My Keurig K-cup Purchase

A couple of days before leaving on our spring vacation in May, I spurged on a new Keurig single brew system to replace my rapidly failing Melitta One:One.  I promptly set up a new coffee centre making it easy and convenient to use the Keurig but did not have time to tweak the layout or even experiment.  When we arrived home from vacation, I had a lot of fun discovering my new toy!

The K-cups are expensive coming it at 79¢ each if bought on sale.  I bought the My K-cup re-usable filter system so we can use regular ground coffee (9¢ per cup), loose tea, tea bags and herbal tea at a fraction of the cost of K-cups.  I recycled a revolving spice rack for the K-cups rather than buying one of their carousels that would take up more counter space as it is wider.  I quickly realized that using the K-cups can be quite convenient especially when entertaining.  For example, out of twelve guests at the first get-together after returning home: one guest wanted decaf coffee, one wanted regular coffee and one wanted herbal tea.  I was able to quickly make these beverages without having to brew two pots of coffee, resort to instant coffee or get the tea kettle out.  The Keurig has quickly become the most used on a daily basis kitchen appliance we have.

I honestly don't mind cleaning the re-usable filter and we often run a couple of cups cleaning the filter in between rather than brew a full pot of purcolator coffee.  I decided that I would also like a good supply of K-cups.  I was contacted by a representative of One Cup Connection inviting me to check out their site.  [Note:  I have no affiliation with this company other than being a satisfied customer.  This is not a paid post.  The opinions expressed are my own.]

Their prices were the best I've seen yet at $11.99 for a 24 pack of K-cups in comparison to a sale price of $12.99 for an 18 pack (regular price $17.99).  I bough five cartons (120 K-cups) for a total of $45.96 that included free shipping and a free carton coupon code.  The price came in at 38.3¢ per K-cup less than half the cost of K-cups on sale in the stores.  Had I bought 5 cartons of K-cups on sale in the stores not only would I have less of a selection but it would have cost me $64.95 for 90 K-cups.  Other online sources (eg. Green Mountain) have raised their prices to almost $17 per 22/24 pack carton

Shipping is free if you buy at least $45 and they had a special if you bought 3 cartons you got one free.  They do have specials as low as $7.99 for K-cups past the best buy date and $9.99 for K-cups nearing their best buy date.  Their shipping time is really good, as low as 2 days.  They ship buy ground and unfortunately do not ship to Canada yet so I shipped to one of our US addresses.  

I bought Tully's Breakfast blend (nearing best buy date of August 14, 2011), Green Mountain Columbian Fair Traid Select, Green Mountain Caramel Vanilla Cream, Coffee People Donut Shop (Perks for the Planet) and Green Mountain Limited Edition Island Coconut Fair Trade.  Now 120 K-cups sounds like a lot but I'm sharing the order with our kids who also have a Keurig.  We will each have 60 K-cups which will likely last us well into the fall considering we both use the re-usable filter.  I really like that I can get Fair Trade Coffee in K-cups!  So my next order will reflect that.  I like that I can get flavoured coffees as well.  We don't use a lot of flavoured coffee but this is a way to be able to offer our guests other beverage options.  I will test out a couple of flavours as well.  All in all, my experience with One Cup Connection was quite positive.  I will certainly be ordering from them again!