The rise of stress, busyness and activity in our culture has given rise to some new coffee trends.
One of those rather huge trends is K cups, and single-serve coffee machines.
For those who are maybe in a hurry or just want something convenient, K cups can be a great way to go.
Another enormously huge trend in our modern culture is Starbucks!
You know that itβs a successful company when thereβs a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucksβ¦
Caramel Frappuccinos are the drink of choice for many who love Starbucks, or of course pumpkin spice lattes in the autumn time.
If you put these two together, you have Starbucks K cups.
For those who own a Starbucks single-serve machine, you may have experience where you brew a cup and youβre looking forward to your morning Joeβ¦ but it doesnβt match up to your expectations.
And thatβs always a bummer.
In this article, Iβm going to give you 5 ways to make Starbucks K cups taste better!
These are hacks that should help you out, especially if the coffee isnβt expired and youβre doing all the groundwork right.
1 β Clean The Machine!
It may not come as a surprise that the more you use your Keurig, or whatever kind of single-serve coffee brewer youβre using, the dirtier it gets!
Thankfully, these machines are built to withstand some good usage.
But no coffee brewer is perfect, or stays perfectly clean.
If you keep your machine clean, you will in turn make your coffee more clean and more free of a stale, limey taste that can result when the machine is brewing old coffee residue and limescale along with your K cup coffee.
Hereβs how to clean a Keurig machine, using the convenient βDescaleβ feature thatβs inbuilt into the machine.
- Fill the machineβs chamber with white vinegar.
- Run brew cycles until all the vinegar is emptied out
- Fill the chamber with water. You can also squeeze some lemon into the chamber to help remove the taste of vinegar
- Again, run as many brew cycles as needed to empty out all the water
And voila, you have a clean machine!
Iβll say it againβ¦ clean machine, clean coffee.
You may notice a big difference in the quality of your coffee if you make sure to clean the machine regularly, either every week or two or after approximately 50 uses.
2 β Switch Out The Light Roasts
I have my own opinion about light roasts when it comes to coffee in general, not only K cups.
But thatβs a whole other story.
This point isnβt about how much me or anyone likes light roasts, though.
Light roasts can be great, and light roast K cups can also be delicious!
But if youβre using light roasts for your K cups and youβre not satisfied with the taste, you should consider switching it up to either a medium or dark roast.
This is because of how Keurig or single-serve coffee machines function.
Because of the water temperature and the pressure that are built into your coffee makerβs functionality, it may be a bit difficult for it to get the most out of a light roast.
For a lighter roast, itβs generally good to have a slightly higher temperature and a slightly longer extraction/steeping time.
So this might be something that will help you get the most out of your Starbucks K cups, to try a darker roast if youβre only going light.
Some great dark roast coffees that Iβd highly recommend are Verona and Sumatra.
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*I receive commissions from purchases made through product links in this post. I sincerely appreciate if you use my links if you decide to buy something and help me in this way! And if not, no problem. To learn more click here. Coffee cheers!*
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3 β Add Some Ground Coffee
Sometimes we all just need an extra boost, right?
I guess that can go for K cups tooβ¦
Just as a little side note of trivia, K cups are made with real coffee.
Thereβs nothing fake about the coffee itself, itβs made with real coffee beans just like any other good coffee.
But the thing is that with K cups itβs always a pre-set amount of coffee youβre brewing.
So, you can give your K cups a boost by adding more of your own ground coffee!
This can help make the flavor more deep or intense, and coffee blends can be delicious.
Doing this requires an extra piece of equipment, but it can be worth it.
To do it, you just need to purchase a reusable filter for single-serve coffee machines, something like this, then empty out the K cups contents into the filter, then add your own coffee to it!
Press brew as usual and youβll probably have a great coffee mix and a stronger cup of Joe.
4 β Just Use More K Cups
If youβre anything like meβ¦ you hate weak coffee!
Thatβs my absolute biggest pet peeve in coffee brewing, if the coffee is too weak and thin.
Keurig and single-serve machines have a nice built-in coffee to water ratio, and most machines have some kind of βlighterβ or βstrongerβ buttons for those who have such preferences.
But if you feel that you just want more from your K cups, especially if youβre making a large cup of coffee, you may want to double up on your K cup pods per cup of coffee to make it stronger and better!
This can be a great option for those who make a large cup of coffee and are taking it to go, to work or wherever, and you need it darker.
Conclusion
These are 4 fairly simple and straightforward ways to give your K cup coffee brewing a major tune up, if you havenβt tried them yet.
It might be that if you do just one of these, it could be a big game changer for you.
Single-serve machines are a super convenient and quick way to make coffee, but just like any other brewing method, it has its flaws too.
Maybe the biggest flaw is that itβs a set amount of coffee that youβre brewing.
You canβt add more coffee or take out any from a K cup pod.
And thatβs where most of these tips from this article come in hand; you can still have the convenience of the machine and have a little more control of how strong your coffee will be!
I really hope that this article was helpful and that youβll find at least one of these hacks to be really useful!
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know in the comments section below and Iβll be happy to hear from you and help you further.
Keurig coffee cheers!
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