Exploding K-cups

Did you know that K-cup coffee pods explode at high altitude? We just bought a Keurig machine and we have to make adjustments to get our coffee brewed.

Those little cups are vacuum sealed and when the pressure of the outside air is less, as it is at higher elevations, they expand, a lot. They look like little bombs with the tinfoil tops all puffed up. Above 5,000 feet they are really pressurized and when hot water hits them in the brewer they can explode. Messily. All over the machine and the kitchen counter.

We live at about 6,600 feet elevation. 

So, to prevent early morning surprises, we have to do two things:

1. We have to pre-puncture the K-cup by pricking a small hole in the bottom and letting the air out before putting it in the machine. We started using re-usable cups filled with our own coffee, and those are little open-mesh baskets (we got purple ones - good morning), so there is no vacuum pressure to worry about releasing.

2. But we do have to re-set the water temperature. Water boils at a lower temperature in the lower atmospheric pressure here. With the small quantities of heated water used to make single cups of coffee, too much of the water just boils away, leaving you with the wrong mix of coffee grounds to water. 

The Keurig machine has an adjustment for brewing over 5,000 feet. It lowers the temperature of the heated water to 187 degrees rather than the pre-set 192 degrees so we won't lose so much to steam. 

So we are altitude adjusted and set up to brew single cups.

We've had high end drip makers that make much richer tasting coffee that benefits from the extended "bloom" as water and coffee blend, but it's just the two of us, and it seemed wasteful. The machines were fiddly (and expensive). I drink my coffee at 7 a.m., Jim doesn't have his til 8 and it felt like overkill to keep a pot warm for just one cup. One-at-a time K cups are more convenient -- I can see the appeal. As long as they don't explode.

The coffee is not as great, but it gets me going each day.