Keurig B-70 B70 Platinum Single-Cup Home Brewing System
by Keurig
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Keurig B-70 B70 Platinum Single-Cup Home Brewing System
Customer Review: Keurig B70 could be the coolest invention ever made!!
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife is the only coffee drinker in the house (as of the time of this writing). Every morning I would get up, empty the dishwasher to gain access to the coffee maker parts, fill it with water, put the water in the coffee maker, get out the Dunkin Donuts bag, get the little basket filter, put it in the basket, load the basket onto the coffee maker (sometimes spilling the coffee in my hazy morning state, sometimes ending up with grinds on the wrong side of the basket for the same reason), push the button and wait 5 minutes for the entire pot to brew, pour a single cup, all the while the coffee sits there for 20 minutes while my wife drinks it. She would then drink the final cup of "skunked" coffee (as she puts it). After all of this is done, take the basket, empty the grindings, empty the glass coffee thing and put them in the dishwasher. not really much chance of having a cup anytime during the day, since it would involve hand washing the coffee maker stuff or running the dishwasher.
Fast forward to Christmas day 2007. Wife opens box with Keurig coffee maker, opens up boxes of Green Mountain Hazelnut, Celestial Sleepy time tee, the MyCup holder (for the Dunkin Donuts that is left over and for using for other grinds down the road). Husband (me) plugs unit in, fills reservoir for the initial priming, runs a "cleansing" cycle as stated in the instructions. Husband totally expecting noise similar to a 747 taking off at Logan, but it pleasantly surprised at how quiet this unit actually is. Husband refills reservoir and, in the dark of the Christmas morn', admires the cool blue coloring the entire kitchen has taken from the lights on the Keurig. Husband slips that initial K-cup of Green Mountain coffee Hazelnut in the holder, closes the handle, puts the size to the 9.25 spot on the screen and presses the "BREW" button. Machine primes for 5 seconds, then the coffee maker starts spewing the coffee in a nice stream into the cup, 30 seconds later the process is over and the unit reprimes itself for the next cup. I, like a good husband should, remove the "spent" K-cup from the unit and place it in the trash. No grinds in the cup, on the counter, on the floor, on the ceiling. No basket to empty, coffee thing to wash, etc. Wife asks husband (yes, I am trained well) for a second cup of FRESH brew. Wife exclaims how much she likes the flavor of her new favorite Hazelnut coffee (sorry Dunkin Donuts, we will probably still use the drive-thru at your stores while traveling). Husband makes second cup in 45 seconds, just as fresh as the first one. Husband then programs the unit in a matter of two minutes with the time, the time for the unit to turn on (5:00am) and the time to turn off (9:00pm, right after the last cup of Sleepytime tea). the variety of coffees to choose from simply blows you away. We even bought the carousel, put the frist row of 9 with Hazelnut, the second row of 9 with Sleepytime tea, and the third row with the variety K-Cups that Green Mountain sent with the Keurig. The Mrs. likes the Breakfast Blend, so we will probably add that to our automatic refill Green Mountain.
If you set up automatic delivery of your K-cups with Green Mountain, you get $2 off per box, and the automatic delivery is very flexible and can be changed at any time. I have been drinking the tea, and am about to move onto coffees. I have never drank coffee in my life, but this is so easy and fun that I am going to start "experimenting" without having to worry about wasting too much coffee in the process. For those considering the carousel to hold the K-cups, I highly recommend it. The carousel just looks so cool next to the Keurig. For those wondering, the Keurig is exacting 13 inches tall, and will fit under most standard countertops and cabinet configurations.
If you want to go to the travel mug size for a cup for the road, you simply remove the drip tray. If you like your coffee on the stronger side, go with some of the many bold flavors (including Hazelnut) for the biggest size of 11.25. My wife finds the 9.25 size to have plenty of flavor with the regular K-cups and not "watery" as others (like the owner of Starbucks on a previous post) have stated. This keurig has become our favorite appliance in the house (mine is the 46 inch LCD HDTV, but I haven't started drinking coffee, yet, although I now thoroughly enjoy Sleepytime tea for the first time in my life).
