With single-serve coffeemakers growing in popularity, Consumer Reports looked at some alternatives to traditional coffee pods that claim to cut costs and let you use your own coffee.

Using K-Cups to brew one cup of coffee per day for a year would cost someone about $220 to $275, so the publication wanted to look for some more cost-effective alternatives.

Testers also looked at convenience, brew time and taste.

Simple Cups, which claims to cost “a fraction of what a K-Cup will cost”, was the first alternative to be tested. A package of 50 disposable cups, filters, and lids is $14. When you add the price of coffee, it’s still less than K-Cups, at about $185 a year. But testers found that Simple Cups were difficult to close and brew time was a little longer than that of the traditional K-Cup.

The reusable EZ-Cup can be purchased for $13, plus about $8 for 50 of its biodegradable filters. It’s about $135 a year when you include the coffee. But the EZ-Cup wasn’t much easier to use than the Simple Cups.

The My K-Cup, Keurig’s K-Cup adapter, was the clear winner. Testers found it was the easiest to use. And once you purchase the reusable My K-Cup for $18, your only expense is coffee, for a total of about $80 a year.

Another plus with Keurig’s My K-Cups is they are a lot easier on the environment than the original K-Cup and other pods.

If all of this has you longing for a single-serve coffee machine that works with My K-Cups, consider the Cuisinart SS-300 Compact Single Serve at around $140. In Consumer Report’ tests it delivered a speedy first cup of coffee and is very easy to use.