Keurig B-70 B70 Platinum Single-Cup Home Brewing System
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List Price: Our Price: $164.00 You Save: $65.99 (29%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Keurig B-70 B70 Platinum Single-Cup Home Brewing System
Customer Review: A bargain--really
Summary: 5 Stars
When my wife needed to start drinking decaf, it was time to buy a single-cup brewer. The K-cup system seemed superior due to the wide variety of coffees offered and ease-of-use. We finally settled on the Keurig B-70 and have been happy with our purchase.
The Keurig system is technically an espresso maker since it pumps hot water through the grounds, rather than use gravity. Nevertheless, it is a low pressure system so it doesn't make true espresso. For regular coffee, its convenience, speed, and versatility are unbeatable
Styling: Sleek and modern. The blue LEDs illuminate the LCD screen and water tank, which is quite visible and easy to refill. Some might not like its asymmetry.
Functionality: Set up is simple, clean-up nonexistent. Programming is intuitive and simple; even the buttons flash to prompt you. It took far longer to try and understand the rather obtuse programming instructions in the booklet than it did to simply program it. Useful features include settable on and off times and programmable auto shut-off. I don't know if the programmed off time or auto off feature takes precedence if a conflict exists. The on-off switch is located in the rear since it is assumed that you will rather use the programmed on-off feature.
Noise: I have read some who object to the noise. The Keurig will make a buzz for a few seconds when the tank refills. It is about as noisy as a small, good-quality electric espresso maker, and far quieter than a coffee grinder.
Taste: The taste of any coffee is dependent on the beans, roast, grind, water temperature, freshness, and water/coffee. With freshness a given, ideal temperature, and full extraction, these variables are optimized. I would experiment until you find the coffee that you like. Many websites have detailed reviews of each variety. Also important is the volume of water used. The B-70 has 4 volume settings that should suit any taste. For those who want a large mug of strong coffee, it might be necessary to use 2 K-cups. The permanent filter is also an option for those who want to use their own coffee, although it does entail some clean-up.
Green features: Avoiding waste is a desirable feature, since you only brew the amount of coffee that you will drink. Commonly, with pot style makers, there is left over coffee that spoils. The K-cups themselves can be recycled by ripping off the foil lid, dumping the grounds, and tearing out the filter. This is a bit messy but if you compost the grounds and filter will produce less waste than buying coffee in typical airtight laminate plastic bags.
Competition: The Breville 600 appears to have identical features and functionality as the B-70. It has a well-designed recess for the permanent filter (which is included) and a scoop, and its plastic body is cased in a thin layer of stainless. It also has a carbon filter. I'm sure it works fine but I don't know if it worth the extra $85 unless you have an all-stainless kitchen.
Economy: K-cups cost 40¢ each at Amazon, and have no tax or shipping. A typical pound of premium coffee is $10, which is good for 30-40 cups. Although the cost/cup is higher with the Keurig, it comes out about the same since you waste less. If you go to Stabucks every day, you will save much more, although you cannot get your half-soy 136 degree 1.5 pump no sugar caramel half-caf lattiato.
Conclusion: The Keurig B-70, a bit pricy at $199 (20% less at BB&B) is unbeatable for functionality, speed, convenience, and variety. It is on the high-end for conventional coffee makers (my grandfather boiled the grounds and strained them through an old sock) but it is worth the price.
Customer Review: A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY -- Worse than that, in fact!
Summary: 1 Stars
WOE BE UNTO YOU WHO CLICK 'ADD TO CART' or 'PURCHASE WITH ONE-CLICK' -- THERE IS ONLY PAIN AND AGONY HERE.....
I would say that this item is a total waste of money, but that really fails to capture the magnitude of the hatred I have for this device. We bought one of these after having a cup of coffee at our car dealer while waiting for service, and much to my surprise, we had found the coffee tasted pretty good. So with an eye toward more convenience, less prep time in the morning, and less clean-up over all, we bought one of these "things" through Amazon -- note that I refuse to call it a "coffee maker" since - despite the tags on this review - it is CERTAINLY not THAT.
For starters, the K-Cups are great, in terms of ease of use, but every cup of coffee our machine ever made from them tasted just like plastic. After several weeks of trying many different varieties and brands, we gave up, and bought the wire mesh K-cup filter and went back to grinding our own coffee by hand. (To add insult to injury, by the way, our old coffee maker, which made GREAT coffee, had had the grinder built in, so I had to go out and spend $[...] MORE bucks on a coffee grinder to go with this thing!) What they don't tell you, however, is that if you go that route, and sooner or later you will unless you like drinking molten plastic, then this thing is MORE TROUBLE and MORE MESS that the $[...] Mr. Coffee that's probably sitting on your counter right now.
So making our own "K-Cups" fixed the problem, right? Hardly! After months of fiddling with the thing, trying different coffees, different grind settings, washing it out with vinegar per the mfr instructions many, many times, and doing everything else we could think of, we gave up. The "clincher" was when the flow dropped off and we couldn't get it to come back even though we cleaned it several times. You had to run the unit TWICE to get ONE cup of coffee. We had had enough. Finally my wife said, "throw that thing away!"
