The best coffee and espresso pods you can buy

The Original Donut Shop's Extra Bold Medium Roast K-Cups are not only among the most affordable single-use K-Cup pods but the clear favorite of Keurig users.

Okay, so, once again, the coffee you like or are willing to drink (as the case may be) is highly subjective. From Green Mountain to Dunkin' Donuts, any number of brands make K-Cups filled with a variety of blends from their own grounds.

But one medium roast seems to be the most popular of all, and while I'm not a regular coffee drinker, I found that The Original Donut Shop's Extra Bold Medium Roast (made by Keurig Green Mountain) was the least offensive to my palate. It's a fuller-bodied medium roast that should appease most coffee drinkers. It's not overly bitter, nor is it overwhelmingly rich, but it's not flavorless either. It should also be mentioned that "Extra Bold" simply means that these cups are packed with more coffee than the usual K-Cup, which is another plus unless you're highly sensitive to caffeine.

More importantly, though: More than 6,000 reviews on Amazon average out to 4.4 stars. Faveable also found it to be the crowd favorite.

Pros: Less expensive than many other brands

Cons: Apart from being single-use

Buy The Original Donut Shop Single-Serve Keurig K-Cup starting at $34.56 Shop all of The Donut Shop's Keurig-compatible K-Cups on Amazon Shop all single-use K-Cups on Amazon

Some of Bestpresso's blends are better than Nespresso's, in our humble opinion. And, at about $0.30 cents per pod, they're also the most affordable ones we've found (and enjoyed).

When we first received a boxful of Bestpresso's pods, we were skeptical, if not concerned about what to do with this massive pile of espresso pods we thought we'd never consume. Further, after trying a couple of flavors, I'd sworn the whole brand off and began contemplating where to toss them.

But then, some weeks later, I tried a few other flavors, and to my surprise, I was delightfully surprised by one, and then another. We all have different tastes, and it's hard to pin down any single brew, blend, or flavor for all, but Bestpresso was able to delight my picky palate, which is no small feat. And with twelve different flavors, there's sure to be one (or two or three) you'll enjoy.

Bestpresso's pods are not terribly different in design from Nespresso's own branded pods, and you get a comparable amount of crema and richness. I like the Brazil blend, but the best option for your first go might be a variety pack to suss out which you prefer.

Pros: Affordable, 12 different flavors

Cons: Some flavors may border on offensive

Buy a 120-pod Bestpresso Espresso Variety Pack on Amazon for $39.99 Shop Bestpresso on Amazon

IParts Plus More Coffee's K-Cups are simple little contraptions that allow you to brew your favorite coffee in a Keurig machine with barely any more effort than popping in a single-use cup.

Reusable K-Cups, unlike espresso pods, are much less finicky. Because coffee doesn't require pressure to brew, a loosely-filled mesh pod will do the trick. You could probably make one yourself without much hassle, but then IParts Plus More Coffee has four-packs on offer for about $10, which is worth saving your time fiddling with wire and pliers on a Sunday afternoon.

This is the answer for just about any coffee-lover who wants a pod machine. You're not beholden to whichever companies produce Keurig-machine-specific pods for their own coffee. And while packing espresso pods for Nespresso machines is a meticulous exercise, you can just pile a couple of spoons-full of coarse grounds into these reusable K-Cups without much attention because their only job is to facilitate steeping.

Insider Picks editor Sally Kaplan has been using IParts Plus More Coffee's reusable K-Cups daily for about six months without a hitch, and more than 5,000 Amazon reviews have averaged out to a respectable 4.1 stars.

The beauty of these contraptions is their simplicity — not a whole lot can go wrong with them — and pods, whether they're espresso or coffee, are not cheap. If you're going to go the Keurig machine route, this is the best K-Cup purchase you will make.

Pros: Simple, affordable

Cons: Thin, cheap plastic (but if you're gentle with them, they should be fine)

Buy a four-pack of IParts Plus More Coffee's reusable K-Cups from Amazon for $9.95

At $0.70 per capsule (in bulk), Nespresso's OriginalLine pods come in plenty of different roasts and flavors that can be brewed several different ways, offering the best variety of almost any pod system we've tried.

Single-use pods are limiting no matter how you look at them; you're stuck with whatever flavors or blends they have on offer, and whatever you choose has likely been sitting in warehouses far too long to be considered fresh.

Nespresso's OriginalLine pods, though, come in more than 20 flavors, and are still enjoyable, for what they are. We also like that they can either be brewed as ristretto (~25ml), espresso (~40ml), or lungo (~110ml), and Nespresso has specific details on which ones they recommend for which brewing methods.

Being a strict espresso enthusiast, I find the Arpeggio and Ristretto flavors to be the best (my former colleagues at Wirecutter agree for those that like a rich, thick espresso), but the kind of coffee you like is highly subjective, so my advice is to order a variety pack and find out which you prefer, and go from there.

Amazon has more than 2,400 reviews averaging out to 4.2 stars, with over 80% falling above four stars. The only complaints seemed to come from people who received smashed up pods, or didn't find the coffee to be a sufficient substitute for fresh stuff. Most, however, were overwhelmingly positive, and one reviewer went so far as to praise Nespresso pods with a bonafide ode: "...But your own capsules are what made me buy a [N]espresso machine in the first place, and it turns out that nothing else comes close. You're too smooth, too rich, too perfect for me to give up. I just can't quit you. I'm done trying out every other brand on the market. From now on, it's just you and me."

All of the brands we recommend have their own recycling plan in place, but they vary slightly. Here's Nespresso's.

Pros: Large variety, designed for different brew styles, most compatible and convenient

Cons: Not cheap, no comparison to fresh coffee

Buy a 50-pod variety pack of Nespresso OriginalLine pods from Amazon for $35 Buy a 50-pod variety pack of Decaffeinated Nespresso OriginalLine pods from Amazon for $35.05 Shop all Nespresso OriginalLine pods on Amazon