Another cool feature is you can brew just a cup of hot water and add your own hot chocolate or you can buy Green Mountain coffee K-cups (sold in our local Shaw's supermarket, my 6-year old daughter found them and dad needs to go there and see what others they have). So if you have a favorite tea, hot beverage, or soup, you no longer need to use the microwave and experiment with the temperature, you can pick your temperature on the Kuerig from 187 degrees to 192 degrees.
One thing I have noticed since we got the Keurig, is it is such a joy to be able to brew a cup for company when they stop over, or just to have a cup at anytime during the day. The usefullness of hot water always being available has turned out to be a good side benefit of the system. The 60 ounce reservoir is nice, whereas you only need to fill it every day and a half and it is very easy to fill and put back onto the Keurig.
Some people say the B70 has better flavor and is quicker and quieter than the B60 and B40. I will have to trust their opinions, since this is our first Keurig. People have commented about how cool looking the unit is sitting on our counter. When they find out what it is and what it does, they want one of their own. We are even looking at one where I work. if you are debating between the B40, B60 and B70 and are worrying about the extra $50 for the B70, go with the B70, you will not be disappointed. If you buy it from GreenMountainCoffee.com, and sign up for the Cafe Express automatic delivery, they will sell you the coffee machine for $189, give you free shipping and if you order your first 4 K-cup boxes, they come with free shipping, also.
GO FOR IT!! This will be one of your best purchases you ever make in your life. Time to go brew another cup for the Mrs. (another couple of "points" for me....lol)! She is in love again..... (with the Keurig)
Customer Review: Awesome Brewing System!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned this particular model (B70 Platinum)for about 7 months now with no major issues. I could go with 4 stars, but I put 5 because I do love my Keurig and the over all concept!! I drink coffee and tea regularly,(and use it to make my oatmeal and cup of noodles too :)) and I have always ran into the problem of wasting more coffee by brewing a pot on my old coffee maker. I would make about 4 to 8 cups with the intention on drinking it, but never happened that way, or it would taste stale after sitting a few hours. Yes, the K-cups can be a bit on the pricey side, but in my case it is far more cheaper to go this route (I drink anywhere between 2-6 cups a day). I haven't tried the filter to add my own coffee yet. So here we go based on my few months of use and other reviews:
-Yes the machine makes some noise, but to say it is loud may be a little extreme in my opinion (unless it's about to blow up). It has to heat and pump the water. It may be a tad bit louder than a traditional coffee maker brewing a pot of coffee if thats even considered loud.
-K-cups: There may have been about 4 or 5 times where I ended up with coffee grind in my cup and from what I observed, it seems that some companies are packing too much coffee into the K-cup. I had this problem only when I had purchased a 24 ct box of The Original Donut Shop by Coffee People and the Green Mountain variety pack. (not all of the cups did this though, so I would say that some K-cups that make it off the line can be faulty, but thats not very common)
-There were 2 times where the coffee was short changed and didn't brew completly. I figured I might have done something wrong, but I really couldn't tell you. Haven't had the problem since.
-The temp. is great. It brews hot everytime. I do use a lot of liquid creamer so it does cool it down to the perfect drinking temp. If you prefer it mouth burning hot, you can always heat up your milk or creamer prior to adding it to your coffee. But, I have yet to do that because it comes out fine.
-can purchase K-cups from Amazon, grocery store, and some other well known stores as well. Which makes it great when you don't want to pay for the shipping from the Keurig site or you don't want to wait. Plus, there are so many types of coffee,tea, hot chocolate, lattes, etc to choose from. If your not sure, buy a 5 K-cup sample pack from Keurig until you find your favorite.
-Brews a fresh cup of coffee/tea/hot water everytime in 3 minutes or less. No more wasting a pot of coffee or stale/burnt coffee from sitting too long. No more filters or messy coffee grind (use to hate measuring, spilling, and cleaning with my traditional coffee maker which half the time lead me to go buy a cup from somewhere)
-this model comes with 4 brewing options. I keep mine set to the standard cup. I have used the brew over ice option, and am not too big of a fan of that because it melts the ice and waters down the K-cup ice tea (which isn't strong or sweet enough, but that has to do with the Celestial Sweet Tea K-cup); I may need to lower the temp. When I make hot tea w/ the K-cups I use the smallest cup (sorry don't know the exact size) because it gives it a better/stronger flavor as I tend to add a lot of milk to it.
