If you're anything like me, you just can't handle the idea of using that little cup one time and then throwing it away. You may have even attempted to use the cup 2 or 3 times like me. But as you may have discovered, after the 1st time, it doesn't come out as strong and by the 3rd time, you're just drinking coffee-flavored water. No good.
Because of this, a desire to create my own little "K-Cups" was birthed inside me. I googled to my heart's content to figure out the best way to do this. Some people buy the little K-Cup filter but after reading some reviews on it, a lot of people say it doesn't give as great of a taste as when you reuse the cup and make your own blend. (I have not tried this yet, so I can't say either way.)
Without further adieu, on to the tutorial! :)
First you want to start by cleaning out your K-Cups. You first need to peel off the aluminum foil top. Then dump out the coffee contents and carefully rinse it out. You will want to do this ideally right after you use them, otherwise the coffee molds and ruins the filter inside. Be gentle when you're scrubbing out the filter in the cups, as you could rip through the bottom.
I like to line them all up and do them all at once to save time.
A close-up of a cleaned out K-Cup.
The bottom of the cup has a hole in it, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference if you create another hole when you put it back in to reuse it.
I've noticed when reusing the cups that the coffee isn't as strong for some reason. I decided to switch from my normal mild blend to a medium roast to fix that. I like to go through and layer cocoa and cinnamon into my little coffee k-cup. But you can use anything you want in your "custom blend."
I typically save my used aluminum foil for such an occasion. I just use it, clean it off, fold it up and store it until I'm ready. This is what you'll use to cover your K-Cups.
Cut the pieces into little squares.
Just cover the top with it!
I like to do this little cupping thing to them after I get the foil on there. It builds a bit of a "seal" around the edge to avoid spills.
You want to make sure the foil is big enough to cover the edge. If it's not, you get little tears like you see at the bottom right corner of this cup. This leads to a HUGE hole in the foil and then it leaks all over the place.
Just throw the foil away. ;)
Otherwise this happens to your machine.
Ta-da! A bunch of fun filled K-Cups, ready for individual use!
If you want to make multiple blends, you can always name them something fun. I called mine, "Choco-Spice." Silly, but fun. :)
I didn't bother to name them all because I'm the only one that drinks them and I know what I made. :) My husband drinks Espresso and has his own set-up. Maybe one day he'll guest on the site and teach us how to make a great cup of Espresso!
I love that little "K-Cup tree." The reused K-Cups fit great in it as well. You just have to move the foil carefully and make sure you don't break your "seal." That one on the bottom is decaf. Who drinks decaf anyways?!
I hope you found this post helpful! I feel like a whole new world has been opened up because of this! :)
Until next time,
~Nikki
