Weak coffee from K cups

[Ultrarunner2020]

Hey guys;
I have been using a Keurig Elite for a while, and have to say that the coffee I am getting from the K cups is very weak, and not very flavorful.
I use mostly the Gevalia cups (I think the signature series). I was able to get a slightly stronger cup by changing to a smaller size cup, but that didn't really satisfy me, so I bought some re-usable filter pods on Amazon.
I ground some coffee beans I had around, and more or less filled the pod.
Thinking that there was enough coffee in the re-usable pod to make a full 12oz cup, I hit the tall button. But the coffee that was delivered was even weaker than what I was getting from the K cup.
I should mention that I ground the beans on the most course setting of the grinder. I will try a much finer setting next time.

When I removed the filter pod from the holder, I saw that only the coffee in the center of the pod was depressed, which indicates to me that the hot water is not being distributed properly. So I did the quick cleaning trick; sticking a paper clip into the nozzle. But there didn't appear to be much crud in there. I ran a hot water cup to make sure the nozzle had been cleared.

So, is it a fact that the Keurig doesn't even use all the coffee in the pod, or is this something peculiar to the re-usable pod I used?
I am about ready to give up on the Keurig, and go to a small percolator on the stove!

Your thoughts?

Thanks
Ultrarunner2020

 

[Musicphan]

I would imagine that your grind is not fine enough... I recommend to my customers to grind about as fine as sand for K-cups. From feedback though, everyone's k-cup reusable pods are slightly different and you have to play around with that grind size a bit. I tend to see success when it's finely ground vs. coarse. K-cups create somewhat of a vortex within the cup if you see it's not getting the coffee wet you are probably overfilling it. Now here is the killer, K-cups typically don't hold enough coffee to brew more than a 6-8oz cup. That's why most people find K-cup coffee weak (lots of people still enjoy that but its nothing near specialty coffee standards)

 

[Ultrarunner2020]

Thanks for the good info. Now that you have pointed out that I probably made the K cup too full, I am convinced that is exactly what I did. Since the 'spray' of hot water will widen as it gets farther from the nozzle, what you said makes a lot of sense. When I filled the cup, I was thinking 'more is better', and didn't realize what the distribution pattern of water was, but should have realized by the shape of the nozzle that it is aimed towards mid to bottom cup.
So, tomorrow morning I will grind the beans at the finest the grinder will do, and fill the K cup only halfway, then select the 8oz instead of 12oz cup.
If that doesn't work, I'm probably going to be looking for a small stove-top percolator, if they are still made!
That said, I suppose one can buy K cups with a stronger blend.

 

[Ultrarunner2020]

This morning I used a much finer grind, and measured the amount of coffee into the reusable k-cup using a scale. Yesterday I learned that 10g of coffee should make an 8oz cup, so that is what I put into the pod. The coffee came out a lot stronger than it did yesterday, but certainly not a great tasting cup of coffee. Inspecting the lid of the reusable k-cup, I see that it has an array of holes in a well shaped configuration. So I guess the water squirts out of the nozzle in the Keurig, and is distributed by the pattern of holes in the lid of the pod. This morning the area of coffee that was wetted was larger than it was yesterday when I apparently overfilled the pod.
I am going to take a regular pod apart (after it has been used) and see how they are made, just to get an idea of how the water is distributed, and how much coffee is actually in a pod.

Considering that the coffee I made this morning using the reusable k-cup is not much better than what I was getting from the standard pod, I don't think it's worth the trouble to use the reusable pod. I think I'm going to be looking for a 2-4 cup stove-top percolator.

 

[Musicphan]

This morning I used a much finer grind, and measured the amount of coffee into the reusable k-cup using a scale. Yesterday I learned that 10g of coffee should make an 8oz cup, so that is what I put into the pod. The coffee came out a lot stronger than it did yesterday, but certainly not a great tasting cup of coffee. Inspecting the lid of the reusable k-cup, I see that it has an array of holes in a well shaped configuration. So I guess the water squirts out of the nozzle in the Keurig, and is distributed by the pattern of holes in the lid of the pod. This morning the area of coffee that was wetted was larger than it was yesterday when I apparently overfilled the pod.
I am going to take a regular pod apart (after it has been used) and see how they are made, just to get an idea of how the water is distributed, and how much coffee is actually in a pod.

Considering that the coffee I made this morning using the reusable k-cup is not much better than what I was getting from the standard pod, I don't think it's worth the trouble to use the reusable pod. I think I'm going to be looking for a 2-4 cup stove-top percolator.

If your looking for a small coffee brewer take a look at the Bonavita 5 cup... percolators make terrible coffee because they recirculate the brewed coffee. My BFF was just in the market for a new brewer and that's what I advised her to buy:

https://bonavitaworld.com/products/5-cup-one-touch

 

[hkeiner]

Try an Aeropress. You can control more variables with more consistently to get the taste you want.


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[riverbill]

I have never gotten any of them to work properly, tried like 4-5 brands and most reviews seem hit or miss. I usually either get too much sediment in my cup, or adding a filter makes it way too weak/watery.

 

[JeffD]

One cannot escape the ratio of water to beans.

Don't worry about the mug size setting, because a bigger mug setting just uses more water for the same amount of coffee grounds.

So here is the secret I found.

Use 6 fl oz (measured with a digital kitchen scale, which you can buy for under $25.00) per k-cup. You want a full mug of coffee, brew 6 oz with one k-cup, and another 6 oz with another k-cup. 6 fl oz / k-cup man, measure it. It works.

Use a good coffee brand. Any decent brand you like. I specifically found Gevalia can be great with this.

 

[addertooth]

There are new higher volume refillable K-kups via Keurig and Cuisinart. They hold more coffee. If you Lightly tamp them it reduces channeling and you get a more intense brew. I do this to do a test brew of single origin coffees to figure out how I want to adjust them for Pour-Over, Aeropress, and French Press use. I get a feel for some of the factors with a fairly consistent brew methods.

Don't overtamp them, as you get a slow fill, short cups, and bitter flavor introduced. Use no tamping for "floral coffees" such as Panama Geisha and Kona beans.

But I agree, if you cut into your typical commercial K-Kup, and weight the coffee they come with... you will understand why they don't hold up to a larger amount of water.