As you slowly make your way to the kitchen, walking like a zombie because you still aren’t fully conscious, all you want is your morning cup of coffee.
However, the lingering thought that you have to get up to brew a cup of coffee can make you feel exhausted even before you get to the kitchen.
This is why you should invest in K-Cups. These magical pods of coffee grounds can make things significantly easier for you in the morning.
However, it is important to be aware of exactly how much coffee you’re consuming. Read on to find out exactly how much caffeine comes in your K-Cups.
What Are K-Cups?
Before we learn about its content, it is important to learn what a K-Cup is. To put it simply, a K-Cup is a single serving of coffee grounds, some type of cartridge, most commonly, a plastic cup.
There is a plastic ring on the cartridge that is covered with a foil top, sealing the ground coffee inside the cup. A filter material lines the inside of the capsule to contain the coffee while brewing.
When the K-Cup is placed in a compatible brewer, two separate needles puncture the lid and the bottom of the cup. However, it generally does not puncture the filter paper.
Water flows in from the top and extracts the coffee before flowing out the bottom of the cup. Since the filter paper is still intact, it results in clear coffee with no lingering pieces of coffee ground.
The term K-Cup is used to describe single-serve brewing capsules and is trademarked by Keurig Green Mountain.
In most cases, K-Cups are only compatible with Keurig-branded models. However, there are some cheap, low-quality knocks off available in the market, so make sure you’re buying the real thing.
Once you have the machines and the K-Cups, your coffee-making process will become a breeze. All you have to do is turn the machine on, pop in the K-Cup and some water, and you’ll have your coffee.
Are K-Cups and Coffee Pods the Same Thing?
A large number of people believe that K-Cup and coffee pods are interchangeable. However, that’s not the case.
While it isn’t entirely wrong to refer to K-Cup as coffee pods, the opposite is not always the case. As in, not all coffee pods are K-Cups.
A coffee pod is ground coffee that is sealed inside a filter paper. They can either be sturdy like K-Cups or be soft and pliable.
In general, most pods are made in pod brewers, which aren’t compatible with K-Cups. At the same time, you can’t pop in a pod in a Keurig machine and expect desirable results.
Therefore, it is important not to confuse the two. If you have a specific brewer, make sure to get the compatible K-Cup or coffee pods with it.
How Much Coffee in K-Cups?
If you’re planning on making a coffee brewed from K-Cup a part of your daily routine, you would do well to be aware of how much caffeine you’re consuming.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear-cut answer to this question.
The amount of caffeine varies from K-Cup to K-Cup, with some having significantly higher amounts of coffee than others.
A standard 8 fl oz. cup of coffee contains 120 mg of caffeine. However, an 8 oz. cup of coffee brewed from a standard K-Cup can contain anywhere between 75 to 150 mg of caffeine.
There are two tablespoons of ground coffee in most K-Cups. This equals to about 2 ounces of coffee.
If you’ve gone K-Cup shopping, you may have come across the extra bold blends as well. These contain about 2.6 tablespoons of coffee, which is 30% more than regular K-Cups.
How Much Does the Packaging Weigh?
Some people also tend to be skeptical about the packaging of these K-Cups, as they believe that the coffee doesn’t weigh that much. However, you don’t have to worry about that.
The average K-Cup weighs around 0.4 to 0.6 ounces or 12 to 16 grams. However, the packaging only accounts for about 0.1 ounces or 3 grams.
You may also find some lightweight packaging of K-Cups. If you get one of these, the weight of the packaging becomes even less, only about a gram or two.
Since most of the weight comes from ground coffee, you can be sure that you’re getting the worth of the cost and not a heavy cup filled with a small amount of coffee.
Are K-Cup More Cost Effective
Perhaps, the only downside of K-Cups is that they can be a little expensive. In fact, they can be very expensive depending on the brand you’re buying.
To get a definitive answer, it is crucial that we make a fair comparison, which means comparing the ground coffee of the same brand to the K-Cups.
Once you do this, you’ll find that K-Cup can cost up to 4 times more than a similar amount of ground coffee from the same brand.
To give you a better understanding, we’ll give you an example. The cost of Illy medium roast pods per 4.1 ounces is around $9.84.
However, you can get about 8.8 ounces of ground coffee for the price of $12.05. For each ounce, you’d be paying $1.37 for ground coffee as compared to a whopping $2.40 for coffee pods.
That is almost double the price. So if you’re trying to save up money, this may not be the smartest investment you can make.
Therefore, if you want to invest in a K-Cup machine, it is important to keep this in mind. You’re not just paying for the machine, but a lifetime supply of K-Cup would be due as well.
On the other hand, it does make the process of making coffee significantly easier. So if you can afford it without breaking your bank, it may be worth the investment.
Reusable K-Cup
While K-Cups can be incredibly expensive, you can still enjoy the benefits of the machine using this very interesting gadget.
All you have to do is refill the cup with your favorite ground coffee and follow the same process as you would with regular K-Cups.
This way, you’ll also have the option to try out new K-Cup flavors when you’re in the mood while still being able to enjoy a cup of coffee without having to spend twice as much on a daily basis.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to invest in a K-Cup machine or not is a very personal decision. However, it is important that you weigh the pros and cons before making the final call.
As discussed above, it will make your life significantly easier, especially if you’re one of those people who cannot wake up without a cup of hot coffee.
On the flip side, it does cost a lot of money. Even if you want to buy a reusable K-Cup, you will still have to invest a significant amount of money for the machine and the cup.
However, if you choose to invest in the machine, you can be sure that you will be enjoying a warm cup of coffee with just the right amount of caffeine every morning.