What is the Tayst Medium & Magnificent?
The middle of Tayst's three everyday blends: a medium roast with soft fruity mocha notes and a lighter body, in the same fully certified compostable pod.
This is the one to start with. Tayst pods cost $1.04 whichever blend you pick and whichever box you buy, so a first purchase is really a test of whether the coffee and the composting arrangement suit you — and a medium roast is the least polarising way to run that test.
Tayst describe it as bright and easy to drink, the mocha note softer than the cocoa finish on Bold & Brazen. Boxes are 40, 50 or 60 pods at $41.65, $52.06 and $62.47.
What is in the capsule
A medium-roast blend from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, with a light balanced body rather than a heavy one.
The Rainforest Alliance mark applies to the beans independently of the BPI certification on the pod, so both halves of Tayst's sustainability claim are audited by somebody other than Tayst. That is worth more than it sounds: most pod brands certify one and describe the other.
⚠ As across the range, the origins and the dose are unpublished, which leaves this page unable to give a price per kilo.
Which machines does it fit?
Keurig K-Cup brewers. Tayst make the pod, not the machine, and say so.
These are K-Cup compatible rather than Keurig-made, which in practice means any brewer that takes a standard K-Cup: the K-Classic, K-Mini, K-Duo, K-Elite and K-Supreme, plus the K-Cup compatible machines from Cuisinart, Mr. Coffee and Breville. Tayst sell their own compatible brewers too, which is a convenience rather than a requirement.
⚠ Not to be confused with their Nespresso line. Tayst also make espresso capsules for Nespresso OriginalLine machines — Moriondo, Pavoni and Achille Decaf — at $0.82 a cup. Those are a different capsule for a different machine and will not fit a Keurig.
What “compostable” actually means here
The certification is real and unusually complete. The catch is not the pod, it is what you can do with it once it is used.
Tayst pods are BPI Certified Compostable, built on PurPod100, and the certification covers the pod, the lid, the ring and the mesh rather than one component with the rest left unsaid. That is the distinction that matters whenever a package says biodegradable: a pod whose ring is still plastic is a plastic pod with a compostable lid.
⚠ It is commercially compostable, not home compostable, and Tayst say plainly that facilities may not exist where you live. That is the honest half of the pitch and the half you have to act on. Put one of these in a garden heap and it will not break down on the timetable the certification describes; put it in landfill and the certification buys nothing at all.
Tayst do sell a way round it. The Down To Earth return kit is $20 and posts used pods back to them for composting — the same idea as Nespresso's mail-back aluminium scheme, pointed at a different material. It is worth counting into the price, because without either a commercial kerbside collection or that kit, the certification describes a facility you cannot reach.
Tayst vs San Francisco Bay OneCUP
The comparison that decides this one. Both are BPI certified compostable K-Cups. San Francisco Bay's OneCUP is $0.64 a pod and Tayst is $1.04 — 63% more for the same certification in the same format.
They are not the same product, and the differences are real rather than marketing. OneCUP is a single origin — 100% Colombian, medium roast, cherry and citrus over a long cocoa finish — and comes 80 to a box. Tayst is a blend, in ten varieties including a decaf and a half-caff, and comes 40 to a box. If you want one specific origin repeatedly, San Francisco Bay is both cheaper and more specific about what is in it.
Tayst answer on two things. The Rainforest Alliance certification sits on the beans as well as the BPI certification on the pod, so both halves of the claim are audited by somebody other than the seller. And the Down To Earth return kit gives you a route to composting the pod when your council will not, which is the gap that makes most compostable pods theoretical.
⚠ Neither company publishes a dose, so neither pod can be priced per kilo. The per-pod figures above are the honest limit of what the two of them let you work out.
Is it worth it?
$1.04 a cup — and the same $1.04 whether you buy 40, 50 or 60. There is no bulk discount here, which is unusual and worth knowing before you size the order.
The arithmetic is flat: 40 cups is $41.65, 50 is $52.06 and 60 is $62.47, and all three divide to $1.041. Buying the biggest box saves nothing per pod, so buy the smallest one first and find out whether you like the coffee. The only real discount sits on the wholesale side, where a case of 240 is $168, or $0.70 a pod.
Against the rest of the pod shelf that lands mid-table rather than at either end. It undercuts Nespresso's Vertuo Melozio at $1.40 a capsule, and sits well above a supermarket K-Cup.
⚠ One number is missing, and not by accident. Tayst do not publish how much coffee is in a pod, so the price per kilo — the figure this site puts on every other coffee — cannot be worked out for these. A 40-cup box at $41.65 is decent value or poor value depending on whether the pod holds 9g or 13g, and Tayst are the only people who know.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
The default Tayst, and the sensible first box.
Buy it if: you want a middle-of-the-road pod coffee that is not weak; you are testing whether the compostable pod works with your council or the return kit before committing; or you are buying for a household where a dark roast would not get finished.
Do not buy it if: you want the strongest cup in the range, which is Bold & Brazen; you need decaf, which is Defiantly Decaf; or your used pods have nowhere to go but landfill, in which case you are paying for a certification you cannot use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Tayst pod should I try first?
This one. Every Tayst pod costs the same $1.04, so there is no price penalty for starting in the middle of the range, and a medium roast tells you more about the coffee than either extreme does. Move to Bold & Brazen if it reads thin.
Is Medium & Magnificent flavoured?
No. The mocha is a tasting note in the coffee rather than an added flavouring. Tayst do sell four flavoured pods — vanilla, hazelnut, mocha and a seasonal pumpkin — and those are separate products.
How many cups does a box make?
One per pod, so 40, 50 or 60 depending on the box. At $1.04 a pod, a two-cup-a-day habit is about $63 a month.
Do Tayst pods fit Nespresso machines?
Not these. Medium & Magnificent is a K-Cup for Keurig brewers. Tayst make a separate line of espresso capsules for Nespresso OriginalLine machines — Moriondo, Pavoni and Achille Decaf — at $0.82 a cup, which will not fit a Keurig.
Are Tayst pods organic?
Tayst publish Rainforest Alliance certification on the beans and BPI compostability on the pod, and do not claim USDA Organic. Rainforest Alliance audits farm and community practice; it is not the same standard as organic and should not be read as it.
