Maybe your Keurig coffee tastes too strong or too weak, and you’re wondering how cup size affects the taste of the coffee and what cup size to use for the best taste.
In this article, I’ll tell you exactly how cup size affects the strength of Keurig coffee.
Does Cup Size Effect Strength On a Keurig?
Yes, the cup size does affect the strength of your coffee with the Keurig coffee maker. If you use larger cup sizes, your coffee will taste weaker because more water is flowing through the same amount of ground coffee. You can clearly see this when the Keurig begins to brew a coffee, at first the coffee dripping from your Keurig will be very dark and then the color will lighten as more water is poured through it.

How Does Cup Size Affect Strength On a Keurig?
Only so much coffee can be extracted from the ground coffee beans in a K-cup. If you use larger cup sizes, your coffee will taste weaker. Because more water flows through the same amount of ground coffee.
Sometimes it even happens that your coffee will taste very bitter and at the same time watery when you use the 12oz cup size. Because the ground coffee is over-extracted.
If it wasn’t the case that the cup size effect strength, it would mean you could use one K-cup indefinitely. So eventually when you pour enough water through it, it won’t extract coffee anymore.
How Do Different K-cups Affect Strength And Taste?
The Roast of The K-cup
You can buy K-cups with a variety of roasts. Usually the darker the roast the stronger the taste of the coffee you get.
- Light roast K-cup: It tastes more acidic and contains the highest amount of caffeine.
- Medium roast k-cup: Tastes well rounded.
- Dark roast K-cup: Tastes the most intense and strong but contains the least amount of caffeine.
I recommend buying a K-cup variety pack, to test out all the different roasts and brands.
The Quality of The K-Cup
The K-cup you use has a lot of influence on the taste of your coffee. Cheaper K-cups usually contain only 11 grams or 0.40 ounces of coffee grounds, while slightly more expensive K-cups contain about 13 grams or 0.46 ounces of coffee grounds.
The coffee beans used for cheaper K-cups tend to be older and poorly roasted. Cheaper K-cups also often use cheap plastic that gives off BPA when hot water is poured through them. BPA is not healthy for you and can cause your coffee to have a plastic taste.
The Age of The K-cup
Coffee is best consumed within a month after roasting. After a month, the oxidation of the coffee beans begins to have an effect on the taste. The coffee will not taste bad right away. At first, the K-cup will start to taste a little bland and lose some of the sweetness and special characteristics of the coffee.
After four to six weeks, the K-cup starts to taste like cardboard and just plain bad. From then on, it’s best to bin them or donate them to someone you don’t really like.
What To Do If You Want a Pod Or a Larger Mug of Coffee?
K-cups are designed for a 6 oz cup. If you want a larger 12 oz coffee, it is best to use two K-cups and put two 6 oz coffees in one mug. That is, if you want your coffee to still taste good and strong.
Do the same if you want a full pod, use one K-cup for every 6-8oz of coffee.
How To Make a Stronger And Better Tasting Keurig Coffee?
Get a Keurig With a “Strong” Button
Although all Keurig coffee makers basically work the same way. One of the differences between the more expensive Keurig coffee makers is that they have a strong button.
When you press the strong button, the water flows more slowly through the K-cup. This provides more coffee extraction, resulting in a more robust coffee.
Don’t Use The Largest Cup Size Buttons
If you use the largest cup size, your coffee will taste weaker because more water flows through the same amount of ground coffee.
When you use a lot of water for the same amount of ground coffee that is really only good for a small cup of coffee, the coffee can also start to taste sour.

Get a K-Duo
If you want to brew a larger cup or a whole pod instead of a 6 or 8oz coffee every day, consider purchasing a K-duo. The K-duo has the ability to use the entire basket to brew filter coffee.
Because you can use a filter, you can control the amount of coffee and the grind. This also allows you to be sure that the beans are fresh and roasted the way you want them to be.
The K-duo makes it much easier to brew a full coffee pod compared to having to use separate K-cups until you have a full pod.
Conclusion
The cup size button you use definitely affects the strength of your coffee, the larger the cup size you use the waterier the coffee will taste.
Since you are interested in how cup size affects the strength of a keurig coffee. You may also be interested in what to do if your Keurig coffee is not hot enough or if your Keurig can make hot water and what to do if your Keurig coffee tastes burnt.
I hope that this article helped you on deciding what cup size and what kind of K-cup to use for your coffee!
Thanks for reading!