Erin Elizabeth
There’s nothing worse than a stale or burnt cup of coffee. If you’re not great at brewing your own coffee, K-cups and pod-based coffee machines are a great solution.
Convenience stores, gas stations, and office break rooms are notorious for bad coffee because they brew large batches of poorly proportioned grounds. Drip machines end up serving either super weak dirty water or bitter coffee that gets more bitter the longer it sits in a heated vat.
Luckily, K-Cup coffee machines have revolutionized the coffee-making process to a highly efficient, fool-proof process that produces a perfect single-serving cup of coffee.
We no longer have to guesstimate the exact measurement of grounds to make our morning joe. We won’t waste that surplus cup or two that ends up stale by mid-day.
K-Cup machines have perfectly efficient and recyclable pods that deliver a concentrated coffee taste comparable to a your favorite coffee shop. All the major coffee roasters now sell their most popular beans and blends in K-Cup pods at grocery stores and coffee shops.
Below, I’ll list the best K-Cup coffee on the market today.
The Donut Shop Original
The Original Donut Shop Coffee is a Keurig brand coffee that delivers an unpretentious and dependable cup of coffee.
Emulating the quality coffee served at the donut shops of old, The Donut Shop Original coffee is a medium roast, offering a balanced flavor and a full body.
It delivers a rich aroma, using 100% Arabica beans. It’s the go-to crowd pleaser amongst Keurig users. It’s both bold and smooth, so it’ll satisfy most palates.
It’s also affordable. Plus, since it is Keurig’s proprietary blend, you know that it’s perfectly proportioned.
I love a cup of The Donut Shop Original in the morning to accompany a sweet breakfast bread.
Caribou Coffee Caribou Blend
Caribou Coffee is a coffee roaster and coffee shop that originated in 1992 in Minneapolis and has expanded to over 700 coffeehouses globally.
They’re committed to sustainable and fair sourcing, their coffee beans achieving the 100% Clean Label and the Rainforest Alliance Certification.
Their signature blend is the Caribou Blend, which they sell in K-Cup form at major grocery stores nationwide. The Caribou Blend is a medium roast using a blend of different South American beans.
The Caribou blend delivers a full-bodied, highly acidic coffee with notes of fruit and a bittersweet chocolate aftertaste. I love using this blend to make my evening mochas.
Dunkin’ Donuts Original Blend
Dunkin Donuts is favored more for its coffee than it is for its donuts.
Founded in 1950 by Bill Rosenberg in a small Massachusetts town, Dunkin Donuts was a novel concept. You used to only find donuts in diners.
Dunkin’ Donuts has grown to over 11,000 restaurants worldwide, offering over 50 varieties of donuts along with its world-famous coffee.
The coffee was so popular that Dunkin Donuts decided to sell it at grocery stores for drip machines, and now K-Cups.
Dunkin Donuts offers various Keurig blends, but their signature Original Blend is their best seller.
It tastes just like the coffee you get with a donut at any of their locations, except you don’t have to wait in line to get it.
Eight O-Clock Coffee The Original
Eight-O-Clock Coffee is a true taste of American history with over 100 years as an American coffee roaster.
Originating in the popular A & P grocery stores of the early 20th century, Eight O-Clock Coffee was named for the most popular hour of the morning and night for coffee drinking.
They only branched off from A&P in 2003, launching a new line of different blends, espresso, and gourmet coffees using 100% Arabica beans.
Still, their original blend reigns supreme. If it’s been flying off the shelves for over a century, it’s got to be good.
The Eight O-Clock The Original K-Cups serve perfectly balanced medium roast coffee that is equal parts smooth and bold. It’s a staple in my pantry.
Green Mountain Breakfast Blend
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is a company I feel great about patronizing.
Their laudable mission is to create the highest quality cups of coffee using beans from organic, sustainable coffee farms around the world.
They employ expert coffee buyers and sustainability specialists to work directly with farmers to ensure fair trade and eco-friendly practices.
They offer countless coffee collections, featuring permanent and rotating blends. Their bright and crisp breakfast blend is a light roast with a smooth mouthfeel and a nutty, sweet flavor.
