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All You Need To Know About K Cup: How Much Coffee & Reusable K Cup
About K Cup coffee content, size, and brew sizes.
Published March 11, 2022
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Erik Hedlund
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
When it comes to making delicious coffee in the morning, K cups are one of the easiest options. All you need to do is switch on your Keurig coffee machine, place a pod in it, add some water, and press the brew button to get a cup of hot and delicious coffee in under a minute. But whether you’ve just started using K cups or have been brewing coffee with them for a while, you might be curious to find out more about what’s inside these convenient pods. Perhaps you’d like to know more about whether or not they provide you with your money’s worth when it comes to the ground coffee for K cup content, or are looking for more information on the caffeine content in a K-cup. Keep reading to take a closer look at K cups and find out more about these handy coffee pods.
What’s Inside a K-Cup?
A K cup involves more than just the coffee that is inside it. K cups have a plastic shell, a paper filter, and a foil lid. Since not all K cups are made by Keurig, you might find that some brands are slightly different to others. Here’s what you can expect from K cups from different brands.
Regular K Cups
Keurig-brand K cups are filled with finely ground coffee. The filter can vary depending on the type of coffee. The Starbucks Sumatra K Cup, for example, includes a paper filter that is glued on and looks similar to a cupcake liner, along with a small plastic filter in the bottom. On the other hand, Rude Awakening K Cups include finely ground coffee with a glued-on paper filter. Both have around the same amount of coffee, with the biggest difference the plastic filter that you can only find in the Keurig K Cups.
Compostable K Cups
The compostable Glorybrew K Cup doesn’t leave much to the imagination. These K Cups are unique in that you can see all the major elements from the outside of the pod, which is mainly because these are compostable. They have a paper lid, which is attached to a bio-based ring. The grounds are simply held in with a paper filter, without a plastic cup.
How Much Do K Cups Weigh?
The average K-cup weighs around 0.4oz – in grams that’s around 12g. The packaging is quite light, only making up around 3g or 0.1oz of the total weight, so most of it comes from the coffee content. And if you opt for a lightweight pod like the compostable GloryBrew pods, then the packaging weighs even less.
How Much Coffee is in a K Cup?
Most of the total weight of the K-cup comes from the grams of coffee grounds per cup, which is great if you are looking for good value. After all, the last thing that you want is to be spending money on packaging that’s only going to end up recycled or thrown away afterward. The average K-cup contains between 9-12g or 0.3-0.4oz of ground coffee. The actual amount of coffee that you will find inside your K-cup will depend on the exact brand that you buy. Typically, you will find slightly more coffee inside the K-cup if you go for a dark roast, so this might be something that is worth going for if you want to get the best value for your money. It’s also worth bearing in mind that if you prefer strong coffee, you might end up using more than just one K-cup to make a single cup.
How Much Caffeine is in a K Cup?
So, you know how much coffee is in a K-cup, but what about caffeine content? The amount of caffeine that you can expect will depend on the type of K-cup that you buy and the brand of coffee. Typically, the average K-cup contains 75-150mg of caffeine. Decaf K-cups will have tiny amounts of caffeine, like any decaf coffee, while on the other hand, if you go for an extra-strong coffee brand, this could contain quite a lot more.
How Much Coffee to Put in Reusable K Cups?
Reusable K Cups like the MyCup allows you to put in any ground coffee of your choice to use with your Keurig brewer while avoiding waste at the same time. However, if you decide to use the reusable K cups option, you will need to know how much coffee to put in a reusable K cup. The good news is that this is easy to figure out – and you don’t even have to spend time measuring it all out. My reusable K cup pods come with markings to help you determine how much to use, so all you need to do is fill it to the MAX line and you’re ready to go.
If sustainability is on the top of your head, and you want to keep your coffee consumption having less impact on the environment, check more here to know all about Reusable K-cups.
What Size Coffee Does a K Cup Make?
When you are brewing beverages, how much coffee you get in your cup is always an important question, so one thing that you might be wondering is the coffee grams to cups. If you buy 12oz cup pods, are you going to get the full 12oz of coffee? What about the cup weight? 1 cup of coffee beans equals how much ground coffee? In terms of regular brewing, you have more control over how big or small your cup of coffee is since you can control how much water you use and the water flow. On the other hand, when using K-cups, your Keurig machine will do all the work. In general, a pod will make a regular cup of coffee, although you can get some pods that are designed to make larger cups, so always check the packaging to be sure.
Can You Reuse a K Cup?
You might be wondering, how many cups of coffee can you make with a K-cup? The answer to this will likely depend on the type of coffee drinker that you are. Do you prefer a lighter coffee or a more full-bodied brew? If the latter sounds more like you, then you will probably prefer to stick to one cup of coffee per K-cup. In fact, you might even find that you need to use more than one K-cup to get a regular 12oz cup of coffee at a strength that suits you best. On the other hand, if you prefer a lighter coffee, you might be able to stretch one K-cup to make two smaller cups of coffee.
Are K Cups or Ground Coffee Better Value?
When you figure out what 1 cup of coffee beans equals how much ground and then think about how many cups from one K cup you can get, you may be wondering if buying K-cups is worth it, or if you are better off switching to ground coffee. The main difference to consider is convenience. If you buy pre-ground coffee, it will need to be stored suitably in an airtight container to be in with any hope of it staying as fresh as the coffee in your K-cups over time. This is because grinding coffee speeds up the oxidation process, which can ruin the beans and make them stale. The way that K-cups are packaged is designed for them to be completely airtight and protected, which as a result means that the coffee grounds inside are able to stay fresher for longer in comparison to regular ground coffee.
Buying whole beans is another option that you might have considered. However, you will also need to consider how you are going to grind them. A good burr grinder can be a big investment.
Overall, while buying coffee grounds or whole beans might work out cheaper than K-cups in the long run, there is a higher chance that these beans and grounds are going to go stale and out of date faster, unlike K-cups, which can last for a very long time. In addition, when you use K-cups, there is no need to purchase any additional equipment or storage to get the best cup of coffee – all you need is your Keurig machine. For many people, the additional convenience that comes with using K-cups is worth paying more for. And, the fact that there are so many different brands and options when it comes to K-cups means that you can certainly shop around and find prices that are fairly similar to buying pre-ground coffee or whole beans without the additional mess and hassle.
Is it Worth Getting a Reusable K Cup?
If you have decided that getting your own whole beans or pre-ground coffee is worth it for you, the good news is that you don’t need to swap your Keurig for an entirely new coffee maker. The reusable K-cup option called the My Cup allows you to use any ground coffee of your choice in your Keurig coffeemaker. This can also be an ideal choice if you are concerned about the impact of using K-cups on the planet since not all K-cup brands are recyclable. You can choose to use whole beans that you grind yourself with the reusable K-cup or buy pre-ground coffee to use with it. It’s easy to fill, and just as easy to use as a regular K-cup.
Keurig coffee machines are some of the most popular options for coffee drinkers today. Whether you already have one or are thinking of getting one, they are a great option to brew your own coffee. Finding out more about K-cups and how much coffee is in them will help you get the most from your experience.
And if you are a coffee lover, but you should avoid the caffeine kick, you can also check here all about the Best Decaf K-Cups.
About the author
Erik Hedlund
With Era of We and The Coffee Lab, I hope to share knowledge, increase the value of coffee – and secure the future of coffee.
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