How to make your own coffee pods

If you have a coffee maker that works with pods, this is a great Instructable for you whether you need coffee in a pinch or need a money-saving method for creating your morning cup of java. In my case, this was totally free using some cheap coffee an old roommate left and some coffee filters left over from long-ago, but you could easily adjust this to any budget. Also with this, you can use your pod coffee maker to make any kind of coffee you want!

I love using a pod coffee maker because it's portion-controlled, and I know I'm not going to put any coffee to waste like I would if I was making a pot. Plus, they use less energy because they don't keep a hot plate on under a glass pot for hours on end. Making your own pods for your coffee maker is an ideal way to save money, time, and the energy of going to the store to buy more. With one large container of coffee and one box of coffee filters, you could easily make 100 pods for a fraction of the price of buying commercially produced ones.

Step 1: Materials

Materials for this are extremely simple. As I said, I found these lying around, unused in the kitchen from past roommates. All you need is:

-the cup from your pod coffee maker
-a small measuring cup that fits inside this cup
-regular round coffee filters
-any kind of coffee

Optional: a container to store these in. I found a great cylindrical container to perfectly fit my pods, but traditionally I've always kept mine in a ziplock bag.

Comments

[ricardocanada]

This is a clever solution for Keurig-style coffeemakers, and possibly other designs as well, but I hope no one ever tries it with a Tassimo coffeemaker like mine. They would be swept away in a tsunami of coffee and grounds! In a Tassimo, there is no perforated cup to hold your type of pod and direct he water through it. Also, the hot water is pumped upward through the Tassimo pod, permeating the grounds, passing through the filter at the top of the pod and then dropping through the spout.

[repguy2020]

Any suggestions on a hack for the Tassimo?

[lanceearlhaines]

This idea is very time efficient saving prep time and cleanup time for fast morning coffee! I am not sure why this qualifies as energy efficient though. The time and energy and resources it takes to make the paper alone should disqualify this entry. Further more I'm not sure if you are making coffee or espresso you mention pressurization which sounds like espresso in which case using pre-ground coffee is sacrilegious. I grind fresh and french press for maximum flavor using no disposable filters.

[rpaxton]

Thank you for commenting!
I'm actually working on a form of a permanent filter as I have time; the only ways this is saving energy now are that a) it saves me a looong drive to the nearest walmart to pay $6+ for manufactured coffee pods and b) this particular machine uses less resources and energy than the 12-cup coffee maker my roommate uses, where she runs it for hours every day to keep the whole pot hot and ends up throwing out anywhere from 1-4 cups of coffee. The only reason I even put it in this section yet is that, for me, the paper is technically recycled since my roommate was going to throw it out anyway.

A coffee press is the *best* way in my opinion to make completely energy-efficient coffee (all I have to run is my electric kettle), I just hate having more than a mug to wash in the morning.

[lemonie]

The mesh on the pod holder looks quite fine - what happens if you just put the coffee in without the filter? Anticipating that you might have a problem with this - how about just cutting a disc of paper to put in the holder before the coffee?

L

[rpaxton]

Lemonie, Trust me, I've tried it all. Putting straight coffee in the filter without a pod results in grounds getting into every orifice of the machine. Because it works on a system of water pressure, not having paper all around the coffee forces bits of the ground coffee up into the machine itself, and results in an extremely messy cleanup. The ultimate coffee machines are the ones that require no paper filter at all (one of my old roommates had a fairly cheap one that worked great for about three weeks until another roommate broke it), but sadly this type does.

[zebutron]

Perhaps if you line the pod part with a reusable filter, hemp or some sort of nylon. This would require some additional cleaning of the filter but may be worth it in the long run. Also a small French press could make single cups, uses no paper filter and has no heating element. If you can boil 2 cups of water, even using an existing coffee maker, then you can make French press coffee. Just a suggestion.

[lemonie]

I get it, I can see the coffee going everywhere. Thanks L