We tried Keurig coffee pods from 11 major brands — here's the only one worth buying
INSIDER / Madeline Diamond
The INSIDER Summary: We tried K-Cups from 11 major brands to see who makes the best brew. Starbucks was the clear loser, since it was overly bitter and artificial tasting. Eight O'Clock was also on the losing end because it had an intense aftertaste. Green Mountain was in the middle of the pack because it lacked an authentic coffee shop flavor. Newman's Own came in second place because its flavor was strong but not overpowering; however, it wasn't as good as the bold flavor of Barrie House, which came in first place. There's no question that a good cup of coffee can help start your day on the right foot.
But a good cup of coffee doesn't need to mean grinding your own beans and weighing them before arduously making a pour over — sometimes convenience trumps taste.
But can't we have both?
We decided to see which brands make the best Keurig K-Cups as part of an ongoing INSIDER taste test series. Previously we compared iced coffee, French fries, fried chicken, and vanilla milkshakes.
For the sake of this taste test, we compared each of the brands based on four categories: Flavor, aroma, aftertaste, and freshness, ranking each coffee out of 40 points in total.
We sampled K-Cups from the following popular brands:
- Starbucks
- Barrie House
- Wolfgang Puck
- Donut Shop
- Green Mountain
- Newman's Own
- Eight O'Clock
- Barista Prima
- Tim Horton's
- Marley Coffee
- Tiziano Bonini
K-cups generally come in packs of 24, and these cost anywhere between $7.99 and $19.99.
Keep scrolling to see who won.
We sampled 11 popular K-Cups.
We purchased a variety sampler pack of the most popular flavors on Amazon.
We drank each coffee black in order to get a sense of its flavor, undiluted.
Starbucks: French Roast - 7/40
We had high hopes for Starbucks' French Roast K-Cup. Unfortunately, it didn't deliver. This K-Cup tasted extremely bitter and left an intense aftertaste. Worst of all, it tasted highly artificial. We took a sip and dumped the rest down the drain.
Flavor: 1/10
Aroma: 3/10
Aftertaste: 1/10
Freshness: 2/10
Price: $19.99/24 pack
Barrie House: House Blend Extra Bold - 34/40
We knew we were in for a treat because the aroma of the Barrie House K-Cup was delicious. Upon the first sip, we noticed it had a very strong and authentic coffee flavor, with a hint of nuttiness. This definitely tasted like something you'd get in a coffee shop.
Flavor: 9/10
Aroma: 9/10
Aftertaste: 7/10
Freshness: 9/10
Price: $13.20/24 pack
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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