The Bottom Line: Three friends saw it at our home. They also bought one, and also love it. You will love the convenience and selection of great tasking coffees.
glenhamilton's Full Review: Keurig B70 Coffee Maker
Ok, I confess... we still go to Starbucks on occasion, but not as nearly as often.
Features: Since the B70 is the top of the line version, it has more bells and whistles. It sports a beautiful, functional design that looks nice in the kitchen.
It allows entering the time when you want it to turn on and off. The "off" time can be set to a specific time or to a number of hours after it comes on.
There are three selections of temperature for the water from 188 to 192 degrees Fahrenheit. We set ours at the highest, 192 degrees.
The B70 has a larger water reservoir than the other models, so it does not need to be filled as often.
And finally, there is the cup size selection. Four sizes of cups are available from 6 to 12 ounces. All this feature really does is vary the amount of water going through the k-cup. Your coffee will be weaker or stronger depending on the selection you make. We find that the medium (8 ounce) selection is the one we always choose.
If you really insist on having your own favorite coffee in a single k-cup that you can't find off the shelf, and then you can buy an optional adapter that allows you to scoop in a bit of your own coffee, twist on the lid, and pop it in the unit just like you would any other k-cup.
There is also an optional K-cup carousel that holds about 18 K-cups which displays nicely on the counter. It allows easy view and selection of coffee.
Convenience: Clearly, there is no faster way to get a great cup of fresh brewed coffee than with a device like this. It really is just 30 seconds to have a hot cup of coffee from the time I drop in my selection of flavored K-cup and press the brew button. This model has the ability to set a "wake up" time for it to come on in the morning, as well as when you want it to go off. I have my unit come on about 15 minutes before I usually get out of bed so that the water can be warm by the time I'm ready to make a cup of coffee. Of course you can also just press the "on" button, but you'll wait a couple of extra minutes for the water to heat.
The water reservoir holds enough water for about 10 cups of coffee, so I need to refill it about once a week with filtered water from the refrigerator. If the water level gets too low, the unit will shut off the internal heater and not allow coffee to be made in order to avoid damage. The display prompts you to add water.
A Toy for Coffee Junkies? Not exactly. You might think this isn't the product for you because you might not drink much coffee. You might change your mind. We bought this product because we DON'T drink that much coffee. Usually I have just one cup a day. In the past, I'd waste my time making a small pot and wasting what I didn't drink, or I'd suffer through the instant stuff if I was in a hurry to get out the door. With this unit, I like the fact that I can choose from a wide selection of coffee each morning depending on my mood, then quickly make one cup without taking a lot of time or wasting coffee I won't drink. It's also nice when guest come over. They can select their favorite flavor, and I spend my time with them instead of being in the kitchen. I think it is also the perfect product to have in an office conference room.
Ease of Use: I think a mouse could make a cup of coffee with this thing. It really can't get any simpler than to drop in a k-cup, close the lid, and press the brew button. The lid automatically punctures the K-cup on the top and bottom to allow hot water flow through it. There isn't any cleanup needed either. Just open the lid, lift out the old K-cup and toss it in the trash.
Coffee Selections & Cost: There are LOTS of selections of coffee available from many manufactures. Since this is going to be biggest part of the expense over the years, it pays to shop wisely. I have noticed huge difference in the price of K-Cups from various locations. Popular brands such as Tullys, Gloria Jeans, Green Mountain, Emerils, Timothys, Bigelow, Newman's, and many others are available. Prices are all relatively close to each other. The bottom line is that a cup of coffee will cost you from 40 cents to 70 cents depending on the brand, location, and quantity you buy.
One major variance to keep in mind is that not all boxes of K-Cups contain the same number of servings. You might see a box of coffee from one place sell for $12 while another store sell a box for $10. The $12 box might actually be cheaper on a per cup basis. And of course, shipping has to be factored into the equation. Always look at the number of K-cups in a box. I have seen it vary from 18, 22, 24, and 25. There are several good online places to buy coffee. We have bought from both CoffeeGiant.com and CheaperCoffee.com as the price varies. Also, we usually buy several boxes at one time to get free shipping. The k-cups are nicely sealed so they stay fresh a long time. We keep supplies in the wine cooler to help maintain the freshness. Target also sells K-cups and you would think that Target is cheaper, but it isn't.
I don't want to forget about tea and cocoa lovers. My wife is the tea drinker of the house so we buy a variety of tea. I don't recommend any of the cocoa k-cups. It's a waste of time and money. The results always seem thinned out cocoa. I've opened several of the k-cups after making cocoa and what I saw was that half the cocoa was still in the container. Thus, I don't think the design of house water flows through a k-cup is good for cocoa.
Reliability: We recently bought our 2nd B70 model of the Keurig K-cup coffee maker. The first one failed after 3 years of daily use. It was going to be cheaper to replace it than to fix it. We figured it was worth getting another one because we got such great use out of the first one for 3 years. The heating element failed on the old one. We got about 2,000 cups of coffee out of it. If the new one also last for 3 years or longer, I'll be happy.
Being an electronic engineer, I took apart the old unit after it failed. While I was impressed with the quality of the internal parts, I was not impressed with the fact that the German's didn't make it to be easily repairable. I guess they think their design is so good that it won't fail.
Differences from earlier version to the new one: The newer B70 that we just received is essentially the same design, color, and features as the one we got 3 years ago. However; there is one BIG difference... NOISE! As you might have heard from past reviewers, the water pump make loud noises for about 10 seconds after making each cup of coffee as it would fill the heating reservoir inside the unit. It was so loud; I could hear it in another room, and the dog would run for its life! There was also vibration of the unit as that occurred. In the more recent version, Keurig changed the pumping mechanism. It is now super quiet and barely noticeable. I'm not sure when Keurig made this change.
Summary: I wouldn't trade it for any other coffee maker. If you can get by the initial cost, then you won't be disappointed.
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