Anyone here use a Keurig brewer?

As a coffee lover, I was gifted a very nice Keurig B70 brewer a little over a year and a half ago. Since then, I've been brewing coffee, decaf, hot chocolate - you name it - multiple times a day. Since I've never had any trouble with it, I didn't bother to descale the thing until I started having trouble with it.

What happened seems to be a fairly common occurrence with these brewers - eventually they either won't brew at all or won't brew a full cup of coffee. After running through two gallon bottles of white vinegar through the thing, I was able to get it working for the most part - occasionally, upon initial startup, it would fail to brew (although it would draw water into the heater and sound like it wanted to do something).

Eventually, I stumbled upon a trick - using a paper clip to clean the needles - but this only worked for another month or so, and eventually we were back to square one. It seems that after I returned from vacation (and the machine sat idle for that time), it simply wouldn't brew at all.

Since it was out of warranty, I didn't bother calling Keurig and instead ran out to Costco and bought a new one (since I had stockpiled a couple hundred K-Cups). The new machine seems to be a cost-reduced version of the old one - rather than using a metal handle, it has a plastic-chromed handle. It makes up for this, I suppose, with a slightly larger reservoir. It seems to brew fine, but is a bit noisier than the last machine and seems to click and pop a bit more. Hopefully it's not defective (I'm not a happy camper when I can't get my coffee first thing in the morning).

Anyway, I learned something today - first off, these B70 brewers seem to have a long and storied history of a service life that goes just beyond the warranty period. After that, it seems they have a healthy track record of failing due to design deficiencies. Additionally, I learned that Keurig is actually just another name for Green Mountain Coffee Brewers.

So, this company is making a small fortune off selling poorly engineered $200 coffee makers that are designed to fail just after the warranty. Additionally, they're making a killing off selling their own coffee in individual serving cups, rebranded under a variety of different familiar-sounding names. As far as I'm concerned, this is little more than a scam - and a trendy one at that. The coffee is very good and it's very convenient, but for the amount of money I've poured into K-cups, and now a second brewer after the first one's untimely demise, I'm pretty sure I'm done with them.

Anybody else had a similar experience?

Interesting you should mention this…my wife has been thru two units (she didn't know about the problems these Keurig coffee brewers have when she bought the first unit).

She bought the first one used for half the new price…then it "crapped-out" a couple months later. I don't know if this first used unit was still in warranty…but I do know that she called the company…and they sent her a whole brand new unit (she had to send the company the "key part" from the busted unit as part of the replacement).

She then purchased a new unit at Costco (the $150 unit)…just like you did. Now I guess we have to wait & see how long it lasts.

cwa107 said:

Additionally, they're making a killing off selling their own coffee in individual serving cups, rebranded under a variety of different familiar-sounding names.

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Yeah…this is a pretty common thing many companies do. They sell you a piece of "equipment cheaply"…and it's the on-going sales of the "consumables" where they make their money.

In the case of Keurig…it seems that not only are they NOT selling the "equipment" cheaply ($150-$200 bucks)…but the equipment/brewer…isn't very durable either.

Fingers crossed that the new unit/brewer you bought & the new unit that my wife bought…don't "crap-out" shortly after the warranty period expires!

- Nick

No experience with them. A couple of friends have had one for maybe 2 years now. As far as I know theirs are still working. Neither one of them drink that much coffee and are there more for guests than themselves.

I considered purchasing one for a long time. The idea of having multiple flavors of coffee available easily was very tempting. I wasn't able to convince myself that going from the $20 a month I spend on coffee up to the $90-$100+ a month those K-cups would cost me based on the number of cups the 2 of us drink in a month. Decided that I can live with having only one flavor of coffee in the house.

We bought one about 2 years ago and it worked great until one day it just failed overnight. We called Keurig and they sent us a replacement machine within a couple of days no charge. The new machine does have the plastic handle and is noisier than the original o e we had as @cwa107 has noted. So far it seems to be working OK and we'll see how long this one lasts..

I wasn't aware that Keurig was a green mountain company though..

I'm too cheap to go for one . . . plus my wife drinks tea only so it would be just me using it. We buy the cheap Walart-special drip coffee makers and brew a pot (or two) of tea every morning. Then I use the freshly brewed tea and a Folgers Coffee Single (basically a tea bag for coffee) to make myself a mug of coffee.

Razormac said:

I'm too cheap to go for one . . . plus my wife drinks tea only so it would be just me using it. We buy the cheap Walart-special drip coffee makers and brew a pot (or two) of tea every morning. Then I use the freshly brewed tea and a Folgers Coffee Single (basically a tea bag for coffee) to make myself a mug of coffee.

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Well, the Keurig has quite a selection of tea K-Cups as well - and of course, you can just have it dispense hot water for tea bags.

Not that I'm recommending it based on my experience, but it's handy for more than just coffee.

We used to have a Braun coffee maker that we really liked but when it died we found we couldn't replace it. Don't know what the story is there, but no longer seem to be available in the US.

