If you’re anything like us, you’re always on the lookout for a better cup of coffee. There are so many variables, so many things to fiddle with. How hot should the water be? Are you going to use cream and sugar? If yes, what kinds? And when it comes to preparing coffee the options are virtually endless: drip, percolator, French Press, and, of course, the Keurig machine. We can all agree that when it comes to quick-and-easy, a K-Cup is the way to go. Insert a cup, press a button and within seconds you can be enjoying your favorite brew.
But which K-Cup is the best? Just like with everything else when it comes to coffee, the options are almost endless, but figuring this sort of thing out isn’t just our job – it’s our passion. So, after putting 26 of the top coffee providers through an exhaustive 5-point rating system, we have a winner: Angelino’s Coffee is the best direct-to-consumer K-Cup on the market.
Here’s why:
VALUE
Coffee can get expensive, fast. We all know better than to blow our money hitting up the local coffee shop every day, but K-Cups vary widely in price depending on brand, too.
Not only does Angelino’s have a very-sensible price, but they also offer sample packs, with 14 different flavors for only $5.95. That allows you to try a bunch of their best offerings with no commitment, so that you don’t get stuck with a whole box of a blend that isn’t for you. This way you get to find out your favorite first, and load up on that for the future.
FLAVOR
With most brands of K-Cup coffee, the flavors fall short. They get the job done, sure, but compared to a coffee shop or even a drip coffee maker, they often seem flavorless and bland by comparison. Have you ever wondered why that is? It’s because a lot of brands stretch out their dollar by underfilling the cups, and then they try to mask that by over-roasting the coffee in an attempt to make the flavor stronger.
Angelino’s, on the other hand, hand-roasts all their coffees, blending each variety after the roast phase for the best flavor profile we’ve encountered, and they make sure that each cup has a real-deal amount of coffee in it. No cutting corners, no sacrificing flavor.
FRESHNESS
Another reason a lot of K-Cups fall flat is freshness. Most K-Cup brands are sold in stores, which means that they’ve been sitting on a shelf for months – and that’s after months of sitting in the stockroom in back, and that’s after months of sitting in a warehouse somewhere. That’s plenty of time for all the essential coffee oils to evaporate, leaving you with a dusty, stale cup of coffee.
Angelino’s roast, grind, and pack all their coffee in-house before sending the K-Cups directly to you from the roastery, cutting out all that sitting on the shelf so that you can have the freshest cup of coffee possible!
VARIETY
A lot of K-Cup manufacturers offer different flavors because they feel like they have to, but a lot of those options turn out fairly disappointing. One of the most pleasant surprises as we worked our way through the sample packs of Angelino’s coffee was that every new flavor stuck to the same high standard as the one before it.
Angelino’s offers a variety of standard roasts and blends, so that if you’re fond of a light or dark roast, or beans from a specific region, those are available. They have Flavored coffees, for those of you who like to take things in a different direction. They’ve got Decaf for people who love coffee but can’t have the caffeine, and they even offer a line of Teas for the non-coffee drinker in your house. There are even Seasonal Flavors offered throughout the holidays — there’s something for everyone!
EASE-OF-USE
For whatever reason, some online outlets make it really hard to buy their coffee. Angelino’s made it easy to navigate around the page, reading up on the various blends so that we felt like we really knew what we were buying. Once we were through the Sample Packs we started off with, going back to order more of our favorites was quick and easy.
From now on, the Coffee Club office Keurig is going to be filled with nothing but Angelino’s K-Cups, and we think that once you try their offerings you’ll feel the same way.