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Keurig K Cups - Deals - Stores - What Are They

It's been a while since I wrote an article on DelightfulCoffee.com, so I decided to write about something I use every week: Keurig k cups. What are they? Where you can get deals on them? Where to buy K Cups, in other words, and maybe save a buck or two.

I generally like to write my articles in the morning, usually for Friendslr.com, and on the weekends this typing madness is always over a hot mug of coffee from my Keurig machine. I have still been writing articles for our other websites, but just have not had the time to scribble and jot here. Those fans out there may remember that I was not much of a proponent of Keurigs. I mended my ways long ago. Saw the trees through the forest. Learned to love them. Saw the light. Whatever.  However, I'm still not a fan of the cost of K cup coffee pods, which is why I'm pointing you to some good deals a little later in the article. Hey now, this is an article, not a shopping page, lol.

What Are K Cups?

First, for newbies, what are Keurig K Cups? How do they work? I know, if you're on this article you ought to know, but not EVERYONE has a Keurig, and people are researching to see if a Keurig is right for them.

A K-Cup is - generally - a sealed plastic cup of ground and measured coffee that fits into a Keurig (or other makers that license the Keurig technology) coffee maker. I plan on writing another article on the various brewers themselves later. (UPDATE - Find That Article Here!)

I say 'generally', because you can buy washable, reusable pods that you can put your own ground coffee into. That will work in a Keurig type machine too. The advantage is less waste, in that you only discard the used grounds after each cup, and less cost. The disadvantages are that you have to spoon in coffee for each cup of coffee, the coffee is likely to be less fresh (both the former and latter kind of defeats the purpose), and you should wash the reusable pod after each use. That means labor is involved with each and every cup. Seems to me a regular drip coffee maker would be just fine if you want to work for your coffee.

How it Works

You place the K Cup into the Keurig style machine, close the lid, and make sure it latches. It usually does, and it feels a little like Vice-Grip pliers feel when they catch. Sort of like a locked up double jointed limp feels.

Now press the button for the size you are brewing. If there is adequate fresh, crisp, clean water in the reservoir you will soon have a fairly hot cup of fresh-ish coffee.

The top and the bottom of the K Cup is pierced when you close the Keurig brew cop lid. It will almost never leak when you remove the K Cup to throw it away.

A couple things to note:

The bigger the size of brew you select, that cup you fill will just be more water, not necessarily more coffee.
Fresh is relative. Nothing is fresher than fresh roasted, freshly ground, then immediately brewed coffee. Nothing. The ground coffee in the K Cup may have been roasted 6 months ago, and ground a week, 6 weeks, or even 6 months ago. Ground coffee is a low moisture content product which is sealed in a nitrogen rich atmosphere (flushing out oxygen) yet it will still oxidize. However, K Cups are always going to make a fresher cup than the can of ground coffee you opened a week ago.
K Cup is short for Keurig (style or licensed) Cup. They are also called K Pods, Keurig Pods, and Keurig Cups.

Where do I buy my Keurig K Cups?

I usually buy them at a brick and mortar store. I always price compare, because, as I said in this prior article, and this one, per cup, a Keurig style machine cup of coffee is going to cost you a lot more money than a cup of drip coffee. Not including the machine's initial cost, a cup of coffee from a Keurig K Cup averages well over 50¢ a cup.
When I find a deal, I snatch it up. I always am up to trying something new.  See, I drink black coffee 1/2 of the time, so taste is important. But since I only use my Keurig on the weekends, I usually buy as I need.

It's been a while since I bought coffee online. I used to shop for coffee on the internet a lot. Lately I have not been home enough to get packages, and folks here steal like normal people breathe air. I can't risk it. My personal favorite year ago was discountcoffee.com. However, checking their prices right now, I would spend $1.82 a cup after shipping ($12.95!!!) for regular ol' Folgers in box of 12 K Cups! Nope.

Best Deals Online

• Staples has pretty good deals. Check the Starbucks 36 ct variety pack for $25.99, and free shipping. That's just over .72¢ per pod.
• Walmart has free 2 day shipping on the same thing above, that Staples is selling, above, yet has 64 pods for $42.98. That's a little more than .67¢ a cuppa.
• Amazon has some great deals, such as the McDonald's McCafe coffee. It is surprisingly good, by the way. Not great though. This is an 84 ct box of Premium Roast Medium for $28.54, free 2 day delivery with Prime. That is just under .34¢ a cup!
• Also on Amazon, the 96 Ct InfuSio Flavored Coffee Variety Pack (12 Flavored Blends) for $30.20, free delivery with Prime. That's just over .31¢ a cup in cost. I have never tried InfuSio, so I cannot comment on the taste.
• Back over at Staples, you can get the Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend Coffee, Keurig® K-Cup® Pods, Medium Roast, 44/Box for $19.99, free delivery. Just over .45¢ per. It is marked as 23% off.
• Check Cocomart.com for this deal: Victor Allen Donut Shop Blend 80-Pack Single Serve Brew Cups for $17.98 after shipping. That is just over .22¢ a cup!

The thing is, if you look long enough on the internet, you can find a great deal on most anything, including coffee. As a matter of fact, check Freebie-Depot.com here. Funny, I never saw this site until seconds ago and they are saying much the same about the cost of K-Cups as I am. Just proves they are smart.

At the Grocery Stores

So long as you're checking prices in the coffee isle, you are going to spend between 49¢ and a just over $1 per cup, pretty much all the time for Keurig K Cups at a grocery store. That contrasts with about .12¢ a cop for drip.
My personal favorite right now is Wide Awake Coffee Co. I like them because most are pretty good tasting, and the price is usually around .49¢ a cup, or slightly less, at the local market.

The challenge with these pods is that they are like any other Keurig K Cup, sans the cup, so they can go stale faster. In other words, remove the hard plastic cup on a K cup, which helps keep coffee fresh, and you will find a Wide Awake Coffee Co. pod.

It has the the top foil, the bezel the foil attaches to, but below that is just a filter with the coffee within. If you don't immediately seal the plastic bag they come in after opening it, the pods will go stale quickly. In fact, they do anyway even if you seal the bag lightning fast. Light, air, heat, extreme cold, almost everything is the enemy of coffee.

Final Thoughts

Staples and Amazon look to have the best overall deals on coffee, so I'd stick with those if you want to save a couple bucks.

I find it funny that the same people who will spend $5 on a cup of coffee without even thinking about it will actually "shop hard and sweat bullets" to get that cost of their home brewed coffee down to under .50¢ a cup.

I'm finishing this article up on a late Saturday night. Sunday morning I'll add images, proof read it (badly. I always miss something) then publish it. From there I will start a new article for one of our other websites. This night, I grow tired, it being maybe 12 hours since my last cup of coffee. But no worries, morning, and that first cup, awaits!

Enjoy life, folks. Every. Single. Day. And do it with a cup of delightful coffee.