-Flavor is great. I have sampled many flavors and brands of coffee and tea, and figured out the ones I really liked best. I've learned that for a good flavor coffee, stick with the standard size brewing option because it seems that is how they package the K-cups. This is also the perfect option for you fellow Cup of Noodle eaters:) If I use my 16oz travel mug, I just brew 2 K-cups (thats where the price can get you) because the coffee isn't as strong as I like it, but still drinkable.
-Once again, I haven't tried it, but you can purchase a filter to use your own coffee with. I also purchased the water filter to put in the water resevoir because I have pretty hard water. I did use bottled water for the first month, but became lazy shortly there after!
All in all, I could have went with a cheaper model with less brewing options because I don't really use the others as much as I use the standard size cup option. But, I just bought this after my friend told me about Keurig, so I just bought the one I thought was fancy!! haha (stupid ol' me)So, if you don't think your going to use all the features, you may consider going for a cheaper model that has one or two brewing options. I do like Keurig because of the design and ease of use.
I do love my Keurig and everyone has their own opinion and experiance with it, but I would recommend this to a friend as I plan on purchasing one for my father-in-law and parents for Christmas. If I could do it all over again I would still purchase this because I am truely satisfied with it and I am sure you will be too.
Customer Review: Outstanding, Fast Single-Serve Brewer, Great Fresh Coffee
Summary: 5 Stars
I own the B60 (Special Edition) and B70 (Platinum/Gourmet Edition). I bought in July 2009 so you have an idea of the revisions I am reviewing since they have released updated revisions. I couldn't pick so I got one of each (one for work and one for home). I am extremely happy with both, and slightly happier with the B70. At first I really liked the B60 (Special Edition) since it seemed like such a solid, sturdy design. But I prefer the slimmer look of the B70 and its design seems very sturdy and solid under daily use. I love the variety of fresh coffee in the kcups and have been very happy with most coffees I have tried. I like not having to commit to a whole pot of coffee and have never felt like having the same type of coffee for my 2nd cup later in the day when I want another. I bought this primarily for the variety and fresh coffee system. I don't drink a ton of coffee and want to have the choice of flavors and switching from regular to decaf without wasting a whole pot. This has been working perfectly for me. My wife has been using it too who typically doesn't drink coffee. The aroma of the coffees (especially flavored coffees) are really enticing.
The B60 has only 3 size settings (small cup, normal 6oz cup, and mug) while the B70 has 5 (ice coffee, small cup, normal 6oz cup, mug, and huge mug). The 2 extra sizes really aren't necessary. I don't think any kcup has enough coffee to properly flavor the huge mug setting, but at least it has the option if you don't want to feel like you are missing out. I've never made iced coffee, but I use the ice coffee setting all the time to rinse and pre-heat my cup or mug, not that you need to. The coffee is plenty hot for any cup or mug, but to last extra long while sipping slowly, I like to heat my mug so it lasts even longer. My wife never heats the mug because she thinks it is too hot if she does. So I like to use minimal water for this so the iced setting works perfectly from the B70. But the B60 works too, you just have to use a little more water with the small cup setting. Again, you really don't have to pre-heat anything. It seems designed for the right temperature without preheating your cup. I mean it seems really hot, as hot as you'd expect from any coffee maker.
I was really worried about noise after reading some reviews, so I have to comment on the results of my B60 (Special Edition) and B70 (Platinum/Gourmet Edition). Both are very quiet. The B70 is slightly quieter than the B60. The loudest it gets is when you first turn it on and it tries to heat the water as fast as possible you hear a boiling noise that is very noticeable, but not "loud", and seems to only last a minute. I wouldn't have it in my bedroom while someone was sleeping, but fine for a kitchen. That is the loudest it gets for me. Bewing is quiet on both for me, and the pumping of the water is also reasonably quiet. I mean you can hear it pump, but nothing remotely distracting. It is possible that any problems were fixed that were reported by some earlier reviews. The models I bought in July 2009 are really quiet. I have my B70 on a tile counter and my B60 on laminate desk top against a common wall. I'm never worried about drawing attention.
