This is, in theory and for a short time when new, a lovely machine. The convenience can't be beat; the form factor gorgeous; and the coffees far better than one would expect for preground and not recently roasted. (Almost as good as when using fresh homeroast with my conventional brewers, whether electric or manual). However, I must reluctantly conclude I cannot recommend purchasing this machine, or a replacement, unless you have a boatload of K-Cups already. Bought my first B70 in the spring of '09, and it worked so well that I bought a Mini for travel in July '09 (the Mini works fine but must be refilled, and the water allowed to reheat, for every cup--which is the 7 oz. mug). We use filtered water. Around November, my first B70 began first to brew too-small cups; then after much noise and vibration would not dispense water through the coffee at all; finally, one morning I awoke and found it off, with water having leaked all over the counter. I tried all the troubleshooting tips in the manual, none of which worked. Called Keurig, whose rep insisted it was because I hadn't descaled, even though it was not time to, I was using filtered soft water and the descale indicator never came on. They agreed, though, that the shutoff and leak problems were known issues and sent me a new B70 in return for my sending them the filter holder from the dead one. The new one arrived within the week and performed flawlessly until a couple of days ago, when it began "short-cupping" again. Select 7, 9 or 12 oz., and it would brew 4; only way to get a larger cup would be to repeatedly brew (using the same K-cup) however many multiples of 4oz. you wanted your finished cup to be. Rinsed filter, reamed needle. Descaled, and was temporarily relieved to see it spew out the exactly proper amt. of water. Awoke today and brewed a 7-cupper, and it short-cyled again. Still doing it. Was going to buy the more expensive Breville or Cuisinart versions, but did some research and found that they're all made by the same factory in China (same guts inside all three machines) and that the problem is an internal valve that, with a K-cup in the machine, cannot generate enough water pressure to overcome the resistance; if a larger size cup is chosen, any water drawn from the reservoir in excess of 4 oz. is spat back into it by said defective valve.
The Mini has been fine, but it is impractical for a family of four caffeinds who want their coffee in succession--and hot, to boot. The Office/Commercial models have been solid workhorses, but as disgruntled home K-cup customers have caught on to this, these older and sturdier versions are perennially out of stock. (Perhaps the sale of the company to Green Mt. may be a factor in their unavailability). I will make do with the massive quantity of K-cups I recently purchased, but will probably not be reordering. |