Oh, how I had been waiting for those words.... Sentence pronounced, justice came swiftly for the K-Monster. I was the Executioner. What I did to that machine that morning cannot be spoken of, as I suspect it is probably illegal in several states. Suffice it to say that one of the happier moments of 2010 thus far was when I dumped what remained of the Keurig thing into the Herbie Curbie and walked away.
Ultimately, after many many MONTHS of owning the K-Monster, and investing HOURS in cleaning, adjusting and tweaking it, I never ever got ONE SINGLE CUP OF COFFEE out of the thing that I thought was worth drinking or that I would have been proud to serve to a guest in my home. I can only laugh when I see people write that this thing brews an "excellent" cup of coffee.
Save yourself a lot of time, a lot of trouble, (not to mention $[...] bucks or so after you buy a box of K-Cups), plus, and most importantly, a lot of grumpy mornings because - trust me - you'll be walking out of the house with a mug full of lukewarm coffee-tinged liquid that looks like pond water and which purports to pass itself of as as an "excellent cup of coffee", and you will be angry -- very angry! -- until you can swing through a Starbucks or Dunkin drive-thru to get a decent cup of real coffee...
There are many coffee makers out there for one-half, a third, a quarter the price of this thing, or even $[...] or less, that actually make real coffee -- and far superior to what you will get from the K-Monster thing. Save yourselves the agony. Run the other way!
Customer Review: Convenience well-worth the price
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok... I was not only skeptical but infuriated when I discovered we added yet ANOTHER coffee maker to our "coffee altar." You know what I mean - an entire buffet table dedicated to coffees, flavorings, creamers, and an espresso maker, Senseo(tm) pod-coffee maker, and 12-cup Thermos(tm) coffee maker. We pray to this altar religiously. <grin>
So, when this coffee maker arrived I was to say the least, dubious.
I am completely changed... and not just because I've been juiced on caffeine for a week trying all the coffees! (Wonder if there's a 28-day program...)
If you are NOT new to Keurig makers, skip this paragraph: The concept here is simple--hermetically seal fresh-roasted and ground coffee in single serving, disposable coffee filters about the size of a very large creamer cup. Drop the cup in the obvious orifice and close the maker. Two needles pierce the top and bottom of the cup, and the top needle sends in water heated to precisely the correct temperature (which you can change if you are feeling adventurous). The coffee drip-filters through the disposable Keurig-cup (K-cup) via the lower needle and into your coffee mug. (The properly cultured male will remember to open the maker and discard the spent cup, keeping at bay frustrations of the spouse.)
Every cup of coffee comes out fresh and perfect. Heating/prep time is about 30 seconds; brewing the same. A box of 25 samples accompanies the maker. True, I didn't like all the samples, but they were fresh and perfectly brewed just the same. And I discovered that premium (single-source, as opposed to blended) really is much better coffee.
It is extremely easy to use. It power up and down at a preset times, cannot poke you with the needles, and cannot be operated when low on water or without a k-cup in the holder. The only negative is that there is only one size of k-cup. Larger volume serving selections (e.g., auto-tumbler size on this model or humungous mug on the larger model) will produce a weak coffee if a lightly toasted brand is selected. With the Senseo you can double-up the pods, but unlike the pods, K-cups never go stale. Thus, there is no advantage to the extra large sized system with its large water resevoir or the extra-extra large cup.
You pay for convenience: K-cup coffees are 4-5x more expensive than 12-cup makers by volume, but we tend to waste 30-50% of the coffee in the thermos anyway. K-cups are ready in 30-60 seconds instead of 20 minutes for a properly brewed pot. On the other hand, I'm not cleaning up coffee grounds from the grinder every evening.
There is a smaller system with 2 serving sizes and smaller resevoir. The small cup serving is less effective unless you want to brew teas (the smallest serving setting).
At 16x cost per volume compared to tea bags, I found the convenience factor insufficient to justify the use of K-cup teas. However, the samples were scrumptious.
Bottom line: We haven't dismantled the altar, but it is less cluttered. The Senseo has been sent to the office, but I don't use it there because my cubicle neighbor has a Keurig The 12-cup is in the cupboard over the fridge for guests. You'll have to pry the expresso maker from my cold, dead fingers. Only a decent espresso maker makes a real espresso. Nevertheless, Keurig is going to revolutionize home and office coffee addiction -- you coffee suppliers better get moving on k-cup packaging!
Customer Review: Well worth the money
Summary: 5 Stars
I was almost put off by the price of this unit, but I took the plunge and bought it and I'm glad I did. It makes perfect coffe every time, and has the flexibility to produce exactly the cup of coffee you want at any given time. Those who say the coffee is too weak don't understand how to use the machine [see my recommendations below] and those who say it's too noisy haven't placed it properly. The pump does make a bit of sound but if you isolate the unit from hard surfaces, with underpadding for example, the noise is tamed considerably.
