We visited a java roasting plant to see how Chiliad-Cups are fabricated, and information technology's way more scientific than nosotros expected

K cup test

Pop One thousand-Cups.
INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum
  • Keurig K-Cups are a popular and user-friendly option for coffee drinkers.
  • We toured a coffee roasting facility to see how K-Cups are made.
  • We learned that not all K-Cups are fabricated the samethe amount of coffee grounds and packaging all affect how your favorite K-Cups taste.

From the Starbucks bulldoze-thru to homemade cold brew, there are seemingly countless options when it comes to your morning cup of coffee. All the same, Keurig single serve brewing systems remain 1 of the most popular means of caffeination, largely because of their convenience (even if they've been criticized for beingness bad for the environment).

Here at INSIDER, nosotros've tried enough of flavors of  K-Cups, so we were curious to meet how they were made.

Barrie House Coffee Company invited us to visit their roasting plant and packaging facility to get an inside look at how K-Cups are produced. From the java itself to the packaging process, we learned well-nigh the nuances of single-serve pod production and what factors influence how your coffee tastes.

Proceed reading for more than on how K-Cups are fabricated.

We arrived at Barrie House Coffee Company in Elmsford, New York, prepare to learn and very ready to drink java.

The Barrie House headquarters.
Madeline Diamond and Ciara Appelbaum/INSIDER

We started with a tour of their roasting facility, including where they package their K-Cups.

The Barrie House roasting facility.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Barrie Firm produces fair trade coffee, which arrives at the facility in giant bags like the ones backside united states of america.

Shay Zohar, Director of Sales and Marketing of Barrie Business firm, showed the states around the facility. He explained that while your favorite K-Cup starts with good footing coffee, the packaging procedure also has a huge effect on season.

Those bags are filled with coffee beans.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

K-Cups are filled with ground coffee, simply there are a few major differences between the contents of the capsules and the basis coffee you'd purchase at the shop.

The "roasting and grinding is a very dissimilar process in society to achieve the same style brewed loving cup," Zohar said. For K-Cups, java grounds should be smaller and more granular for the best, almost even brew.

At Barrie House, K-Cups made from recyclable plastic are stacked into machines and filled with between 13 and eighteen grams of ground coffee, depending on the blend.

G-Cups.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

According to Zohar, the industry standard for the amount of coffee in single-serve capsules is between ix and 12.5 grams. Barrie Business firm goes all the way upward to xviii grams, which makes for a bolder tasting cup of java.

Its recyclable paper filters come in giant rolls.

K-Cup filters.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Unmarried cup coffee capsules have been widely criticized for not being environmentally friendly, but Barrie House has created a K-Cup with a recyclable plastic loving cup and foil lid, likewise every bit a biodegradable filter.

In one case the capsule cools, it can easily be disassembled and recycled.

Later on the filters are practical and the pods are filled with coffee, Barrie Firm uses photo technology to audit every K-Cup to make sure they are in tiptop shape.

Barrie Firm'southward photo technology.
INSIDER / Madeline Diamond

A camera allows Barrie House staff to check the accuracy of the machines that assemble the K-Cups and print labels on the lids. The One thousand-Cups are too weighed to make sure they contain the right amount of coffee.

If a K-Cup's characterization doesn't fit exact proportions or contain the right measurement of coffee — information technology's thrown away and the capsules are recycled.

Rejected Yard-Cups.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Those K-Cups that pass testing move on to a conveyor chugalug, where they get packaged into boxes.

Most of the packaging process is automated.
INSIDER / Madeline Diamond

A machine sucks the K-Cups off of the conveyor belt and into boxes.

The K-Cup packaging process.
INSIDER / Ciara Appelbaum

The boxes are so labeled, stacked, and gear up to be shipped.

Thou-Cup labels.
INSIDER / Madeline Diamond

After we learned well-nigh how K-Cups are made, we decided to take a closer await at the finished production.

A Barrie House Grand-Cup on the left and another brand on the correct.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Nosotros noticed that Barrie Firm's K-Cups differ from other brands because they take ridges on the outside of their cups. Co-ordinate to Zohar, these ridges are helpful because they brand sure the filter doesn't stick to the sides of the sheathing when hot water is added, which can lead to an uneven brewing process.

The ridges on the sheathing and in the filter ensure that the the java is dispersed evenly throughout the capsule so that the coffee doesn't burn while it's being brewed.

The filter sits as depression as possible in the capsule and so there's a larger capacity for coffee.

Barrie House's unique capsules and filters.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

The filter allows Barrie Business firm to gain 18 to 20% more space within the capsule that tin can be filled with java, Zohar said.

Finally, information technology was time to beverage some coffee. Subsequently tasting both Barrie House's Grand-Cups and regular basis coffee, it was articulate that the work that went into creating their unique K-Cup technology was worth information technology.

We tasted a lot of coffee.
Ciara Appelbaum and Madeline Diamond/INSIDER

Barrie House's CFO, David Goldstein, whose family unit started the company dorsum in 1934, told us that the company said they'd never get into the K-Cup business organization unless they could make them taste like their other java.

Thanks to their capsule technology and ground coffee formula, the single serve capsules taste remarkably like to their brewed coffee, even though information technology takes just seconds to mash.

G-Cups are an easy option for your everyday cup of coffee, but at that place'southward a lot more than work that goes into creating the capsules than you might think.

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