Programmable Coffee Makers

I’ve decided to review the Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System after I went on holiday about two months ago and I then discovered this wonderful home coffee maker in the self-catering holiday house I stayed in. The place came equipped with the B60 Special Edition and I started to use it every day of my two-week stay there.

I promptly worked out how to program the coffee machine and I came to love the simplicity of the Keurig B60 Brewer.  The machine uses air-sealed pre-packaged, pre-ground coffee (called K-Cups), which means it is very easy to add the coffee to the brewer and there is no messy grinding or cleaning up work with this machine. You also have a simple one-button selection for your cup size – there are three cup sizes to select from: small, medium and large – it couldn’t get any simpler than this.

Another thing I liked was that I could set the programmable timer for early in the morning, just before I was planning to get up and when I got to the Keurig B60 Coffee Maker, it had already heated up and it only took less than 60 seconds to brew my first steaming cup of coffee for the day. By the way, the coffee also tastes great!

More than Meets the Eye

When I got home from my holiday, I decided to investigate this coffee maker some more, as well as comparing it to some other coffee makers for sale. I came up with this list of important criteria that I wanted to have in a coffee machine:

• Coffee Taste
• Programmability
• Ease of Use
• Cleanliness
• Temperature Control
• Cost of Use
• Quality and Style

After investigating the Keurig B60 Coffee Brewer, I was surprised at how well it fit in with my selection of important criteria to consider:

Coffee Taste

Well, according to me – and I think many other people too – great taste is one of the most important factors to consider when buying a coffee machine. It’s no use getting an excellent machine that performs in all other departments, but the coffee tastes like lukewarm dishwater. First of all, the coffee has to taste great and I need to be satisfied with the way it tastes, or else I know it is going to irk me and soon I’m going to dump the machine and toss all that money I’ve spent on it in the water.

In the beginning, I was skeptical about the K-Cups, but this home coffee maker delivered and brewed some excellent coffee. I realize that this is a subjective and very personal measure, but I’ve looked at many user reviews on the Internet as well, and most of these people either complimented the taste or had no problem with the taste at all.

Another great side-effect of using the K-Cup system is that you can obviously purchase them in a large variety of flavors, and if you have visitors over, each person can select his or her own flavor of coffee (provided of course that you have it in stock!).

Programmability

I like to have a timer on a coffee machine so that I can set it for a time just before I get up in the mornings and the machine has already heated up so that it takes the minimal amount of time to brew that very important first cup of coffee in the morning.

As I mentioned right in the beginning, when I was on holiday I used this exact feature to get my first cup ready in about 60 seconds. To set the timer function is about as easy as it can get, and if you get up at the same time every morning, you only have to set it once.

The Keurig B60 also has an auto-off feature (after 2 hours), so that you do not have to worry that the machine will stay on the whole day if no-one is at home during the day, or it can switch itself off at night after everyone has gone to bed.

By the way, the off-time is also programmable, so you are not stuck with a factory default off-time. For example, if you decide to set the on-time at 06:15 AM and the off-time for 09:30 PM, then the machine will be in a ready to brew state and maintain hot water in the tank during that time so that it is always ready for you to make a new cup of coffee. If you wanted to brew outside this timeframe, you simply need to press the power button and you can brew as soon as the water is heated up.

Ease of Use

Ease of use is the name of the game with the Keurig B60 Brewer. Once the brewer is heated up, you simply place a cup or mug on the drip tray plate, open the K-Cup holder, place a K-Cup portion pack inside the K-Cup holder, close the lid over the K-Cup holder, and press the button corresponding to the size of your cup (small cup, small mug, or large mug). And within a minute you will be enjoying your cup of gourmet brew.

The Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System also sports a funky bright-blue backlit LCD message center that displays the information for the 24-hour digital clock and the programmable on/off timer. The backlight ensures that the display is readable even under low lighting conditions.

Adding water to the Keurig B60 Coffee Maker is also a cinch. The LCD Control Center of your B60 Special Edition will warn you when the water level in the machine’s water reservoir is low or if the water reservoir has been removed.  There is a blue light in the water reservoir which will also blink when water needs to be added. As a safety feature, the B60 Special Edition will not allow you to brew when water needs to be added. The water reservoir can simply be filled by lifting the lid of the water reservoir and pouring water directly into the reservoir while it is still attached to the Brewer. If it would be easier to fill the reservoir by removing it from the machine, that can also be done very easily.

Cleanliness

For me, the cleanliness of a home coffee maker is a very important consideration. With some machines, you just get a big mess that you have to clean up after you’ve brewed a pot of coffee. However, cleanliness is an area where the Keurig B60 Special Edition shines (pun intended).

As I mentioned in the beginning, the machine uses Keurig’s K-Cups, which means that there is no messy grinding that takes place inside with this machine. The K-Cup holder is the main part that gets dirty and it can easily be cleaned by clipping it out of the machine and popping it into the dishwasher.

