Can I use the same K-Cup twice?
by Tom
(Bakersfield, CA)
Using one K-Cup to make two small cups of coffee.
QUESTION:
I was recently given a Keurig brewer as a gift. I really like it, but am not crazy about the cost of the K-Cups. The machine is great, but it’s costing me a lot more to buy coffee than I’m used to.
So here’s my question. Can I use the K-Cups more than one time? I had read elsewhere that it’s Ok to use them twice.
What do you think?
ANSWER:
Well, put simply, I think that anyone who is happy with a second cup of coffee from the same K-Cup has a very low threshold when it comes to enjoying their coffee!
K-Cups are designed to be used once and then thrown away.
Many will argue that there isn’t enough coffee in a K-Cup to make even one decent brew.
Anyway, take a look at the photo above.
I took a single K-Cup and used it to make two 6-ounce cups of coffee. That’s small cups, not mugs, which are more like 8 or 10 ounces each.
On the left you can see the first 6-ounce cup of coffee. Nice and dark. A decent brew.
On the right is the second 6-ounce cup of coffee I brewed, using the same K-Cup. As you can see, it is light and thin.
Yes, I tasted both. The one on the left – the first brew from the K-Cup – was just fine. The one on the right – the second brew from the same K-Cup – was thin and tasted like dishwater.
In other words, if you like a decent cup of coffee, never use the same K-Cup twice. In addition to getting a weak cup of coffee, it will fail for another reason too.
When you use the same coffee grinds more than once, the coffee becomes over-extracted. The good flavors have already been dissolved into the water the first time around.
The second time around, that over-extraction creates a nasty bitterness.
Weak coffee. And bad coffee.
As for the cost of K-Cups, I hear you. It’s a very expensive way to make your daily brew.
That’s why I always use a reusable filter, and fill it each time with my own coffee. This cuts back on the price and also reduces the environmental damage from throwing away hundreds of used K-Cups each year.
The reusable filter I use is the Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter
.
I hope this answers your question!
Additional information on single serve coffee makers...
Can I recycle my Keurig K-Cups?
Choosing between the different Keurig single cup brewers.
Buying Keurig brewers and K-Cups online in Canada.
Organize your Keurig K-Cups with a storage drawer.
