Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System
by Keurig
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System
Customer Review: Best value for the money
Summary: 5 Stars
INTRODUCTION
If you are looking for a versatile and programmable single cup coffee maker, look no further. I had to upgrade from the basic Keurig system and this was the most versatile pricepoint amongst the pantheon of Keurig Brewing Systems for the home. With the capability to make 8 cups of coffee, tea or hot chocolate and a timer to allow automatic operation at a pre-programmed time, this system is as good as it gets. With the capability to make 5.25, 7.25, and 9.25 ounce cups of coffee, as well as have a variable temperature control system to have hot water, there is not much that this cannot do. There are literally hundreds of drinks that can be made from many, many brands of coffee. With the unit in standby mode, the water stays hot and your drink will be made in about 1 minute. If you are turning the system on from a "cold start", it takes about 3-4 minutes.
CONSTRUCTION
This is a hard plastic unit with a lighted LED screen showing time and status. There is even a message to remind you to refill the reservoir. A separate power button to shut off the unit is available.
USE
Use of the various K-cups allows for each user to brew their hot drink of choice. Hot chocolate and Cafe Mocha are the two main drinks that require a "flush" of the system (with a dry run of hot water) to clean the mechanism.
A drip pan allows any excess coffee to be collected without a mess. The unit is quiet and operation is rather simple: Just lift the compartment door, place your respective K-cup, and place your mug (of virtually any size) under the nozzle. Selecting the various sizes of coffee determines the concentration of flavor of your brew. When ready the buttons flash and you're good to go.
Clean up is rather simple. Just take the drip pan and water reservoir off, and handwash it. If your water has been sitting for greater than 1 week, you're better off replacing the water. I go through refilling the reservoir about twice a day for various drinks (I love tea and coffee). I also use the hot water for my Oolong Tea which I seep the tea leaves (independent of the K-cups).
The K-cups replace the need for grinding coffee, changing filters and dealing with an entire pot of coffee. Supplied separately from Amazon or the manufacturer, there are so many brands of coffee, tea and cocoa to choose from. The cost of the K-cups vary but it really beats the price of heading to Starbucks or Dunkin' Doughnuts for a cup of Joe.
OVERALL
Overall, this is a wonderful invention and if you are a power user, you need this brewing system. Where has this been all my life?
Customer Review: the B60 is the ideal middle ground among the Keurig brewers
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is a bit lengthy because this was a pretty involved purchase decision for me, as it likely will be for anyone reading reviews for these brewers.
I recently decided to purchase a single-serve brewer, and I was faced with the decision of which of many companies and models to choose from. After considering Flavia, Tassimo, and Keurig, I decided to get the Keurig B60, and I couldn't be happier with my decision.
I settled on Keurig because it seemed to be the most widely supported brewer both in brick-and-mortar stores and online. You can find a variety of k-cups at Target or even Walmart, but Flavia packets are non-existent, and Tassimo t-discs are much harder to come by than k-cups. There is also a wide variety of k-cup flavors available online from Amazon or directly from Keurig. The Keurig machine can't make creamy drinks like lattes while the Flavia and Tassimo machines can, but for me this was not a deal-breaker.
After researching the various Keurig brewers, I decided to get the B60 rather than the B40 or B70. The B40 lacks the 6oz cup size, has no LCD screen, and is not programmable. The B70 includes an additional 12oz cup size and has a larger water reservoir.
I wasn't exactly sure what the programmable settings entailed before I purchased the brewer. Now I know that the auto on feature allows you to set a time for the brewer to turn on and begin preheating the water, which means that you can set it to be ready to go as soon as you wake up in the morning. You can also change the amount of time the machine waits before automatically powering down. The auto on feature is nice, but the brewer doesn't take but a minute or two to preheat anyway, so it isn't an absolute necessity.
For me, the additional $30 to upgrade to the B70 was not justified by a bigger reservoir and one more cup size, especially because I would not recommend brewing on a setting above 10oz because the drink would likely be somewhat weak. However, the additional functionality on the B60 over the B40 is worth an extra $30.
After using the brewer for several days so far, I could not be happier. Before buying it, I would occasionally drink tea, but rarely coffee because I was too lazy to brew any. This brewer makes it easy to enjoy coffees, teas, and chocolate with almost no effort, prep, or cleanup. It also provides instant gratification, since brew time is generally under 30 seconds. I've also been completely satisfied with the quality of drinks produced, and the variety of k-cups available means there are plenty to try and something to please every taste.
I could not recommend this machine more.
Customer Review: Serves multiple purposes
Summary: 5 Stars
There are plenty of positive reviews on this item. I'm posting this because:
I'm a noise-sensitive person, and when I read about noise while brewing, it made me pause. But this is a non-issue. We have a small apartment. I put the brewer on a piece of shelf liner to protect our marble counter and awaited the worst. OK, it vibrates for a few seconds when brewing and after I add water to the tank. But I can't imagine being "embarrassed" or disturbed by this level of noise. Our kitchen adjoins our bedroom, yet my husband has slept peacefully through this process.
The second concern that arose from the reviews was the strength of the coffee. I'm not a coffee snob and only visit Starbucks occasionally, but it's hard to imagine that the strongest setting would be too weak for the majority of coffee drinkers.
As to the amount you get out of a K cup, I don't spend a ton of time drinking my coffee in the morning; as long as it's enough to wash down my vitamins, I'm not concerned about the volume. I'm all about the caffeine at that point. We keep the Keurig on the lowest temp setting, which means I can actually drink it right away, which is not the case at Starbucks.
