptable the 2nd time). The problem is you can clog up the machine somehow. I am experimenting how to stop this. I think you need to rotate the cup to align the puncture holes with the pin but not sure yet.