There is no denying that K-Cups are pretty awesome. No more wasted coffee, a fresh brew all the time, and if you want, you can have a different kind of coffee any time of the day that you want. However, are they really worth their price? And more importantly, what’s their impact on the environment? To help you reach a decision, we’ve put together this analysis.
Because the worth of coffee is different for each person, we will base our analysis on these 3 options:
1. Preparing premium ground coffee using a standard brewer.
2. Preparing the same kind of coffee using the Keurig K-Cup single serve coffee system.
3. Preparing the same kind of coffee using a Keurig brewer, but with a reusable filter.
To ensure a logical comparison, we also took note of the prices for 2 different types of purchases:
A 24 count pack of K-Cup that costs $15.75 equates to 66 cents per cup. Easily the most expensive option of the 3. Two cups a day will set you back $40 per month.
Christopher Bean’s Jamaica Blue Mountain Blend sells for $8.49 in a Keurig brewing system with a reusable filter. Per cup, that would be 28 cents. Two cups per day will bring your monthly cost to $17, making it more affordable that the first option.
However using the same coffee blend which costs 8.49 with a standard coffee brewer, is even more economical: just 12 cents per cup – that’s $7 for two cups per day for a month.
Money-wise, doing things old school (which is making your coffee at home using your traditional brewer) is your best option. While this factor alone may drive you to make a decision, we should not forget to look at the convenience the other 2 options provide: with the K-Cup, you can have a different kind of coffee anytime you want! Great! But then, what does using K-cups do to our Environment.
K-Cups, the plastic containers that hold a single serving of coffee, are basically plastic shells lined with paper filter and topped with aluminum. They cannot be recycled so each K-cup used just shoots straight to the trash. More so, the coffee grounds which can be used for composting are trapped inside these cups, rendering them useless. Such a waste.
Just as of 2012, Green Mountain had already sent 18 billion of these things to the landfill. Imagine that: 18 billion plastic cups that cannot be recycled with compostable material trapped in them. As much as we love the convenience of K-cups, it’s easy to see that they are not the best choice. Apart from the fact that they can be quite costly, they also yield the most waste.
The good thing though, is that we can enjoy both convenience and value for money with option number 3 from above: Preparing the coffee using a Keurig brewer with a reusable filter. It’s a total win-win situation. it’s lighter on the pocket, you can enjoy a different brew each time, there’s no coffee waste, and best of all, no plastic waste.
