Keurig Announces New Plastic-Free K-Cups Are Coming — Here's What You Need to Know

Mar. 15, 2025

Keurig’s plastic-free K-Rounds are being tested in fall 2024.Photo:Keurig

Keurig

Keurigwants to make at-home coffee more sustainable.

On Wednesday, the coffee company revealed its latest innovation: plastic and aluminum-free coffee pods. But they aren’t available to consumers quite yet.

Keurig“expects” K-Rounds to be certified compostable, but that has not been confirmed yet.

Keurig’s Chief Supply Chain Officer Roger Johnson said they “went back to basics” when developing the K-Rounds. “We went and watched how a barista would make the finest coffee,” he explained in a video announcing the new products.

Keurig Alta Brewer will allow for the plastic-free K cups, called K-Rounds.Keurig

Keurig’s Director of Innovation, Neha Mallik, continued, “Baristas tap down the coffee before they pull an espresso shot and we thought, ‘What if we took that a little further?’ and actually compacted the coffee enough to have it hold itself together so that you don’t need that plastic cup anymore.”

The brand says the K-Rounds will come in several varieties so consumers can make a single and double espresso shot, drip coffee and iced coffee.

The plastic-free pods are only compatible with a specificcoffee machinecalled the Keurig Alta, which was also announced on March 13. Each of the different sized pods will have a unique code that the Keurig Alta brewer will register when placed inside. This will allow the machine to automatically adjust to the pressure and flow-rate to properly brew the specific type of coffee (like higher pressure for espresso versus lower pressure for drip).

The Keurig Alta will still be compatible with traditional K-Cups, too.

The K-Rounds and Keurig Alta are not available for purchase yet but interested fans cansign upto participate in beta testing, tentatively planned for this fall.

Keurig plans to use the feedback from consumers to make the products available for broader sales. Neither the date for widespread availability nor the number of testers has been specified, a source confirmed with PEOPLE.

source: people.com