Has become my new favorite K-Cup coffee for the mornings
With K-Cups being so expensive, I have become more picky at finding deals. Most prices are over .60 per cup. That's a lot of money a month for daily cup of coffee. Nothing is cheap, and neither are these at about .50 per cup. I remember the good ol' days when the K-cups were not more than about .35 each, and it wasn't that long ago.
I have been buying K-Cups at Costco when I lived in Arizona, and the Tully's they carry are okay. Newman's Own are just okay too. Those run .475 per cup, so that's been a little better. I recently moved to NYC so started buying K-cups on Amazon. This Martinson coffee comes close to the same price as the ones at Costco, but the flavor is superior. This is the first cup of coffee I have in the morning. It's got a richer flavor, fresher somehow, than the others I have tried.
It does make a nice, heart large cup of dark roast coffee, and $25 for 48 cups as the preorder price was outstanding. At that price, I don't think I've ever really seen better, but at the same time the brew doesn't seem quite as bold or earthy tasting as a cup of Green Mountain Dark Magic or Emeril's Big Easy Bold. I prefer a robust large cup on almost every brew, and I've realized that even the Ice Brew K-Cups are basically the same thing; a cup of coffee with extra grounds for brewing a small amount stronger...so I brew iced coffee with my Extra Bold k-cups. I did the math on weight, and these weigh in at just under a cup of Dark Magic or Sumatran Reserve, but I'd still say my favorites (by taste,) are the brands I've listed above or Tully's Italian or French Roast, Caribou Obsidian, Starbucks Dark Sumatra, or even Barista Prima French and Italian Roasts.
The only other thing I can note about these is that the construction of the pods is about perfect; I didn't find any grinds in the box leaving me to believe there were no leaking pods. Almost all the pods had a little air puffing the foil out; which I've noticed a lot of the Keurig brands have flat foils, anyways, so I'm not even sure if it matters that much, although I've had grinds brew through on some of the flat pods. The only other difference I can mention is the material of the foil top is different than Keurig brand pods; these are slightly harder and smoother (almost like a plastic or polymer,) but it doesn't seem to effect the brew process at all, and I didn't seem to get any grinds in my cup, so all in all it just doesn't matter to me. Still better than brewing through a regular coffee pot (even from fresh ground beans,) and I don't think I'll ever get tired of my Keurig coffee maker.