19 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
Convenience and quality at a cost
Date of Review: Aug 17, 2007
The Bottom Line: Your best bet is a quality brewer with freshly roasted/ground coffee. The B60 is an expensive #2 for those who can't/won't put in the effort, but still want better-than-average coffee.
Who is this machine for? Not me. I'm a coffee nut. Not only do I grind whole beans just before brewing, I roast my own coffee. You simply can't beat that for taste and variety.
But I understand that few others will be so obsessive; my parents, for example, settled for pre-ground cans of stale coffee made in a basic drip machine. Even if they knew it wasn't particularly good, procuring freshly roasted beans and grinding them daily was simply too much for them.
As such, I gifted them with the B60 some months ago, and I can safely say that the quality of the coffee that they drink has improved drastically--and to my relief, they agree.
Keurig is one of several companies that have created single-serve coffee makers. The idea is that individual servings of ground coffee are sealed immediately after grinding, theoretically preserving freshness (at least, compared to canned coffee). There are two general approaches to this: some companies use what look like round paper teabags. Though the exact diameter varies, there is some interchangeability among these varieties. Then there are the proprietary formats; the Keurig system belong in this category. The Keurig format, called a K-cup, looks like a larger version of those little creamer containers you get in restaurants. More importantly, the K-cup is patented, meaning you can only use products specifically licensed for the machine (in other words, with a price premium).
The B60 is simple to use. You fill up the water reservoir; unlike a standard drip machine, you don't have to measure out what you are going to use, as the device automatically dispenses the proper amount no matter how much water there is (depending on use, you may only need to fill it every few days). Once powered on, the B60 draws a quantity of water (enough for 2-3 servings, depending on cup size--see following) into a heating chamber. Wait until the LCD display states that it is ready to brew, then lift a handle, pop the K-cup into a holder (it fits easily and simply enough that you can't mess that step up), and close. Three cup-size buttons will flash. They will stop flashing if you don't do anything within thirty seconds--meaning that if you put the K-cup in right after you turn the machine on, the time period will pass before the water heats, and those buttons won't flash at all (simple solution: lift then refasten the handle).
You choose how much water you wish to dispense: 5.25, 7.25, or 9.25 ounces, the flashing buttons each corresponding to the water volume. (Note that varying the cup size will also vary the coffee strength, since you can't vary how much ground coffee you use.) Pressing the button for the cup size also starts the brewing process.
Within about 10 seconds you have your coffee. If you wish another cup, put another K-cup in place, and the device is ready to dispense almost immediately. After the second or third cup, you'll hear a water pump hum, meaning the B60 is pulling in and heating another batch of water, which translates into a (quite short) delay before you can make more. Cleanup is simple: take out the K-cup and toss it.
How's the coffee? Pretty good. I prefer more body than the B60 can dispense, even at its smallest cup size, but some people might prefer it this way. It's a light, sweet brew--good quality if you like that profile. One advantage to this system if that if one coffee drinker likes light roasts, and another likes dark, and a third likes flavored coffees, all three can have what they wish (since you don't make a pot at a time).
There are a startling variety of K-cups available, 150 at the time of this writing (including tea and cocoa in that figure). That number is divided up among 9 coffee labels, 5 tea companies, and two cocoa companies (a bit of a cheat: the Ghirardelli cocoa is in packets, and you just use the B60 to dispense hot water into a mug filled with the powder). There are more choices for the Keurig than for any other single-serve coffee maker.
The caveats are minor. Keurig at least implicitly intends for you to leave the machine on all the time, minimizing the time delay for the machine to be ready (the boiler keeps the water hot). Does keeping the water hot all the time effect its taste (overheating water removes dissolved air, making it taste flat)? I don't know--not wanting to waste so much power, my parents turn theirs off most of the day and night, except when needed. This leads to the caveat: if you turn the machine off while the pump is filling the heating chamber, the first cup you brew will be short, as the machine doesn't seem to recognize that it doesn't have enough water. The solution is simple: the pump isn't very loud, but you can hear it easily; when you do, don't turn off the machine.
The device seems to require more frequent descaling than most people are used to: every 3 to 6 months, depending on water hardness (the manual says six, but a Keurig rep told me it might need to be done more frequently).
The B60 has some other controls. You can program it to turn off automatically after a set period of time, or to turn on at a specific time. You can adjust the brewing temperature (but only down from the default of 192 degrees F). That's basically it.
The negatives.
Whew, the K-cups aren't cheap. A typical homegoods chain sells them for $10 for a pack of eighteen--over half a dollar a cup. You can get them straight from Keurig for $13.95 for a 24 pack (why is the pack size different? I have no idea). That's about the same price per cup, but if you buy four or more, you get free shipping and a 10% discount (which becomes 15% when you've purchased a total of 500 cups, or about 20 boxes). That 10% brings it down to about 50 cents per cup (from 56 or so). My parents average over five cups a day between the two of them; I got a sinking feeling when I realized I'd upped their coffee costs to almost $20/week, easily quadrupling it from their canned coffees. Out of guilt, I send them shipments on a regular basis. If you buy Keurig's brewers, you're committed to Keurig-licensed cups, which demand a premium. Actually, you can buy a adapter that you fill with your own coffee, but that hardly seems to be the point of this device; it still makes one cup at a time, so you have to fill, brew, clean out, and fill again to make two cups--might as well use an auto-drip machine.
If you like stronger coffee, you will either have to settle for a smaller cup, or use two K-cups in succession for one mug at that smallest volume setting.
Oh, and the waste! Little plastic cups going into the garbage with every mug. Had I thought of that in advance, I might not have made the purchase. Keurig claims to be investigating more environmentally-friendly options.
Are the tradeoffs worth it? Your alternatives are to spend some time and effort for fresh coffee (find a local roaster, get a good grinder) or to drink that horrid canned stuff.
