Review: Keurig Releases All-New K-Cup Line With Plenty Of Strong Options

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According to data collected by the National Coffee Association in early 2025, two-thirds of American adults drink coffee every day. Given that roughly 78% of the country's population is over 18, that means that over 170 million people consume coffee each day in the U.S. If that sounds like a lot of caffeine, consider that the average coffee drinker doesn't stop at a single cup, instead opting for an average of three per day. Now that's a lot of Joe.

The most popular coffee shops, including franchises like Starbucks and Dunkin', satisfy a lot of coffee-lovers' cravings, and even that questionable brew in the break room may get a nod now and then. But plenty of people still like to make their own cup at home, which is where Keurig shines. The history of Keurig goes back more than 30 years, when the single-serving coffee company started in offices before moving into the at-home market. Today, you can purchase popular K-Cups — the pods for Keurig machines — in a wide variety of flavors from nearly every brand you can think of. Now, for the first time, Keurig is not only crafting the brewers, but the coffee itself.

The Keurig Coffee Collective is the brand's first foray into precious ground beans, and to celebrate, Keurig sent me four of the new varieties to sample. In a market saturated with options, does Keurig's coffee stand up to the rest, or should the brand stick to crafting the hardware? Read on to find out.

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Keurig shipped me a variety pack of its new coffee pods, which featured four different roasts. The good folks at Keurig were also kind enough to send along a new, shiny, clean Keurig machine, as my old coffee brewer had lived a good life but seen better days. 

Before any tasting, I photographed the K-Cups. Then I got down to business, brewing a single 10-ounce cup of each roast. After each brew, I snapped some pictures and tasted the coffee while it was hot, evaluating it primarily on taste, depth of flavor, and aroma. Beyond supplying the coffee and brewer, Keurig did not compensate Mashed or me for this review.

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The Keurig Coffee Collective collection is comprised of five unique roasts: Bold Beats Medium-Dark Roast, Whole Hearted Dark Roast, Global Trek Medium Roast, Bright Idea Light Roast, and Warm Hug Caramel Spice Roast. Each individual roast was curated by one of Keurig's in-house experts, whose specialties range from sustainability to sensory science.

As of the time of writing, these K-Cups are available online at Amazon and also on Keurig's website. If you opt to shop the Keurig Coffee Collective on Amazon, you'll find a slightly better price: a 20-pack comes in at just under $18 there, while Keurig's site lists the same packs for $18.49. Both sites offer a subscription discount, but the four-flavor variety pack is only available directly from Keurig. You can expect to see them pop up on shelves nationwide at retailers like Food Lion, Kroger, Hy-Vee, HEB, Weis, Meijer, Walmart, and Publix soon, with a Target launch coming in the spring of 2026. In-store pricing has yet to be determined and will likely vary by retailer.

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All food and drink reviews are subjective. But coffee, in particular, is a realm wherein the wide variety of options in both roast and flavoring creates wide gaps in taste and preference. In the interest of transparency, I am not a daily coffee drinker. I start my day with a mug of green tea, but I enjoy coffee on the weekends, special occasions, and honestly anytime someone hands me a mug. I like the stuff; I just have a low caffeine tolerance, so green tea is a little more my speed.

The real difference between light, medium, and dark roast coffee is less about the amount of caffeine, and more about how it's measured — and dark roast generally has a deeper, richer flavor. Whole Hearted is no exception; its strong, earthy smell was the first thing I noticed. That earthiness carries over to the flavor, in which I found individual notes a bit tough to pick out. 

On Amazon, Keurig's Whole Hearted Dark Roast is described as "an artfully ground complex blend including beans sourced from a Colombian farming community with roasty, smooth flavor and notes of dark chocolate." I can get a hint of the sweet bitterness of dark chocolate at the end, but beyond that, this is coffee with a capital C. If you like your coffee to stand alone with no frills or additional flavors, this might be the roast for you, but I prefer something with a little more character.

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Swinging the pendulum almost entirely in the opposite direction, we get the Global Trek Medium Roast. Unfortunately, I wasn't given the Bright Idea Light Roast for tasting, so a medium roast is the day to Whole Hearted's dark-roast night. The differences in the roast spectrum come from the temperatures the beans are roasted at: light between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit, medium between 400 and 430 degrees, and dark between 430 and 450 degrees. The differences in the temperature spectrum bring out unique flavors in the beans, making each roast distinct.

Global Trek is undoubtedly more flavorful than Whole Hearted, but whether or not that's a good thing is up to you. I caught fruity notes in both the flavor and aroma, along with a hint of nuttiness. I found this roast to be smoother than its darker counterpart, with a touch less acidity on the back end. 

The brand calls the Keurig Coffee Collective Global Trek Medium Roast "a tribute to some of the most memorable flavor notes from three global regions, including Colombian caramel, Ethiopian fruit, and lingering Sumatran chocolate," which to me reads as a lot of unique flavors packed into a single cup. While medium roasts are the most popular among coffee drinkers, I found this one a bit overstuffed. It's not as earthy or bold as the dark roast, which I appreciated, but it might be trying to do a little bit too much.

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I was clearly looking for a middle ground here, and had high hopes that the Bold Beats Medium-Dark Roast might just be the sweet spot. As it was brewing, this roast reminded me of a coffee shop. Its aroma is rich without being earthy. It's the kind of coffee you want to curl up with on a cold day and hold below your nose for a bit before taking a sip.

The taste, too, offers a lovely balance between the dark and medium roasts. With the body of the medium-dark roast comes more distinct flavors, including a light caramel sweetness at the end. Unlike for the other roasts, the company is brief in its description of Bold Beats Medium-Dark Roast by Keurig Coffee Collective on Amazon: "A rich medley of flavors with notes of dried fruit and caramel." Simplicity is the beauty behind this roast, and of the four I sampled, this is easily the most standard option available.

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I like sweet coffee. The purists will say that's a sign that I don't truly appreciate the drink, and maybe they're right, but I also find IPAs terribly bitter, and I know for a fact that I love beer. Sweet coffee is good, but if it's not your jam, the other roasts on this list are solid choices. That said, Warm Hug is a sweet coffee that only dips a toe into the flavor rather than going all-in on the dessert table.

I actually found the smell of the brew to be much sweeter than the final product. A lovely caramel aroma rose from the steam, but the flavor itself is far more muted. The caramel notes hit first, followed by a nice, light spice that balances out the sweetness. The aftertaste shifts back to the sweeter end of the spectrum, but it's still coffee first, caramel second. 

I've sampled some fun and funky coffee creamers previously, and those were typically flavored to mask the taste of coffee more than accentuate it. With Warm Hug, Keurig strikes a nice balance between the sweetness that offsets some of the beverage's natural bitterness, and the added spiced element that keeps everything grounded. (Hey, look, a coffee pun.) Caramel coffee may not be your favorite, but this is one worth trying.

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The Keurig Coffee Collective product line is the final piece in Keurig's coffee-dominance puzzle. With roasts that speak to every palate, the variety of options is sure to satisfy all coffee fans. While I didn't sample the light roast, I'd confidently recommend the four-flavor variety pack to anyone looking to try a new morning brew. From the rich, earthy notes of the Whole Hearted Dark Roast to the sweet and spicy elements of the Warm Hug Caramel Spice Roast, you could turn each day into a new coffee experience by having all four varieties on hand. 

If you're looking to stick to a single roast, though, I would suggest the Bold Beats Medium-Dark Roast. It strikes the most even balance, thanks to a full body that features a few distinct flavor profiles. In all, there's something for everyone, making the Keurig Coffee Collective collection a win for K-Cup enthusiasts.