10 Walmart Coffee Pods, Ranked from Worst to Best

Cheap coffee is the fuel that keeps this crazy world a’ turning, and that’s where Great Value K Cups come in. The quip writes itself, but Walmart’s house brand Great Value makes a lot of cheap, tasty products that really are a great value. No surprise: Their coffee pods are pretty damn good, too. 

We scooped up ten varieties of Great Value K Cups at our local Walmart, brewed them all in the office’s communal Keurig, and then ranked them based on overall flavor, as well as how closely the brewed coffee hews to the description on the package. There’s a little something for everyone here: regular coffee, flavored coffee, and some weird creamy cappuccinos that I was certain I would hate but actually kind of loved. Cancel that pricey K Cup subscription on Amazon, and let’s talk about the best Walmart K Cups you can buy (as well as the worst). 

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great value triple chocolate ground coffee pods review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value 100% Arabica Triple Chocolate Ground Coffee

We recently taste tested chocolate sundae-flavored Liquid Death sparkling water, and I gotta say, the coffee that emerged from this Walmart K Cup isn’t much better. It tastes like weak coffee with a spoonful of chocolate pudding stirred into it. Worse, the saccharine chocolate flavor really lingers on your palate. I actually wrote “help” in my tasting notes. Suffice it to say, this is not one of the best Walmart coffee pods.

Rating:

3.5/10

Sporks

walmart house blend coffee pods review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value 100% Arabica House Blend Ground Coffee

Great Value’s Medium House Blend K Cups brew coffee that’s described on the package as “bold and nutty.” It’s certainly bold, but not in a good way. It’s so dark and bitter that it almost tastes thick. It has a robust acidity that left me scrambling for some Tums. These Walmart coffee pods are not my cup of tea (or coffee, as it were). There are other bold flavor profiles on this list that taste better overall.

Rating:

4.5/10

Sporks

great value hazelnut cappuccino mix coffee pods review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value Hazelnut Cappuccino Mix

I’ve already revealed that I’m a fan of Walmart’s cappuccino K Cups, but the hazelnut flavor is the less tasty of the two on this list. The cappuccino emerges from the machine sweet and creamy, and it has a cloying nutty flavor and aroma that you may love if you’re a freak for hazelnut coffee creamer, but all in all this just can’t compete with the caramel cappuccino K Cups (see #4).

Rating:

5/10

Sporks

great value french vanilla coffee pods

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value French Vanilla Ground Coffee

French Vanilla Walmart coffee pods make a pleasant cup of coffee, but it’s just a touch acidic for my taste. The vanilla flavor ALMOST shaves the edges off the flavor of the coffee, but not quite. Mostly, I think the acidity sort of ruins the vanilla flavor, making it taste more like extract than actual vanilla. These Great Value K Cups aren’t bad, but they aren’t great either.

Rating:

5.5/10

Sporks

great value french roast coffee pods review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value 100% Arabica French Roast

The coffee I brewed with these Walmart K cups has the boldness of the house blend (see #9), but it’s nowhere near as acidic. It’s much more sippable, especially if you crave a bold coffee flavor that settles on your palate to kickstart your day and remind you that you’re alive.

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

walmart donut shop coffee review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value 100% Arabica Donut Shop Ground Coffee

Walmart’s Donut Shop coffee is good, but it’s missing the addictive fruitiness that you’ll find in some of the higher ranking coffees on this list. Even though it’s medium roast, it has a much deeper darker aroma than our #1 best Walmart K Cup coffee. It’s a little bit bitter and leaves the flavor of cooked beans on the back of your tongue. If you like your coffee black, see #1 on our list. But if you prefer your coffee with a healthy glug of sweet cream coffee creamer like I do, this is a coffee that will still make an impression. 

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

walmart caramel cappucino coffee pods

Walmart Coffee Pods

Great Value Caramel Cappuccino Mix

I literally wrote, “What the hell?!” in my notes when I took a sip of this Great Value Caramel Cappuccino. It’s caramel flavored, but it reads as almost butterscotch-y. It’s creamy and smells buttery—and it tastes unbelievably buttery, too. Needless to say, these are not the best Walmart coffee pods for people who like black coffee. In fact, these are pretty much only for people who stop at a truck stop on a road trip and hit up the automated cappuccino maker instead of just filling their gigantic, stained travel mug with black coffee. It smells like a candy shop when you’re on vacation in some quaint little mountain town. I drank the whole dang cup!

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

walmart caramel pecan k cups review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value Caramel Pecan Ground Coffee

Of all the Walmart K Cups we tried, these made the best flavored coffee. The Caramel Pecan flavor profile tastes really lovely without being cloying and gross. The coffee smells very sweet, but the caramel flavor is pretty subdued. It’s quite nutty, but this tastes way better than the hazelnut cappuccino. If you drink your coffee black but still want it to taste like a little something besides coffee, these Great Value K Cups are a good option. 

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

great value breakfast blend review

Walmart K Cups!

Great Value 100% Arabica Breakfast Blend Medium Ground Coffee

The coffee in these Walmart K Cups has most of the good qualities of the #1 on our list (spoiler if you haven’t read ahead: It’s the Columbian blend) with a little bit less of the fruitiness we enjoyed in the Columbian blend. This coffee is described on the box as “citrusy,” but I didn’t really pick up on that. All the same, it’s really good. If you aren’t tasting these head to head, you won’t really recognize the difference between this and the Columbian. Both are good options. Better than the rest. 

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

best walmart coffee pods

Best of the Best

Great Value 100% Arabica Colombian Ground Coffee

This is extremely palatable for cheap coffee. It’s mild but still has a bold, pleasant flavor and aroma. It has an almost third wave roastiness and pleasant fruitiness, but it tastes much less acidic than some of the other varieties. The box describes these Walmart coffee pods as “bright and fruity,” and that is exactly correct. This is the only of the plain, unflavored varieties of Walmart K Cups that I would be perfectly happy to drink black. This is much better than a lot of the more expensive K Cup coffee I’ve had, and it’s Great Value, so it’s cheap. 

Rating:

9/10

Sporks


About the Author

Gwynedd Stuart

Gwynedd Stuart, Sporked’s managing editor, is an L.A.-based writer and editor who spends way, way too much time at the grocery store. She’s never met an Old El Paso taco or mozzarella stick she didn’t like.