Power-wise, I was concerned about the 1500 watt initial usage while it tries to heat as fast as it can. Sure, at 1500 watts you don't want to be using much anyhting else on the same circuit at the same time. I tested the power usage over the weekend at my work office with two monitors, two laptops, and the lights on and then turned it on and didn't blow a fuse. At home I just use a set of outlets in the kitchen that don't have to be used concurrently. It only uses 1500 Watts for 1 - 3 minutes and seems to be ready very fast. After that I think they say it only uses 60 watts to maintain, and 300 watts here or there to reheat for a minute or less. I've never tripped my 15 amp circuit and don't dedicate any circuit for it. But I'm just careful not to use a microwave or toaster anytime it is going to do a heating cycle. I also didn't notice anything on my energy bill relative to other energy sources in the summer.
Btw - the B60's power button is on the front and the B70's on the back. B60 is more convenient to turn on, but I've never once felt like the B70 was any difficulty and I turn it on every morning and off every night.
So I'm extrely happy with both. I think the B70 is slightly better and seems to occupy less space. The B60 feels a little more bulky due to its shape and black plastic. I find if I store a silver mug on my B60 it feels more elegant due to the change in color. The silver on the B70 just seems to help it feel slimmer, and it isn't as deep too.
Customer Review: One Fantastic Beverage System
Summary: 5 Stars
The Keurig Platinum brewer arrived on my doorstep two months ago from MS&L Group North America for demo purposes regardless of my reviews, and it has been performing perfectly since I set it up. Right out of the box it was easy to set up and took only 15 minutes to clean, fill with water and get it ready for my first cup of coffee. One really cool feature you noticed right away was the blue lighting under the water reservoir and the blue display LCD Control Panel.
The LCD panel is the brains of the operation, you can decide what cup size to brew, small cup, small mug, large mug, travel mug or iced beverage setting. Each one brews to a specific amount of fluid so you can tweak your desired strength of beverage to your personal taste. Now, you become the Barista and decide how you want your coffee, and without the wait or hassle! If you wake up dragging your feet perhaps you need a small cup of espresso or maybe you the sun is shining and birds are singing and you are looking for a light, full-bodied large mug of Morning Roast coffee. In either case with a simple touch of a button, adding your special K-cup blend and pressing the handle brings you a fresh cup of coffee your way!
The cleaning of the unit is also very straightforward. The drip tray holds 12oz of overflow and is easy to remove, rinse and replace. The K-Cup holder Assembly simply snaps out and back in and can either be hand washed or placed onto the top shelf of a dishwasher. Once in a while you may need to clean the Funnel or Exit needle but a simple clog due to grinds can be expressed with a small paperclip pushed up into the needle to loosen the clog. If you live in a heavy lime area instructions to handle De-scaling are included and require you to use white vinegar run through a few brewing cycles and the machine will be good as new.
Enough on the setup and procedures, the real reason this review is being written is to discuss the wonderful beverage selections possible with the Keurig beverage System. There are over 200 varieties of K-Cups so you will never tire of the same old coffee or tea day after day. I prefer to experiment with the blends and actually create some flavor profiles of my own. For instance I like to mix a small brew of Green Mountain Mocha Nut Fudge with Caribou Coffee Caribou Blend. The flavors blend well together and give you almost a liquid snickers bar taste. The blends I've found most flavorful were from Caribou Coffee, Green Mountain Coffee, Timothy's, Tully's and Gloria Jeans. They do make a reusable coffee filter but with so man choices why bother unless you crave that special blend needed to get you through the day. That's not to say that the other blends out there are not superb in their own way, I just prefer the medium and light roasts of the blends previously mentioned. Once in a while I'll build up to an Extra Bold or Dark Roast for that extra kick in the pants, but not too often. There are also some really wonderful teas in the K-Cup line and I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss the subtle flavors that emanate from the freshly steeped tea. Twinings, Bigelow, Gloria Jeans, Timothy's and Celestial Seasonings all have some really nice tea profiles.
