While visiting my mother the week of Thanksgiving I had my first experience with a Keurig coffee maker.  I really liked the ease of use of the machine and not having to make a pot of coffee each morning.  They sent us one as an early Christmas present, and I have been using it for over a week.  For the most part, I like the Keurig.  We have the B70 Platinum model, which has a couple of extra bells and whistles (some of which can also be purchased separately for the machines that don’t have them).  The extra bells and whistles are part of the reason I like it.  I don’t think I would be as pleased without them.

The Keurig unit is pretty easy to set up right out of the box.  It has an external water reservoir which needs to be rinsed before using.  The external tank is one advantage of the Keurig over a conventional coffee put.  It is much easier to clean it since it can be removed.  Before the first use, you have to run a brew cycle without a portion pack or “K-cup”.  This purges and cleans the system and after that it’s ready to be used. 

To make coffee, you first fill the tank up with water and set in the base of the unit on the left side.  You then turn on the machine by pressing a butting on the back, lower right side of the unit.  It takes approximately four minutes for the water to heat up for the first cup.  The LCD display will read “Not Ready” until hot and then “Ready to Brew” when it is hot.  You do not have to wait for the water to heat up again for subsequent cups.  The machine is also programmable, so if you wake up at the same time each morning, you can have your coffee ready.  The next step is to put a mug under the where the K-cup goes.  There is a removable drip tray which will catch any splash over (we haven’t had any yet).  The drip tray can be removed to accommodate larger travel mugs.  Next, you put the K-cup in the designated spot above the mug, push the lever down, select one of four sizes, and press brew.  Within 10-20 seconds, you will have a fresh cup or mug of coffee.

Now that the basic use of the machine is covered, I’ll go over our experiences with the machine and what we like about it and what we don’t like about it.  First, my wife was recently diagnosed as being very sensitive to caffeine.  She had been drinking instant decaf for a while since she still likes the taste of coffee, but instant coffee does not taste very good.  With the K-cup, she can easily make a cup or mug of fresh brewed decaf.  Since I drink more coffee than her, I would use our conventional coffee maker to make my coffee in the morning.  She is happy that she can drink fresh brewed coffee. 

You can select five sizes on our Keurig: 3.25, 5.25, 7.25, 9.25, or 11.25 ounces.  Obviously, the larger the size, the weaker the coffee is going to be since the cups are portioned.  I prefer my coffee strong, and as such, I find the 11.25 size to come out a little weak with most varieties.  However, they do make several varieties of “Extra Bold” cups which are for people like me who like their coffee strong.  Our unit also came with a special reusable filter and pod for use with your own coffee.  This is one of the bells and whistles that was part of the platinum package.  I saw the exact same thing at Target last night to purchase separately and it was almost $20.  You can fill this filter and pod with your own coffee and place where the K-cup would normally go.  I love this for use with Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.  It also makes my use of coffee more efficient since it is expensive and takes quite a bit to make a pot in a regular coffee maker – even for a couple of cups.  The Dunkin Donuts coffee is definitely strong enough. 

Another extra feature that our machine has is the water reservoir has a water filter in it.  Of course, the filter itself has to be replaced every 2-3 months.  It works better for us though because I previously used filtered water from our 2.5 gallon Brita water pitcher to make coffee.  Now I don’t have to refill that as often, and I can fill the water tank in the Keurig directly from the sink.  The Keurig also saves water overall as it uses a lot less for making coffee and also cleaning.  With the coffee pot, I would have to rinse the pot out each morning and wash it every couple of days which wastes a lot of water (and anyone who has read my washing machine review knows my water bill is very high where I live).  Since the coffee is brewed to directly into your mug, there is no pot to clean.  The machine does have to be cleaned and descaled every month or so, but that is no different than a regular coffee pot.  The process appears to be simple, although I have yet to do it. 

Our machine also has a water button on it, so if you need hot water for anything like oatmeal, tea, etc., it can be used.  This appears to only be on the platinum edition as the regular B70 does not have it.  The machine also has an automatic shutoff you can set for  1, 2, 3, 4 hours or more if it is left on.  I like this feature as it should be shut off when done using it, but I don’t always remember to do that. 

Ok, now it’s time for the coffee, K-cups, what you can make, and how much they cost.  Our machine came with several types of K-cups, including different varieties of coffee and tea, and even some hot cider and hot chocolate cups.  Most of the official K-cups and flavors are sourced by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, however, we also had some Newman’s Own organic and extra bold that came with it.  All of the coffee we have had has been of high quality.  A couple of days after receiving the machine, there was a deal on a Groupon clone site for a website called Coffee Kings that sells K-cups and accessories.  We ordered a lot of K-cups from there as they also had free shipping on over $60 – even pre-discounted.  I ordered a box of Donut House which is supposed to taste like Dunkin Donuts, but it’s just not the same – and not as strong.  Dunkin Donuts does make K-cups, however they only sell them in their stores so they are expensive.  I haven’t purchase any K-cups at regular price, but even discounted, they range from 25 to 50 cents apiece, and that may be a bit much for some people.  However, coffee overall is expensive right now, and instant decaf is very expensive.  There are always online deals and coupons, and the cups can also be purchased at places like Sam’s Club (though they won’t have much of a variety).  When registering your Keurig, they will also give you a code for buy two boxes get two boxes free.  Besides the coffee cups, they also have different tea K-cups if you like to drink tea.  Also, you can easily make iced beverages with the machine.  Just put ice in a mug and make the cup as normal (allowing enough room for the ice and finished product).  I suggest doing what Dunkin Donuts does with their iced beverages and that is to double brew them since the ice waters them down.  Just make two cups over ice in a large enough mug.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Keurig machine.  Despite the potentially high prices of the K-cups and the coffee maybe not always being as strong as I’d like, it is very easy to use and makes great tasting coffee.  The efficiency of the water use negates some of the costs of the cups for us.  I also like the water filter in the reservoir and really like still being able to use my own coffee, especially since DD K-cups are so pricey.  I would definitely recommend a Keurig machine if you are considering it, but this is one product where if you are going to get it, get it with all of the options. 

Recommended: Yes