How to make coffee from K-CUPS
without a Keurig machine
Wow..... I haven't posted in long time. I must apologize to my legions of followers (I don't know what dictionary YOU use, but in mine, "legions" means "two").
So, I find myself on a most lovely weekend get-away in North Bay, staying at a motel that is quite adequate, EXCEPT for the coffee situation. You know the deal.....a little coffee maker in the room with pre-packaged UNFLAVOURED coffee and powdered whitener. Ick. And since my studious kid made the one packet last night at 11 pm to help her stay up to write her essays, there is nothing this morning. Walking down the hall to the cafe would involve getting dressed, so of course I look for an "easier" solution. Then I remember.......
I BROUGHT A BIG BAG OF K-CUPS FROM HOME TO GIVE TO MY KID!!!!!! All is good! There are several yummy flavours in there, and my mouth is already watering........ but we have NO KEURIG MACHINE!!!!!!!
Luckily this motel has free wireless, so I whip out my iPhone and Google "how to use k-cups without keurig machine". In a world where I rely on Google to answer all of my pressing questions (no, that wasn't a coffee pun), I was shocked to find so few results. Most of them just said NO. (Although I did get an idea from Mr. Danger at instructables.com, so it is only fair to give him credit for getting my wheels turning. His solution involved some things I didn't have access to, like a kettle and scissors, so I improvised.)
And here it is......
A STEP BY STEP ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO MAKING COFFEE FROM K-CUPS WITHOUT A KEURIG MACHINE WHEN YOU ARE STUCK IN A MOTEL IN NORTH BAY AND TOO LAZY TO WALK DOWN THE HALL TO THE CAFE:
STEP 1: Tear the foil off the top of the K-cup and discard the foil. Dump the coffee grounds into a separate container (the covers for the water glasses work nicely, although you could skip this part and just put them into carafe if you think ahead and don't just make it up as you go along, like I did).
STEP 2: Cut off bottom of K-cup. This is where scissors would be handy, but since we are improvising, you might find nail clippers in your make-up bag, which work almost as well. (Disinfect them first!!!!!) Start making little clips around the bottom edge and pulling bits of plastic off.
If it looks messy like this, make a snip into plastic to make a
triangular piece that sticks up (hard to see in this picture),
then snip off the triangle as shown below.
Repeat until the bottom of the plastic cup
is removed and it looks like this:
(Be careful not to snip the filter inside.... you will need that!)
STEP 3: Assuming that you have a little coffee maker in your motel room, pour the desired amount of water into the coffee maker (I did 2 coffee cups of water, but next time I will do more, as some apparently evaporates or disappears into the sludge).
(In case you need a photo of pouring water into coffee maker......
I think I got carried away with the camera!)
STEP 4: Pour the previously saved coffee grounds into the carafe.
Remember I said you could do this directly from the K-cup?
Either way, the coffee grounds end up in the carafe.
STEP 5: Put the lid on the carafe (or whatever you need to do to get your coffee maker to work), and turn on the machine. Let all of the water run through the EMPTY filter and into the carafe, then wait about 5 minutes, like you would with a french press. You may want to swish it around or stir it a couple times, to help distribute the coffee throughout the water.
What should you do while you are waiting?
You could hum the Jeopardy theme song.
OR you could prepare the next step......
STEP 6: In the one picture tutorial I found for doing a similar task, it looked like the guy was burning his fingers as he poured boiling water into a hand-held K-cup. I'm not a big fan of burns, so I suggest you use your waiting time to construct a triangular trivet (is that the right word???) using 3 coffee stir sticks and some hair elastics.
Make sure it will fit on top of the coffee cup like this:
And then shove in the empty K-cup like this:
STEP 7: After 5 minutes, open up the coffee carafe and give it a stir. It smells delicious, but of course there are coffee grounds floating throughout.
Let them settle back to the bottom of the carafe,
then SLOWLY pour the coffee through the filter
and into the cup, to remove any loose grounds.
Repeat with the second cup,
stopping before all of the sludge
from the bottom of the carafe pours out.
This is what will be left at the bottom of the carafe.
You can discard it.
STEP 8: If you poured carefully, there should not be many coffee grounds in the filter. Mine looked like this:
Since it was time-consuming to cut the bottom off the cup, I am going to try to save this filter by running cold water through it from the bottom.
It looks pretty clean to me. I'm going to let it dry and try re-using it later.
Well, that's about it!
Now you have two HALF-CUPS of coffee.
(Seriously, who knew that so much would be lost to the sludge?)
I added a little bit of the disgusting powdered whitener,
since the coffee was fairly strong.
(Caramel Vanilla Nut, in case you were wondering.)
STEP 9: Proudly carry your coffee out and wave it under your kid's nose. The heavenly aroma will rouse her from slumber and she will shower you with gratitude and praise for all of your hard work and creativity. (If that doesn't work, just call her name LOUDLY and kick the bed until she wakes up.)
TIP: Although you are excited and giddy about your inventiveness, try not to laugh or smile. Your kid will think something is up, and ask what the joke is. She will be hesitant to drink the coffee because she is afraid you "did something" to it.
After you grab the cup away from her
and take a swig to prove that it is not poisoned,
beg your kid to give you a thumbs-up or thumbs-down
on the coffee so you can post the photo on your blog.
If she gives you a
lame thumbs-up
because she just woke up
and doesn't want her picture
taken,
let her hide her face
and promise she can go back to sleep
if she
does just ONE pose.....
THANKS KID!!!! You make it all worthwhile.
.....And THAT is how you can make coffee
from a K-cup without a Keurig machine!
