Once you have a Keurig at home or at the office, you will find it nearly indispensable. But there are other ways to improve your Keurig coffee habit and save a lot of money, time and frustration. You will be surprised that a little tweaking could even improve the taste of your Keurig coffee.
1. Use two pods
How to get away from your usual weak coffee? Instead of using one eight-ounce pod, use two pods on your Keurig machine’s lowest setting. Using the eight-ounce pod results to a watered-down coffee, since it’s the same amount of coffee grounds regardless of how much water you will use.
2. Take with a pinch of salt
If you find your Keurig coffee too bitter to your taste (and most Keurig coffee products are notoriously bitter), add it with just a pinch of salt. It helps in cutting down the coffee’s acidity, resulting to a smoother, more agreeably-tasting blend.
3. Go for a reusable K-cup filter
Each K-cup pod doesn’t cost a lot in itself, but if you’re the sort who cannot function properly every single day without a cup of Keurig joe, the expenses will pile up. Using K-cup pods, in the end, will cost you a lot more than you would have imagined. Fortunately, Keurig now offers reusable K-cup filters, which allows you to brew whatever coffee you already have at hand, or whatever brand of coffee you prefer (a typical bag of coffee will cost you less than 20 cents per cup, while using the traditional disposable K-cup pods will cost you about 60 cents per cup). Using the reusable K-cup filter is similar to using the French press.
However, there’s one big problem – even if you try to use your favorite coffee in your Keurig machine, it still won’t brew unless it uses only Keurig-branded products. As you can see, Keurig is trying to control the home coffee brewing market and the company makes sure that it gets its share every time you use the machine. Fact: Majority of Keurig’s sales come from their K-cup pods rather than the machines themselves. But don’t lose hope! Go to the next hack and see how…
4. Hack your Keurig machine
You try to brew your favorite coffee but your Keurig machine flashes a message on the screen which instructs you to use products with a Keurig logo instead. Keurig’s newer machines in particular feature a special DRM reader which allows to brew only authorized Keurig-branded products.
So in order to bust Keurig’s corporate greed, you should trick your Keurig machine into thinking that it uses only Keurig-branded products.
Warning: this process can be a bit tedious, but it’s going to be worth the effort!
Step 1: Take a used genuine Keurig-branded cup. Using a special knife or a pair of scissors, cut off its foil lid gently and carefully to make sure you keep the full edges intact.
Step 2: Open your Keurig machine and insert a non-branded K-Cup pod in it.
Step 3: Carefully place the the genuine Keurig cup’s lid on top of the non-branded K-Cup.
Step 4: Close your Keurig machine. Now you can see on its screen that it’s ready to brew!
There’s also a “freedom ring” which allows you to slip into your Keurig machine and brew your favorite non-branded K-Cups.
5. Keep your machine clean
You may have noticed that your Keurig produces an unpleasant-tasting offee, which is the result of the dirt and bacteria that have built up inside the machine. You may have forgotten that your coffee gear also needs a little love and care by cleaning it.
The best way of cleaning your Keurig machine is to use white vinegar. Remove the filter from the container before filling it with vinegar. This amount is enough to run two brew cycles. Then, fill the container with plain water and run the machine to remove any sour, vinegar-y taste. Now, your machine is ready again to brew!