It’s my favorite coffee for easing into a busy morning.
Green Mountain Dark Magic
Another Green Mountain blend, Dark Magic is a decaf coffee blend using decaffeinated dark roast coffee beans.
Dark roast coffee is characteristically strong-tasting, and Green Mountain Dark Magic delivers the same strong, full-bodied flavor without the caffeine.
You’ll get an intense flavor with undertones of chocolate and dried fruit with a sweet aftertaste.
It’s the perfect dessert coffee that you can enjoy as a nightcap without worrying about staying up all night.
I love the taste of coffee, but I always drink less than I want because I hate the jitters. Green Mountain Dark Magic is my go-to blend for that extra cup.
McCafe Premium Medium Roast
McDonald’s is the largest fast food chain in the world, and while you may associate them with burgers, fries, and chicken nuggets, their breakfast menu is just as popular.
I only wish they’d start selling egg McMuffins and hashbrowns in the frozen section at grocery stores. I’ll settle for a comforting cup of their premium coffee, though.
McCafe Premium Medium Roast is a smooth, well-balanced coffee that has a subtle and delightful flavor.
It’s a good choice for beginner coffee drinkers. I like to mix it with cream and sugar to make it as comforting as an All-American meal.
Starbucks Pike Place Roast
Starbucks is the biggest coffee shop chain in the world and one of the rare instances where quantity doesn’t sacrifice quality.
Everything from the service to the sourcing is the gold standard at Starbucks.
They may be famous for their sugary, creamy, whipped cream-topped espresso drinks, but they also make a perfect cup of coffee.
Pike Place Roast is their signature blend, named for their founding city’s famous market.
Pike Place Roast is a medium roast using 100% Arabica beans from South American highlands. Every cup has a nutty, chocolaty flavor with a silky and full-bodied finish.
I like to add a bit of cinnamon to complement the chocolate taste.
Folgers Classic Roast Coffee
Founded by James Folger in San Francisco in 1850, Folgers Coffee has survived all the major wars, the great earthquake, and multiple ownership changes.
It now has a reputation for being the everyman’s coffee. It’s affordable, dependable, and proudly American.
I grew up with the iconic “Best Part of Waking Up” commercial campaign, which was as much of an incentive to drink coffee as anything else.
You can make Folgers the best part of waking up with their classic medium roast coffee in your K-Cup.
It’s the cheapest K-Cup option, and it has a deliciously rich, strong flavor with a smooth mouth feel.
Peet’s Coffee Major Dickason’s Blend K-Cup Pods
This is my personal favorite and has been a constant fixture in my coffee cabinet since Peet’s began selling their beans in bags.
Peet’s is a California-native coffee shop that opened in 1966 and has expanded to 200 locations around the U.S.
Their coffee is superb. Major Dickason’s Blend is their top seller both in stores and on grocery shelves. It is a dark roast blend that Peet’s still roasts by hand and in small batches.
It is the highest-quality blend on my list, with a rich, complex flavor.
Major Dickason’s Blend is an essential part of every day. Nothing else compares!
Starbucks Sumatra Coffee
Single-origin coffee means that each cup uses coffee beans sourced from the same geographical region. Blends often draw from multiple coffee regions to create a diverse flavor profile.
The advantage of single-origin coffee is a purer flavor and more responsible and transparent sourcing.
As the name suggests Starbucks Sumatra Coffee is a dark roast coffee from the Indonesian highlands of Sumatra.
It offers a unique flavor profile that includes herbs and spices. The spicy and aromatic taste is quite the eye-opener. I like to drink this coffee with a splash of half-n-half to complement the spice.
Most of us rely on coffee to function in the morning or to give us a much-needed mid-afternoon pick-me-up.
Whatever your reasons are for drinking coffee, you can make the perfect cup every time with a K-Cup machine.
Coffee roasters collaborate with Keurig to create a variety of pods featuring their most famous blends. Whether you like light, medium, or dark roast, my list of the best K-Cup coffees has something for everyone.
If you’re looking for something to add to your coffee but milk doesn’t agree with you, check out the best milk alternatives.