I will say that I've been sadly disappointed with the Hot chocolate blends and honestly disgusted with Timothy's White Hot Chocolate. The box states "...decadent white chocolate infused with hints of cream and vanilla..." but that is far from the truth. Imagine an overly sweetened cup of warm milk with a white chocolate Easter bunny left to melt in the cup, and that's being nice! The flavor was way too sweet, and looked like skim milk as it was being brewed. The Green mountain Hot Cocoa certainly wasn't this bad but it too was very sweet and lacked any depth of chocolate flavor. My suggestion is to stick with packets of your favorite hot cocoa and brew hot water into your cup from the Keurig and then add the cocoa and stir.
To sum up the entire review and testing of this machine I would say that it earns 10 whisks out of 10 on Chef's Scott's demo rating system. The machine is easy to setup, and clean, wonderful to operate and maintain and allows you to create individual flavor profiles without the large brewing mess. Now each guest can have his or her specific blend without brewing pot after pot coffee or tea. You will not be disappointed with your purchase of this machine and I look forward to coming back in a few months with an additional review to let you know how it's been performing. Until then - happy brewing!
Customer Review: Great coffee or tea in about 30 seconds
Summary: 5 Stars
Beautiful coffee maker, the pictures don't do it justice. I've had it for about a month now and it performs perfectly every time. Had to buy it straight from Keurig because everyone else was sold out. I usually buy everything from Amazon because of the free shipping but Keurig also offered free shipping and it still arrived in 6 days.
Comes with a variety pack of 20 coffees and teas. The Green Mountain seems to consistently make the better tasting coffee and I liked the Bigelow tea. But Tully has a nice French roast and Van Houtte Cafe has a nice coffee called Eclipse blend. The point is that not every coffee and tea tastes the same with this machine. There is a lot of variety and definitely something for everyone.
As soon as it arrived I took it out of the box and plugged it in. I threw the switch on the back and it powered up with blue lights everywhere. The front blue LCD screen said that it wasn't ready yet and needed to be primed. I refused to read the directions so I didn't know what that meant. The reservoir lights were blinking at me so I took it out, filled it with water, and put it back. Was very easy to do and went firmly right back into place. As soon as I did that the brew light started flashing at me so I pressed it and off it went. Some motor inside started whirring and sucking down the water. I really wasn't sure what was going on so I caved and checked the directions. They assured me I was doing the right thing and in the right order. Almost half the water was taken in the first time and the pump was kind of loud.
I placed an empty mug underneath and pressed the brew button. Hot water filled the mug in about 20 to 30 seconds. I threw that first cleansing cup of hot water out and reached for my first K-Cup. I lifted the handle and placed it loosely into the holder and closed the clamp back down. It moved smoothly that first time and still does after many uses, a nice solid feel. The LCD said it was ready to brew so I pressed the Brew button again. With the pump much quieter this time but still louder than I thought is should be. I had a steaming cup of coffee in about 25 seconds. I lifted the handle and threw the K-cup away. The coffee was great.
I like my coffee when it is almost too hot to drink and that is the temperature of this coffee every time. There is a way to turn the heat down on this coffee maker but that's not for me. The hotter the better. Thank you Keurig for not wimping out. Hot, hot coffee is important to me and you delivered. I drank that coffee quickly and it was smooth and good. I placed my coffee cup back under and put in a Decaf K-Cup. This time I pressed the button to increase the cup size by 1 and pressed the brew button again. In about 30 seconds I had my second cup of coffee that went almost to the top of my mug with a completely different brand and flavor. Nice and hot and ready to drink. I love having the 4 sizes of mugs to choose from. I used the largest setting only once when I filled my travel mug to run to the post office. For this I had to pull out the drip tray to fit my tall travel mug. It slid straight out and even the bottom plastic tray underneath had dimples on it to catch any drips. So far though this thing has not dripped after filling my mug. I used a Senseo at a friends house and it drips a lot after it is supposed to be done. But I guess the design of the K-Cups forbids dripping. Since then I've had many more coffees and teas and every time it does a superb job. Very consistent in feel and performance. I feel like it will be making me perfect hot coffee for a long time.
I now have 5 variety packs set up next to my coffee maker each from a different company. I usually have a lot of friends and family coming in and out of the house and now any of them can dig through and find a coffee or tea that interests them and make themselves a nice steaming cup. One right after the other. Very nice job Keurig and thank you.