Move over toaster! Single cup coffeemakers are becoming one of the fast growing small kitchen appliances, but their popularity can equal a pricey cup of coffee. Desiree Ferenci of Consumer Reports said testers looked at how much it would cost to brew one cup of coffee per day for a year. "With K-cups, that's about $220 to $275."
Consumer Reports checked out some alternatives to traditional K-Cups that claim to cut costs and let you use your own coffee.
First up—Simple Cups, which claims to cost “a fraction of what a K-Cup will cost.” You can get a pack of 50 disposable cups, filters, and lids for $14. When you add the price of coffee, it’s still less than K-Cups, about $185 a year. But testers found that Simple Cups were difficult to close, and brew time was a little longer than that of the traditional K-Cup.
Next, the reusable EZ-Cup for $13, plus about $8 for 50 of its biodegradable filters. It’s about $135 a year when you include the coffee. But the EZ-Cup wasn’t much easier to use than the Simple Cups.
Another solution, My K-Cup— Keurig’s K-Cup adapter—was the clear winner. Testers found it was the easiest to use. And once you purchase the reusable My K-Cup for $18, your only expense is coffee, for a total of about $80 a year. That’s a big money saver.
Another plus with Keurig’s My K-Cups—they’re a lot easier on the environment than the original K-Cup and other pods.
If all of this has you longing for a single-serve coffee machine that works with My K-Cups, consider the Cuisinart SS-300 Compact Single Serve, $130. In Consumer Reports says it delivered a speedy first cup of coffee and is very easy to use.
