I’m a coffee snob, plain and simple. I have a high end espresso machine, burr grinder, several french presses and an assortment of drip coffee makers along with a wonderful vintage vacuum machine. But, on a recent vacation, the condominium I was staying at came equiped with one of the Keurig machines and there were a few K-containers of assorted blends in the cupboard. Expecting nothing more than ordinary “motel room” coffee, I figured out how to use the Keurig, fired it up and put in a nondescript K-cup of “Columbian” and brewed a small cup while I was getting ready to head out in the morning….I won’t say I was shocked, but I was certainly impressed. That cup was significantly better than it should have been given the pre-packaged, pre-ground coffee and the somewhat “gimicky” appeal of the system. I purchased some additional “k-cups” that day from a local store and continued to have easy, no mess morning coffee for the rest of my stay.

When I got back one of the first things I did was investigate the Keurig and I wound up getting a B-60 along with several boxes of K-cup coffees. Is it as good a 100% Blue Mountain in a french press or Chemix drip maker? No, but it is pretty darn good coffee, that is consistent from cup to cup with literally no mess.

The machine operates pretty much the same way as an auto expresso maker with the K-cup replacing the espresso handle and filter. Hot water from a removable tank is heated and then injected into the K-cup after the machine punctures it top and bottom. On this particular model one can adjust the size of the cup and the temperature of the brew, though this is a rather narrow range. I got the best results from the smallest cup size and a 190 degree temp setting, but LIKE WITH ALL COFFEE MAKERS, BUYING ONLY THE FRESHEST K-CUPS AND USING GOOD QUALITY BOTTLED WATER, will be necessary to get the best results. The bottom line is that one can easily get a good decent cup of coffee in less than a minute (if you leave the machine on all the time) with practically no mess. Do I use it all the time? No, but for a single cup in the middle of the day, or if you only want one or two cups in the morning, it’s a simple, no mess fix. I also, got the available permanent filter and have had good success with my own grinds, though you do have to futz with the settings a little.

The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because of the initial and ongoing cost connected “the convenience”. But it does make very good coffee and is clearly superior to most auto drip coffee makers using store bought pre ground coffee.