About the strength of the coffee: It helps to understand that the K-cups themselves are portioned for a standard 6-oz coffee cup. Most people do not actually use 6-oz cups and have never made a standard measure cup of coffee. I hadn't either until I got this machine. Now I understand. If you use a 12-oz cup, you need 2 K-cups and two shots of water at 6 ounces each. Not cheap, but sure is good. You can adjust strength for taste by adjusting the amount of water.
One of my sisters likes it a little weaker than standard, so she uses a single 10-oz shot of water. Comes out perfect for her. My son likes it strong, so he uses bold K-cups, one with a 6-oz shot and one with an 8-oz shot of water to make his morning coffee. I like mine kind of medium, so I use two regular K-cups (not bold), one full-caf with 6 oz and one decaf with 6 oz and I'm all set. Great coffee. You can make it any way you want from standard coffee cup to travel mug. Don't try to make a full travel mug with one K-cup unless you like it weak. One friend of mine likes it that way, though, so there really is a recipe for everyone.
Let's face it, K-cups are not cheap coffee for home brew, though it is more than competitive with barista-served boutique coffee and every bit as good. But for those who can't get past the price of the K-cups, there's is a very clever little contraption, easy to use, that lets you use whatever coffee in whatever portion you like! What could be more flexible? Even with the little contraption, making coffee with this machine is much easier and tidier than using any kind of coffee pot, and the results are fantastic.
I agree with the spring water recommendation unless you are lucky to live in a place where the water is additive free with no taste of its own. I buy store brand spring water by the case. It's worth it for the quality of the final product. If you care about good coffee, go the extra distance. If you use the little brew contraption that lets you use your own coffee, then the little extra cost for spring water, which you should be using anyway, isn't really a burden. If you pony up for this appliance, you probably don't care all that much about the price of coffee per cup. Besides, if you buy coffee out, this is less expensive even with two K-cups per serving and spring water. All that doesn't come to $1.39, so there's really nothing to complain about.
This is not to say the machine is perfect in every way. Probably no machine is perfect in every way. It could be quieter. The reservoir could be larger. The control panel could have more buttons and adjustments, although I don't see how that really would be an improvement. You can adjust the water temp and the shot size, so what else do you really need? Get it, brew up some fine coffee and enjoy. It's quick and easy and very neat and clean. If you love coffee, you won't be sorry you got this machine. Enough said.
Customer Review: Update 11/09: 4th month - the machine is kaput, but Keurig sent a new one for free
Summary: 4 Stars
UPDATE 1/3/10: New machine Keurig sent has had no problems so far.
UPDATE 11/09: at about 4 months, the machine is kaput. (The good news is that with one phone call, Keurig has sent a brand new machine.) The problems mentioned earlier in this review became commonplace. The machine, for instance, made a fine cup of coffee a half hour ago. Next cup... never made it out of the machine. It is now sitting in "Brewing" status and nothing is happening. From experience, I know this means I will spend from 15 to 30 minutes trying to get it to brew another cup. That's assuming the machine will not simply decide it's done for good. Fortunately, the replacement machine from Keurig arrived yesterday. We'll see what happens and I'll post another update. I will say that all it took was a single phone call, a few diagnostic steps and Keurig determined that a new machine -- delivered in about 5 days -- was appropriate. There was no cost to me and I need not send the old machine back, just a small, vital part as proof of ownership. So I am satisfied with their support. They were very responsive. I just hope the machine they sent has had some sort of upgrade. If the problem occurs with this new machine, I may have to return to my old ways and crank up the Cuisinart 12-cup. Stay tuned.
UPDATE 9/09: After 3 1/2 months I have had no significant problems with the machine. I still highly recommend this product. It is really a pleasure to make a decent cup of coffee so easily.
To maintain my reviewer integrity, I must tell you that, on rare occasions, it seems to forget what it's doing and brews for the normal length of time, but produces a weird, under-supplied cup (i.e. it doesn't use enough water). While I'm in the confessional... I also had to "reboot" the machine once by unplugging it when it didn't know how to brew. These incidents are indeed rare -- by rare, I mean it has happened maybe three times in 3 1/2 months. I can see no pattern or reason for it. Although it makes me nervous because of some of the reviews I've read about fatal malfunctions, my confidence is restored by the next well-made cup.
Original review: I read a lot of reviews in order to decide which Keurig machine to get. (I knew I'd be getting a Keurig because I could see that almost everyone who had one "loved it.") My biggest concern was serving size flexibility and the apparent noise problems. The B70, though a bit expensive, seemed to have everything I needed, including Quiet-Brew Technology.
At a party yesterday, everyone who wanted coffee was asked what kind they wanted. The host had this exact machine and a wide selection of K cups. Every 2 minutes another guest was served the coffee they chose. Not the quickest way to serve coffee to multiple guests, but it illustrates the versatility of the Keurig "system."
I am completely satisfied. The machine makes very little noise and the coffee is better than the pods I was using before. I am using water from my refrigerator's filtered dispenser and some Green Mountain K-cups. I leave the machine powered up as recommended and have not changed anything from the default settings yet. So far, I have to say the coffee is just as good as anything I'd brew in my regular coffee maker. The K-cups are even easier to handle than the pods.
What more can I say? I recommend this machine to anyone who has the space for it and the dough to buy it.