The popularity of K Cup coffee makers has sparked a new interest in home coffee brewing around the world. As people discover this great new way of making coffee, they naturally have questions about what models are the best to buy. I will be reviewing several different models, but in this article I take a look at three of the Keurig models to provide you with an idea of the differences between them.
Keurig invented the K Cup idea, so it is natural that they have some of the best and most popular brewers on the market today. Among them are the Mini B30, the Elite B40, and the Platinum B70. I describe how the K Cup coffee maker works in general in another article on this topic, and these three models use the same basic technology to accomplish the task of brewing a cup of coffee. The significant difference between the low and the high end are speed of brewing, and water capacity.
The Mini B30 was designed for those who do not want a coffee maker to take up a bunch of counter space. While the B40 and B70 both have large water reservoirs, the B30 has none. With the B30, you press a button on the top to open the "jaws" of the brewer to insert your K Cup (the B30 only takes the 8 oz cup size). After inserting your favorite blend, you close the lid and the door for the water reservoir opens. At this point you fill the reservoir with 8 ounces of water, close the lid and wait about 3 minutes for the element to heat the water and pump out a hot cup of coffee. By eliminating the larger water reservoir the B30 definitely takes up less space, but at the cost of a bit longer wait time for a cup of coffee. It is designed very well, is attractive, and fits nicely in just about any nook in your kitchen.
The B40 and B70 are very similar in design. The only significant difference between these two models is capacity. The idea of the water reservoir is to provide faster brewing times. With pre-heated water in the tank, it only takes about 30 seconds to brew a cup of coffee. The B40 has a 48 oz. reservoir, and the B70 has a 60 oz. reservoir. In the time it takes the B30 to brew a single cup, you could pump at least 5 cups out on either of these models. The other advantage of the larger models is the ability to brew varying amounts of water. The B40 can brew 8 and 10 oz. cups while the B70 can brew 6, 8, 10, and 12 oz. cups.
For the coffee-lover who likes the ability to program the brewer functions, the B70 offers the greatest number of automation features. While the B30 is essentially a manual personal brewer, the B40 has an "auto-off" feature, and the B70 is programmable with auto-on, auto-off, and adjustable water temperature.
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