Razormac said:

We used to have a Braun coffee maker that we really liked but when it died we found we couldn't replace it. Don't know what the story is there, but no longer seem to be available in the US.

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We still have our trusty Krups coffee maker down in the basement that we occasionally dig out for company. That machine has always been reliable and easy to use. I've not used a Braun before, but the Krups makes great coffee (just in case you're in the market in the future).

I've tried several single cup solutions. Dropped to something ultra low tech - but it works camping as well as at home.
Amazon.com: Melitta Ready Set Joe Single Cup Coffee Brewer: Kitchen & Dining

When camping we use my wife's grandmother's percolator. It's about a century old and makes excellent coffee. The downside is that it takes about fifteen minutes to perc. I'm a patient man, however, and the sound of it perking as I prepare for my day does my heart good. Serenity and caffeine are what makes my world worth living in...

Never used this particular brand. For a single cup I'll either use the French Press or a single cup ground coffee brewer that I picked up a few months back that works pretty darn well. Never was able to get into the K-cup craze. I buy green (raw) beans and custom roast my own in small batches anyhow, so I only grind what I need when I need it.

I'm no fan of the Keurig machines or coffees. Maybe the couple varieties I have tried were pretty poor quality, but I definitely was unimpressed. Logically, I know it's impossible to make coffee to my liking anyway with their system... there simply isn't enough grinds in those containers to make more than a small cup without it being too acidic by overstraining it.

On the other hand, my father-in-law has one and brews a cup or two every day. It's kinda ridiculous in my kitchen... I have my Cuisinart drip machine in one corner of the counter and he has his Keurig machine on the other side. But he likes the convenience and is a lot easier to please.

I learned to make coffee from my dad.

You take a small qt pan and add a cup of water.
Then you toss the grounds in the water.
Bring it to a boil.
When it begins boiling the grounds begin to go under water.
As the last of the grounds go under - time to take if off and pour.
Timed right and you get a cup of grounds free coffee.
Oh, and that pot never gets washed.

My wife didn't like that pot sitting around, so now I'm relegated to the typical brewers - using a Bunn atm.

I've had one for about 18 mo. It works ok but the coffee figures out to be about $30.00 a pound for those little k-cups. It keeps the wife happy though!

I myself, am a tea drinker. The wife on the other hand needs coffee in the morning or she can not function. I bought this one for her at least 7 years ago, and it has performed and looks the way it did from day one. While it requires you to put the coffee in manually, it only takes 1 minute and is solid as a rock. Of course you can get a grounder and fresh beans so there's no real limitations:

Amazon.com: Farberware FCP280 8-Cup Percolator: Kitchen & Dining

Doug

Edit: I see that someone put up a picture of a pot that looks to have electrical problems. I've never had an issue, and the cord has even seen water in it. When washing the pot, it too has had water all over it. Other people in my family have had this same one as well, and it has always been just as solid.

I use a Keurig daily, and I agree the machines seem designed to adhere to the laws of planned obsolescence. We've been using it ever since it hit the market here in the US and have had two fail while under warranty. In both cases the Keurig Customer service was excellent and we had identical replacements to the house within 2-3 days. We are a major coffee household, and with me working mostly from a home office and a family that likes coffee, tea and hot cocoa, we brew probably 10-12 cups/day 7 days/week.

From what I've read, it sounds like the pumps in the machines are simply not engineered to last years under that type of use. I'd really love to find a quality machine with long-term reliability that utilizes K-cups. I'd gladly pay $200 for a machine that's quiet and capable of brewing several thousand cups.

Keurig machines are great if you need speed, but I prefer a French Press

Many of my friends have Keurigs, and while they make a decent cup I don't see myself picking one up. But if they work for you, cool. It's certainly a heck of a lot easier.

We have had 2 Keurigs, the first one lasted a year and six months until it started to leak so we purchased another one and have had this one sense December 2011 and have had no issues with it so far. We still have an old Black and Decker coffee maker from the 90s that works like a charm we have never had issues with its built like a tank.

rabbitjetta said:

We have had 2 Keurigs, the first one lasted a year and six months until it started to leak so we purchased another one and have had this one sense December 2011 and have had no issues with it so far. We still have an old Black and Decker coffee maker from the 90s that works like a charm we have never had issues with its built like a tank.

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I wish my Mr Coffees would last. I have VERY hard water, so they peg out in no time, no matter how much white vinegar I run through them.

I roast and grind my own coffee, making me a bit of a coffee snob I guess. The Keurig I bought was mostly for the benefit of my wife who only drinks decaf. She loved it.

I took a chance and tried a non-decaf K-Cup, Tully's 10% Kona Blend. Not a bad cupping experience actually. May be some other decent varieties out there.

We've had no problems with it for the 2 years we've had it, running the vinegar/water solution through at times to clean. Otherwise chugs right along.

It breaks and we'll  probably spring for another,.