However, in the evening, I enjoy the Green Mountain hot chocolate, which is best on the middle setting and therefore fills up most of a regular mug. My not-supposed-to-drink-caffeine husband enjoys the decaf teas, which he actually dilutes/cools by adding ice, so they must be fairly strong to begin with. I'm not a tea drinker, so this is just a supposition.
Someone also posted that the K cups were expensive and hard to find. A K cup is about 50 cents by my count. Even if you add things to it that cost, e.g. I throw in milk most of the time and some sugar-free amaretto syrup occasionally, you're going to be hard-pressed to approach the tab at Starbucks. And, of course, with the attachment that costs about $20, you can use your own ground coffee.
Some people really enjoy the coffeemaking process. For them, it's an art form. They aren't going to like the Keurig because it's just too simple. There aren't enough variables, though you can certainly mix and match flavors within one cup.
For me, I'm more concerned with the finished product, low maintenance and not spilling coffee grounds. From an environmental standpoint, my husband mixes paints in the used K cups, so they're being reused.
So...if you like coffee/tea/hot chocolate but aren't concerned with the process as much as the outcome, this might be for you.
Customer Review: My Favorite Coffee-Maker of All time!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought a Keurig Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System a fews years back when the product was first launched. I was absolutely thrilled at the excellent quality of the coffee it brewed. The convenience of being able to make one cup at a time, especially since I live alone and hate the fuss of brewing a small pot which requires more work and, of course, more clean up, is well worth the initial investment on the cost of the machine - even in these difficult economic times. And I was so tired of wasting an entire pot of coffee, or making a pot only to find it stale and lukewarm later in the day.
Recently, my generous daughter bought me the latest, (or later), version of the appliance - the Keurig B60 Special Edition - and I am even happier with the results of this newer model. As with my original machine, making coffee is still a breeze, especially in the early morning when I am usually in a daze.
Added attractions to this new Keurig Special Edition B60 include a generous 48 oz. removable water reserve, and, unlike the prior machine's choice of 2 size cups, this coffee maker gives the consumer 3 different choices of cup size, including a 9.25 oz. serving, perfect for a traveling. A new temperature control feature allows one to choose the 19-degree F. temperature, or the cooler 187-degree temperature...so no more adding an ice cube to your cup of java. As with the older version, there is a removable stainless steel drip tray for easy cleaning
The Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System uses pre-measured, air tight portions called K-Cups and over 200 varieties of coffee, tea, cocoa and other hot beverages are offered. I love a freshly ground gourmet roast and have yet to be disappointed in the quality of my favorite roasts and flavors. I order my K-Cups online at a reasonable price and the delivery usually takes from 3 to 5 days. Easy to use? Just open the lid, insert the K-Cup of your choice, close the lid and select a cup size. There is also a 24-hour digital clock and programmable on-off timer.
The sleek chrome and black design looks wonderful in my kitchen. I know some people have complained about the noise during the brief brewing process. This has never bothered me, and we are talking about under a minute's worth of sound here. So no biggie! I cannot recommend this product highly enough. ENJOY!!
PS - of course, when brewing coffee for a crowd it is more economical to use the multiple cup coffee maker of your choice - automatic drip, French Press, percolator, etc..
Jana Perskie
Customer Review: Awesome Coffee, Easy and Very Clean
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a big coffee drinker, but I don't mind a cup on a cool morning, so long as it's easy to make. I also run a small office with five people, and we didn't have a coffee maker, so people would get their joe at one of the coffee stores - wasting their time and money.
I was visiting a friend in Barcelona, and he had this cool Euro coffee maker that used disposable cups to make espresso. It was great, but it was slow, tiny, and the coffee was expensive. But I loved how easy and tidy it was. A month later, I saw the Keurig machine in Costco, and figured it was worth a shot.
It has been fantastic. Better than I could have expected. It heats up fast, makes coffee, tea, or hot water fast. I never thought coffee could be this clean and easy to make - there is no clean up. Maybe once a month, we wipe the drip pan. Every one of the staffers loves the coffee, gets a hot, fresh cup whenever they want, and get to choose their blend and boldness of beans.
The machine has two ways of working:
1 - from "off" it needs to power up, warm up the water in the internal tank, then it's ready to make a cup of joe. Total time, about 4 minutes.
2 - from "on", the internal tank is always pre-warmed. Thus it takes just 60 seconds to brew a first cup.
If you're trying to brew many cups in a row, it will take a couple of minutes per cup, since it does need to pre-warm the water in between cups.
The machine has a great timer that has two key functions I like:
- you can set it to be "on" based on an timer. Ours is on at 8AM, off at 11AM. This makes ours "ready" for a fast cup during the mornings, and slower otherwise, but saves power.
- you can set a "auto off" timer, so that if it is turned on at any time, it will turn itself off after an hour or two. Saves power.
I love the Amazon coffee choices, have tried many blends and found a bunch we like. We "subscribed" to a Timothy's Kona, which means Amazon sends us a box every month automatically, free shipping, and discounted. Subscribing is pretty cool! Amazon also has new packaging for 50-count boxes, which reduces the amount of packaging, while further lowering the price per cup.
This unit paid for itself in the first month. I bought a second Keurig for my family's lake house, and it is being equally well-received.
WEAKNESS: The hot chocolate, being water-based is not very tasty. It's OK, but don't expect to impress anyone using the cocoa K-cups produced by this machine.