The Clever K-Cup Hack For Stronger Brewed Coffee

Keurig revolutionized coffee makers with an efficient machine that brews single-serving coffee from pre-packaged K-cups. While a wide range of commercial coffee roasters and coffee chains package coffee in K-cups, plenty of independent and gourmet roasters don't. Consequently, Keurig machines contain a separate, multi-piece accessory with a reusable coffee filter called My K-cup for consumers to hand pack with grounds of their favorite coffee roasts.

This accessory, while thoughtful, doesn't brew as strong a cup of coffee as the prepackaged pods. However, there's a quick and simple remedy to get the intensity you desire: A used K-cup pod. The Keurig machine works by perforating the K-cup on either end, creating the desired pressure for water to infiltrate the grounds, soak up their flavor, and slowly flow out to achieve the perfect intensity.

By using the recycled K-cup as an extra accessory to the usable filter, you create the same back pressure as the K-cup. This resistance at the point of output allows water to infiltrate coffee grounds more thoroughly, thereby creating a stronger cup of coffee.

Obtaining the desired strength for your favorite blend of coffee requires a few quick and simple steps. You're using a recycled K-cup as an extra piece to the multi-piece My K-cup accessory. You first have to clean the plastic K-cup pod by removing the grounds and the tin-foil top and rinsing the empty container.

Once you've cleaned the K-cup pod, you'll be left with an empty white plastic cup. You then need to snip off the top lip of the cup so that it will fit into the body tube of the My K-cup accessory without any protrusion. The final step is to place the filter inside the modified plastic pod, fill it with coffee grounds, and start brewing.

The plastic pod contains the small perforation from its previous brewing cycle, which controls the coffee output pressure more precisely to achieve your desired flavor intensity. In addition to this hack, you can also experiment with other factors that contribute to a stronger cup of coffee, like the type of grind and how much of it you pack into your filter.