With all the talk in the coffee world surrounding Keurig’s neat little toy—*ahem*—I mean coffee maker, what happened to the old way of brewing things? You know, the traditional way of making the dark nectar we guzzle down every morning—what happened?
It is still here—around—somewhere. Here it is! I found it! But wait…what is this paper for? Didn’t Keurig find a way to get rid of it? Who uses these paper filters anymore?
Well, my friend, even those who have a Keurig machine will tell the tale when they used a reusable filter and grinds ended up in their coffee. Coffee grinds are not harmful, but who wants a gritty drink? It is unpleasant, tasteless and makes you want to gargle your mouth to get rid of the grit.
See, you need to find a balance between the size of the coffee grind and the strength of coffee you most enjoy. The larger the grind, the less likely you’ll have grinds in your coffee. However, this leads to a weak, watered-down taste. To strengthen your coffee, grind your beans a bit smaller. This yields more grinds per bean, and more “surface area” for the water to grab the “essence” of the coffee. You can go all the way down to an espresso grind, which is almost like a fine powder.
Here’s where you need the paper coffee filters for K-Cups. The metal or plastic mesh in your reusable filter might not accommodate those smaller grinds—they’ll seep right through the mesh and into your coffee. If you were to put a paper filter in the reusable filter before filling it with coffee, you can have your cake and eat it too—without any grinds getting in your brew.
Fortunately, you have options….
A word of caution: before all else fails, read the instructions. You can use that word of wisdom anywhere you go.
[easyazon_link identifier=”B009K2BBQG” locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]Filter for Ekobrew Single Serve Filter[/easyazon_link]
The concept is incredibly straightforward. The water from your Keurig needs to go from the reservoir, through the coffee grinds, through the filter, and into your cup. However, these filters are specially designed to fit one filter and one filter only: [easyazon_link identifier=”B00K8FR2P8″ locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]The Ekobrew Refillable K-cup[/easyazon_link] for Keurig 2.0.
Contrary to the instructions, don’t put coffee directly in the cup of the filter. Take a clean, dry cup, and insert the [easyazon_image align=”right” height=”160″ identifier=”B00K8FR2P8″ locale=”US” src=”http://coffeemakersparadise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/61kr7HtgzEL.SL1601.jpg” tag=”cafe049-20″ width=”127″]filter first. From there, take a spoonful of coffee grinds and put them in the cup on top of the paper filter. Seal the lid, pop the pod in your Keurig, and boom! One minute later you have a fresh cup of grind-free coffee!
And again, Ekobrew only!
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00BUFJBQS” locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]Simple Cups Disposable Filters[/easyazon_link]
Now these…these are versatile. Sporting a generic design, these are perfect if you have more than one filter type in the house—which is likely the case if you have several coffee drinkers. Each person chose their own refillable coffee filter, and now you do not have to be brand-specific when choosing your paper filters!
It is a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. Same concept as before: reusable filter, paper filter, coffee, close lid, and insert into machine—in that order.
[easyazon_link identifier=”B00764BRSC” locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]My-Kap Cups[/easyazon_link]
For a truly disposable design, try My-Cap Cups. This one you toss in the garbage day after day. They are just like K-
Cups, but you fill them yourself. To complete the design, you need more than just these cups. You need a lid and filter. This is the only design where the filter required, not optional.
The concept is the same as a regular K-Cup. Take one of these cups, insert a filter, seal it with a lid, and voila! Your own disposable K-Cup from start to finish! No expensive design that might break on you, no cups to rinse out…pop in the machine and toss it.
You need [easyazon_link identifier=”B00888PF4W” locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]these lids[/easyazon_link] and [easyazon_link identifier=”B00BUFJBQS” locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]these filters[/easyazon_link] to complete the disposable assembly.
[easyazon_link identifier=”B0081N3YW4″ locale=”US” tag=”cafe049-20″]Simple Cups – Cups, Lids, and Filters[/easyazon_link]
We did our homework, and it does not get any simpler than this. Just like before, this is an entirely disposable design. However, unlike before, this is an all-in-one package. You only make one purchase that includes cups, filters, and lids, rather than buying them all separately. It is sort of like when you were a kid and saw some commercial for some toy you wanted. You saw kids playing with it on TV, and the first thing you did was go beg your parents for it. Do you remember the very last thing they say in those commercials? Something along the lines of “each sold separately?” I remember…they still talk like that today. That means you cannot play with the toys the way they were unless you bought each and every one…separately.
That is not the case here! This one box has everything you need to complete a disposable K-Cup—except the coffee. If that was chosen for you too, well…it would be a commercial K-Cup! Plus it would defeat the purpose of being able to pick your own coffee…just sayin’.
Conclusion
Every time you use a paper filter, you are keeping grinds out of your cup. There’s no promise that your reusable cup will not leak—we leave the honor of filling the cup and sealing the lid to you. These paper filters allow you to get the strength of coffee you are looking for without any grit in your coffee. So go…amuse yourself.
