I love my Keurig. Over a year ago, I swore I wouldn't "Keurig" it up - but I did. Mostly because my mother bought me a machine. So I used it. For the first three days, it was great and I was already addicted. Around the 6 day mark, I realized that my machine was defective. It was possessed. If I pressed the button, it wouldn't brew my coffee although it said it was. Then I'd try again and it would brew two cups in one. Something was not right. So I brought it back to Bed Bath & Beyond - they took it back, but they were out of stock. I had to wait about a month for their next shipment. So I went back to my traditional cheapo Mr. Coffee the next morning. I was not amused. It was that day, I realized that I turned into a "coffee snob" in about a week's time. I, the lady who once prided myself on being able to drink Folgers & Maxwell House and having it taste "great" now had the attitude of "What is this crap? Give me back my Green Mountain Coffee!"
That day I went to BJ's and bought their verson (which was great because it was about $5 cheaper than Bed Bath & Beyond's - but came with 80 K-cups or something astronomically high like that). It is now my best friend. Back then (last Spring) - I, of course did a price break down of K-Cups. Back then, the average K-Cup was about .42 cents. A great deal was about .37 cents each and the "oh crap, I ran out of coffee, I just need to go buy some, NOW!" ran me about .48 cents each.
Well coffee prices have risen. The average K-cup is about .50 cents or a little higher. At BJ's, you can score them for just under .50 cents each. The best way to know if you are getting a good price is to figure out the cost per K-Cup (Psst...there really isn't a significant difference in many stores).
BJ's.com - BJ's.com has 160 boxes of K-Cups for $84.99. There is free shipping. This equates to .531 per K-Cup.
BJ's the Store - My BJ's has boxes of 80 K-Cups. Sometimes they are $34.99 for the box, sometimes they are $37.99 depending on variety. At the $34.99 price, you are paying .437 per K-Cup. At the $37.99 price, you are paying .474 per K-Cup. With recent coffee prices going up, these 80 count boxes may be up to $39.99 a box now - making it .499 a K-Cup.
Coffeeforless.com - First, go through Ebates to get 2.5% back on your purchases here. There is free shipping for orders $50+ here. Grab a case of 96. These are mostly $56. Use code deb to score 10% off. This brings it down to $50.60 (still qualifies for free shipping). Cost per K-Cup is .527.
Bed Bath & Beyond - A lot of the 18 packs are sold at $11.99. Use your 20% off coupon to nab it for $9.59. Cost per K-Cup is .532.
Green Mountain Coffee - Coffee Express Members: Set up a recurring order that gets automatically shipped. Pretty much, 4 boxes of 24 (96 K-cups) will cost about $55.96. Price per K-cup: .58
Of course there are other outlets out there to purchase K-Cups. But these are just the ones I have used. So back to my question - is it a bargain or not? I personally am going to go with "yes". Why? Well if you saw my picture up on top of this post - I love Iced Coffee. So I have a few of these reusuable cups. I just fill the cup with ice, brew my K-Cup in it, add my Splenda and cream - and voila - an Iced Coffee that costs less than .60 cents - and I personally believe it tastes better than Dunkin' Donuts (but there are new Dunkin' Donuts K-cups out there!) - which, if I stopped for a medium iced coffee, would cost me about $2.32 with tax. And usually before my Keurig, I would stop through Dunkin' Donuts about once a day for an afternoon iced coffee. So now, I'm saving about $1.72 by just doing it myself - and, for you tree hugging readers, saving the cup from going into the trash or recycling bin. Could I do this with a traditional coffee maker? Yeah, but it's more work. And in case you don't know, I can be pretty lazy at times. Also - it's just completely great to just roll downstairs and get that first cup of coffee in about 14 seconds after putting that K-cup in.
So what's your take? Is the Keurig worth the price, or is it just an overpriced fad?
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