When it is time to clean the removable 48-ounce water reservoir, it is also a simple job – just clean it with a damp, soapy, non-abrasive cloth and rinse thoroughly (it is not dishwasher safe).

This coffee machine also has a removable drip tray for quick cleanup.

Temperature Control

Personally, I don’t like my coffee piping hot, and I don’t like to wait for a cup to cool down before starting to drink it. This auto coffee machine brews coffee at a preset temperature of 192 degrees, however you can easily adjust this temperature down by up to 5 degrees if you prefer a cooler cup of coffee, which I personally like very much.

Cost of Use

Compared to many other similar home coffee machines, the B60 Coffee Maker is not cheap. However, it is definitely cheaper to brew your own cups with this brewer than buying a cup every day at a coffee shop, therefore it will pay itself off over a short period of time if you used to buy your coffee readymade at a shop each day.

One might further think that the cost of buying a K-Cup for every cup of coffee that you want to make will be more expensive than making a large pot of coffee, but this may not be true, because usually when making a large pot, not everything is consumed always, and so there might be a lot of waste.

You can further decrease your costs by buying a separate Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter which allows you to use your own gourmet ground coffee in the B60 brewer. This K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter is simply rinsed clean under running water after each use.

Quality and Looks

In my book, the B60 Coffee Maker scores high points with its contemporary stylish design and black body with chrome accents, and it would definitely never look out of place in any modern kitchen. The quality of construction and materials also seem very good.

Versatility

Not only can the B60 Special Edition brew an excellent cup of gourmet coffee, but is very versatile, since it is able to produce hot water for making hot cocoa from a packet, for use in cooking, for making soups, etc. Furthermore, in addition to coffee, you can also purchase tea and cocoa in K-Cups, which you can use in the machine. By the way, the K-Cups offer over 70 varieties of pre-measured gourmet coffee, tea, and cocoa from a variety of premium brands.

Like I mentioned before, the B60 Special Edition is also My K-Cup compatible, which allows you to use your own gourmet ground coffee in the B60 brewer.

As the name suggests, this machine is a single cup brewing system, and therefore you cannot make a pot of coffee. But it is so quick in brewing a few cups in succession, that you will not notice the difference.

How Much Should You Expect to Pay?

At the time of writing, the Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System is available on the Keurig website for $139.95, but you can get it for less than that at other merchants. One of cheapest I have seen is on Amazon where it consistently sells for less than $130.

What is Included with the B60 Special Edition?

• Obviously, the Keurig B60 Coffee Maker
• A complimentary 18 K-Cup variety pack
• A one-year limited warranty

What Are Others Saying?

This home coffee machine has received rave reviews from most consumers on the Internet with an average of 4 out of 5 from most reviewers on Amazon and the Keurig website itself.

Here are some of the comments to date:

“There’s no muss, no fuss, no waste, no wait… the Keurig B60 is simply GREAT!”

“It works not just as a coffee maker, there are also tea K-Cups available and it also can be used to heat water in less than 20 seconds. So if you have a tea bag and just want hot water, there is not need to use a kettle. Ever.”

“The ultimate clincher is the great tasting beverages.”

“KEURIG’S CUSTOMER SERVICE ALONE MAKES THIS A BEST BUY. If you have ANY problems, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Keurig operators are at the ready.”

“It is super easy to use and clean.”

“Love it! Quickly makes the perfect cup of coffee in the perfect size…and it’s attractive too! It’s very easy to program…there’s also a large selection of coffees to choose from. Something for everyone.”

“BOTTOM LINE: If you’re reading this review, you obviously care about what other people think before you spend $100+ on a freaking coffee maker. Don’t worry. I was in your shoes. But there is a peace of mind that comes along knowing that you made the right choice. Do as much research as you can and get as many opinions as you can. But just remember that thousands of satisfied Keurig customers can’t be wrong.”

Any Complaints?

I found very few complaints for this home coffee maker on consumer sites around the web. Some consumers complain that the machine is noisy, but others say it’s not the noisiest brewer around. Other consumers complain that it is hard to find the K-Cups in stores and that they can be expensive in stores. This particular consumer had an answer for that:

“The K-Cups are hard to find in stores. I have only seen Bed Bath and Beyond sell K Cups in the store. 18 k-cups for $10??? That’s ridiculous. ENTER AMAZON… They sell 50 K-Cups for $19.00. That is a better deal by FAR.”

If anything should go wrong, keep in mind that many consumers state that Keurig has excellent customer service and that they should be able to help you out quickly.

Where Can You Buy the Keurig B60 Special Edition?

You can buy a Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System from Amazon, one of the most reliable and respected retailers on the Internet. Click here to it view on Amazon.

Where Can You Read More Reviews for the Keurig B60 Brewer?

The best place for reviews from people who actually use the product is Amazon. Click here to read more.

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