Keurig coffee maker--any good?

Anyone have any experience with one of these? Got one as a gift but havent opened it yet. Thanks. Here's a link: http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as ... lang=en-US

My boss got us one for the office quite a while back. It's definetly convenient for cleanup compared to a traditional coffeemaker... Which I usually ended up cleaning. The cost for the little KCups price out rather competitively. Although I'm not too wild about tossing all those spent KCups out. My coworkers can really landfill it on an extra sleepy day. The only thing, at least with the entry level model we have, is that the coffee brews out a little bit weak for my personal tastes. Supposedly on the more expensive models they have a button so it brews it with less water so it comes out stronger. Apparently you can also get "super" KCups which have more "stuff" in them to brew stronger, but from what I remember they can only be used on the newer models.

I found this all out after looking up how much this thing costs on Amazon, in thinking maybe getting one for our other office. I'm still kinda shocked how much the entry level one was.

Currently enjoying my 4th Twinings Earl Grey Tea KCup for the day.

I have friends who have one--I think the model on Costco's site. I'm with jeffcoloma--I don't care for all of the little cups you have to throw out. It seems really wasteful. Also, as I'm not a coffee drinker, only tea, I've actually found the Keurig to brew tea too strongly for my tastes.

We have one of those fancy model Keurigs, which allows you to adjust the amount of water. And, yes, if you make a smaller cup (8 oz, I think), it is much more palatable. Also, we bought a separate mesh filter, which allows you to use your own ground coffee and avoid the K-Cup waste. However, it's a pain to clean up and you pretty much lose the convenience factor of the pre-filled plastic K-Cups. We also have a standard Krups drip machine, which by and large gets a lot more use than the Keurig (which I refuse to throw out, having spent almost $200 on it and having my pride).

That's really unfortunate to hear about the "My K-Cup" difficulties - I only considered purchasing the Keurig b/c of the ability to use the re-useable (thus more green) filter.

I purchased one after seeing the great deal at Costco (although it is a discontinued model - the B50) and having used it at the hospital (hospital model utilizes a water filter direct system vs the reservoir).

In our efforts to be less wasteful, we often brew the cups 3+ times (particularly the tea); Once we run out of the introductory K-cups (90 cups) we'll solely use the reuseable filter.

Certainly less wasteful than purchasing coffee in a paper/styrofoam cup w/ a plastic lid.

I opened it; it's really a pretty cool gadget. I don't drink coffee but the tea and hot chocolate was okay. If anyone is thinking of buying one though, be aware that it is comically loud, at least when the water is pumped into the machine from the tank. It sounds like some kind of power tool and vibrates so much that the cup moves around on the base.

Two weeks ago I took the plunge and purchased a Keurig B60 system and I couldn't be happier with it ! My coffee tastes are fairly mundane, ie: I don't want a coffee drink that must be ordered in Italian. I much prefer DD to Starbucks. In other words, give me a fresh, strong, hot mug of a medium roast Arabica and I'm a happy camper. My Keurig delivers in spades. I use a large mug and make 2 cups of coffee in it, 1 small and 1 medium. Maybe the cost is extravagant. Compared to the standard recipe of 2 heaping Tbsp's of coffee (@ $8.00- $12.00 per lb) to 6 oz. of water that most coffee makers call for, I don't think so. As far as the green factor is concerned, I apologize to Mother Earth and promise never to drink water bottled in plastic again.
I am finishing up my box of Donut Shop KCups and am getting ready to try Kona Blend, Columbian, or Kenya AA next. Now that would be a fun post: "What's your favorite or least favorite KCup"?

PS: Maybe like-minded LTHers can lobby Intelligencia into hopping on the KCup bandwagon!

I don't see Intelligentsia ever hopping on that bandwagon.

There is a 'roll-your-own' k-cup. I used to grind Peet's fresh and brewing it in my Keurig with this, but it just never tasted as good as the AeroPress, so I stopped using it. For a while, I think Tully's was the best you could get pre-made. I don't know if options have improved, but I concur that Intelligentsia likely won't ever do this to their coffee.

Funny coincidence this topic should come alive now, as I just dusted off my old Keurig and am getting a couple of boxes of K-Cups delivered today. I still have the "roll-your-own" wire mesh cup insert, as well. I think if you use enough coffee and not too much water, it does an OK job. It also has a clear water tank that glows blue, so you've got that going for you.

My office switched to a Keurig machine right before Christmas and I have to say I'm surprised at how good it is. I do have some concern about the amount of waste, but in the end it wasn't my decision. We previously had a drip machine and were getting Intelligentsia in whole beans and grinding them as we used them. The coffee I'm drinking now is consistently better. Well, maybe what I mean is more foolproof. The Intelligentsia was better if I was the one brewing the pot (and could use a reasonable amount of coffee beans.) But we had people in the office who would use almost no beans or a completely ludicrously large number of beans. (We had one person who would literally fill the filter to the brim; when you went to throw out the used grounds, there were parts that were still dry.) So the Keurig when compared to those pots is much better. I wouldn't want to go back to the shared pots at this point.

Bought one a while back for the conference room at my office. To this day, I've never seen the thing put out a consistently sized cup of coffee. Press a button, 3 choices, small medium or large cup (6/8/10 oz.) and you'll never get the same size pour from a selection. Doesn't matter whether the water container is full or low, or how many recent cups have been brewed.

Sorry, but I'm not really impressed.

Grizzly wrote:Bought one a while back for the conference room at my office. To this day, I've never seen the thing put out a consistently sized cup of coffee. Press a button, 3 choices, small medium or large cup (6/8/10 oz.) and you'll never get the same size pour from a selection. Doesn't matter whether the water container is full or low, or how many recent cups have been brewed.

Sorry, but I'm not really impressed.

Have you considered the possibility that the unit's defective? Our home unit works great (2 years old). The one at my office is a different model and needs to be recalibrated occasionally. It also depends on the coffee you use. Some K-Cups give you a very thin coffee. The bolder roasts can be very good (we're big fans of the Coffee People's Donut Shop).