My husband, Austin, loves machines, electronics, and gadgets.  I usually love them, too - after he introduces them to me, explains them to me, and teaches me to use them!  This year for his birthday he asked for a Keurig Coffee Maker, an item I had heard about but never seen or used.  Keurig's coffee makers produce single serving coffee, tea, or hot chocolate - just enough for one person.  I bought Austin the Keurig B60 Special Edition Coffee Maker.  We have both been enjoying this appliance.

Description

This appliance comes in a sturdy blue, black and white box with multiple images of the coffee maker itself on it.  Also pictured are some of the K-Cups (small coffee filled cups that work with the machine); a small variety pack of 12 K-Cups are included when you purchase this machine.

The actual machine is an elegant looking machine; it's black with silver accents and blue backlighting.  There is a water reservoir on the side of the machine that lifts out so that it's easy to fill.  It's not small; for an appliance designed to make one cup of coffee at a time, it is kind of big.  It's about the same size as a typical twelve cup coffee maker. 

Use and Experience

This appliance is very easy to set up.  Basically, you take it out of the box and packaging and plug it in.  You do need to fill the water reservoir with water and make one cup of hot water that you discard (presumably to rinse/clean any dust that has accumulated in the system while it has been on a store shelf).  After this, you can make coffee with the machine.

Using the coffee maker is also very easy - so much so that my 7-year-old daughter can easily do it.  (She loves to make coffee for us now and is always asking if we want some!)  The machine needs to be plugged in, and there has to be water in the water reservoir.   Hitting the "power" button lets the appliance know that you want to make a cup of coffee; it takes about four minutes for it to display the words "ready to brew." 

From there, you take your selected K-Cup and place it in the brewer, located on the top of the machine.  You open it up by lifting the handle and put the K-Cup in the slot inside.  There is really no way to mess this up; the area is in the shape of a K-Cup!   Closing the brewer will puncture the K-Cup and allow the hot water to flow through it. 

To finish making the coffee (or other beverage), all you need to do is make sure you have a mug underneath the brewer and choose the beverage size you want; 5.25 ounce, 7.25 ounce, or 9.25 ounce.  These are designated on the display by small, medium, and large images of cups.  I like to use large coffee mugs, so I usually select the largest size.

While writing the directions out makes it seems complicated, it really very easy to use this appliance!  And I love that it makes perfect single cups of coffee or tea.  The beverages always taste great, and I never have a ton of leftover coffee that I don't know what to do with. 

The downsides of this system are twofold, I think.  First, it takes a lot of time to make more than one cup of coffee.  If I wanted to have someone over for beverages, I'd have to go through the whole process twice just so we both had our coffee.  This isn't the machine to buy if you like to drink a lot of coffee at one time or if you like to serve a lot of coffee to guests.  The other thing I don't like is that the K-Cups each use up a lot of packaging, which is wasteful.  There's no way to recycle them, so they wind up in the garbage and the in the landfill. 

I do love the variety of K-Cups that is available, and the sample pack of twelve K-Cups that comes with this machine is great.  The only one that I snagged from the package was an Earl Grey tea - I was surprised at how perfectly it made my tea without there being any leaves or teabags involved.  My husband enjoyed the Green Mountain, Donut Shop, and Timothy's K-Cups that were included.  Most of the K-Cups were caffeinated coffee, but there was at least one tea and one decaffeinated coffee included.

Even though I have reservations about the packaging and disposal of K-Cups, I have to say that I love this appliance.  It makes the perfect amount of coffee or tea for me when I want it, and I have been having fun trying the different K-Cups that are out there.  The coffee is excellent and the machine is just fun to use. 

Cost and Where to Buy

I bought our Keurig coffee maker at our local Target store; it was on sale for 20% off.  The regular retail price there is between $140.00 and $150.00.  You can also buy it online at http://www.keurig.com/ for $139.95.

Both Austin and I love the Keurig B60 Special Edition Coffee Maker.  Neither of us ever wants more than one cup of coffee or tea, and this machine makes each cup perfectly - and not more than that one cup at a time.  My one real reservation about this appliance is that the K-Cup packaging that is used with it is wasteful.  Still, this appliance earns 5 stars from my family.

Recommended: Yes