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Few brands are as synonymous with at-home, single-serve coffee as Keurig. But in more than 30 years on the market, Keurig has never released a pod containing its own brand of coffee.
The home brewing system used by millions of consumers is finally getting into coffee with the recent launch of Keurig Coffee Collective, a premium line aimed at attracting more shoppers to the brand and catering to the public’s rapidly growing interest in premium beers.
“Switching from coffee makers to coffee felt like a very natural evolution,” Christine van den Broeck, vice president of Keurig brand marketing for Keurig Dr Pepper, said in an interview. “But we absolutely want consumers to understand that this is not just coffee.”
For years, the beverage giant delayed the launch of its Keurig coffee brand. The company first wanted to make sure the Keurig name “had the standing and the brand power” to make its coffee products successful, van den Broeck said.
Management also wanted the launch to be unique and different enough to stand out in the market and “bring the right furniture into our system.” It took about two years for the coffee to go from concept to market after Keurig decided to move forward, van den Broeck said.
Keurig owns, licenses or partners with more than 80 coffee brands on its platform, including Dunkin’, Folgers, Cinnabon, McCafé and Starbucks.
Keurig was founded in 1992 when two engineers approached then-Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to develop a single-cup brewing system.
Now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, the coffee maker has grown into a multibillion-dollar business, accounting for about 40% of Keurig Dr Pepper’s net sales. Approximately 40 million Americans own Keurig breweries, brewing millions of cups every day, according to the company.
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However, as industry competition has intensified in recent years, this division has been struggling.
Keurig sales in 2025 were largely unchanged from $4 billion in 2024 as better pricing offset declines in volume and product mix. Despite this, the segment’s revenue was $230 million lower than in 2019. Keurig Dr Pepper announced in August that it would acquire JDE Peet’s for $18 billion in a bid to revitalize its struggling coffee business.
In creating differentiated, premium ground coffee, the Keurig Coffee Collective brand first focused on the product itself. We worked with our in-house coffee experts, including coffee chemists and sensory scientists, to create five blends. The coffee Keurig uses is ground at a higher density to provide 30% more product in each pod compared to a typical K-Cup, creating a richer flavor profile.
Keurig has also applied premiumization to its packaging. The golden box that holds the pods touts the technology that allows for higher densities, displays the signature of the individual who created the flavor, and outlines notes that highlight the flavor of the product. Each individual K-Cup pod is colored gold to further enhance the luxurious feel.
“This package alone is very disruptive to the single-serving coffee ship, where everything else seems to be equal,” van den Broeck said. “We put these premium elements into our packaging to help consumers understand what’s different when they encounter our coffee, especially in retail stores.”
Keurig launched ‘Keurig Coffee Collective’ on its website last November and began shipping to retail stores a month later. Van den Broeck said the company was seeing “excellent results” early and expected the momentum to continue.
“We knew consumers wanted this coffee, and now that it is on the market, we have been proven right,” she added.
Keurig Coffee Collective plans to release more flavors, including seasonal or “culturally relevant” limited-time offerings. Van den Broeck said that once the collection becomes more established in the market, Keurig may choose to explore other opportunities for the brand.
Keurig Dr Pepper is optimistic that the new line will “further enhance the brand’s coffee credentials” and entice more consumers to purchase Keurig brewers, deepening the brand’s home penetration.
The Keurig stake is “incredibly valuable” and has proven to be one of the “biggest strategic” advantages for the company in launching its own coffee line, van den Broeck said.
“Bringing consumers from Keurig, the coffee maker, to Keurig, the coffee master, wouldn’t be possible without the strength and equity of the brand, giving us the power to compete not only in new categories but also in the premium segment,” she said. “This was a move we wanted to make, but we also knew we had to do it with the right products at the right time.”
