B150 Brewer

I drink coffee pretty much all day and until I got a Keurig, I used a commercial Bunn coffee brewer and ground my own beans.

My kids got me a cinnamon colored Keurig B70 about 9 months ago. Truly, if it hadn't been a gift from my kids, I would have returned it unopened. I had read too many reviews about malfunctioning machine. Reluctantly, I set up the machine and brewed my first cup of coffee. That was it I was hooked! However, I was ready to battle Keurig if my machine began to malfunction, as so many others have.

Fortunately, my B70 worked so well that my grown kids began hinting that they would like one, too. Since the cinnamon color didn't fit especially well with the colors in my kitchen, I began looking for another Keurig so that I could gift the B70 to one of the kids.

I decided to purchase the B150 because of the larger, 90 oz. water reservoir and the fact that it would brew 5 different cup sizes (4 oz., 6 oz., 8 oz., 10 oz. and 12 oz.). I also felt that perhaps since this is a commercial machine, it might be more durable than a home machine. I've had it for about 6 months now and probably use it 15 to 20 times a day between all the family members.

Upon unpacking, I was very pleased with the heft of the machine. It feels very solid. The handle is thick, stainless steel, the water reservoir is much thicker plastic than the B70, and has double layer sides. It's obvious that this machine is meant for heavy use. The black and silver color looks well in my industrial style kitchen. It is a little larger than the B70, but not so large that it looks out of place in a home kitchen.

I really like the color, LCD touch screen. It prompts you to insert a K-cup, then you use it to select your cup size and then push the illuminated Brew button. That's it. As a side note, there are all sorts of lovely, coffee related pictures that run slide-show fashion across the LCD screen while your coffee is brewing.

The LCD screen will alert you to low water levels and when it's time to de-scale. You can also access the menu settings through the LCD screen.

This machine can be direct plumbed with an optional kit so that you never even have to fill the water reservoir. I haven't done this because my city has freakishly hard water so I only use filtered water in my Keurig. In fact, I would recommend using filtered water no matter where you live. I simply keep a Britta filter pitcher next to my machine and keep it filled throughout the day. It works perfectly because I have never seen white calcium deposits anywhere on my machine, in the reservoir, or on the puncture needle. Mineral deposits will kill appliances so filtered water is cheap insurance against that. Also, it makes your coffee taste better.

Another maintenance tip is to run 4 oz. of just water through after every cup, especially after hot cocoa. It keeps the tip from clogging and prevents transfer of flavor from one cup to the next.

If you are new to Keurig machines, one thing to keep in mind is that there is a wide variance in the quality of the K-cups. Some even have instant coffee in them (ugh)! Read reviews and then buy small quantities before you buy a huge box. Some varieties I like are Keurig Wild Mountain Blueberry (seriously good despite the way it sounds), Keurig Kahlua Original, and Folgers Gourmet Caramel Drizzle. Tazo also makes some killer tea K-cups. If you sample a number of different flavors, you are bound to find some favorites.

Also, experiment with the cup size with each brand. Some taste their best with a smaller cup size and others require the full 12 ounces of water.

The Ekobrew Reusable Filter works very well, too, and I use it for a special blend of coffee I particularly like that isn't available in K-cups yet. It's more trouble than regular K-cups but less trouble than making a conventional pot of coffee.

You will find a wild range of reviews for Keurig machines and I believe there is a quality control issue during manufacturing. I think I got lucky that both machines I purchased function perfectly (so far). I was certainly ready to return my machines, repeatedly if necessary, if they malfunctioned as so many others have mentioned and I think any buyer should be aware of the fact that there are a relatively high number of machine failures. But when they work, I think they are wonderful!

We purchased this brewer recently and in less than two months began to have issues with it. It constantly gives a lift water reservoir message, will not pump water from the reservoir to the unitthe pump is audible but not moving any water! We paid over $200 for this unit. It was a replacement for a cheaper version that also developed problemsthought that a "commercial" system would be more durable and last. DON'T WASTE your money on this system! It's a shame because it did make good coffee for a very short time.

If I can prevent one person from wasting hard earned money on one of these pieces of junk, than I can feel like I've done something good!

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Received our Keurig in a timely manner and works awesome for a small office. We had a B70 and it worked well for over a year, but I think it was not big enough for our team of coffee/tea drinkers.

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This is a very nice device. I especially like the display/touchscreen and the graphic interface. The images make it VERY clear what is going on as well as what steps are necessary. I recommend this unit to ANYONE who wants a Keurig, not just the business community.

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There are ridges inside the chamber. This is fine for the thin plastic k-cups because it forms it bends to the ridges. Because the refillable k-cups are thick plastic or metal and can't bend, they will not fit in this machine. This model is meant to be sold to a business. The intent is the business can sell it's employees k-cups instead of allowing them to bringing their own refillable ones because of machine limitations. Think of how much plastic they are waisting on a daily basis. Corporate greed at it's finest.

Bosch Tassimo T20 1 Cups Espresso Machine

If you are anything like me you're probably trying to decide between a Tassimo system and a Keurig system. The apartment complex where I live has a Keurig system and free coffee (can't beat that), and I own the Tassimo system. The reason I bought the Tassimo system was because I happen to like the frothed up milk on top of the coffee -cappuccinos, lattes, etc. The Keurig system doesn't have this feature.

However, I think I made a mistake in going with the Tassimo. The selection of coffees is really poor when compared to Keurig, especially now that Starbucks has decided to stop being a supplier. I also have to buy my coffee from Amazon, but with Keurig even my local grocery store carries their coffee. I also think the Keurig's coffee wins on taste. Of course taste is a subjective thing, but to me the Keurig system's coffee just tastes better. On occassion I also like tea. The Keurig's tea selection is also much larger and again tastes better (actually a lot better).

Answering which system is faster is also important. When your just standing there waiting for your coffee several seconds really does matter. With the Tassimo it is ready to brew as soon as the water reservoir is filled up an put on the machine. If the Keurig system is off and you fill up the water reservoir then it takes about 90 seconds before it is ready to brew. However, usually you will start with the machine already on and ready to brew -no 90 second wait. Plus, once the Keurig system is read to brew (which is the normal state) then the Keurig system actually produces a single cup of coffee faster than the Tassimo. I'm guessing here, but I'd say the Keurig produces a cup of coffee in about 15 or 20 seconds and the Tassimo is about 10 to 15 seconds longer. If you add a milk topping (latte, cappiccino, etc.) it will take even longer.

Where the Tassimo system shines is the convience of adding a milk pod and getting a latte, cappuccino, or chai tea. It really does work and the froth doesn't immediately fall apart -although it is not the same quality froth you get from a Starbucks cafe. Yet, if you go with the Keurig it really doesn't take too long to throw some milk in the microwave for 20 seconds and froth it up with a cheap Aerolatte Milk Frother, which will have denser bubbles and last a little longer than what you get with the Tassimo. But then you need to wash up an extra glass, and with the Tassimo there is no extra clean up.

Tassimo also has a pretty good hot chocolate as long as you stick to a small glass and don't delute it with too much water by trying to make a larger glass. I've never had the Keurig hot chocolate, but I can't imagine that it would be better than Tassimo's because Tassimo makes their's with milk while Keurig does not.

So, if you like coffee without the frothed milk then Keurig is the easy choice. If you want hot chocolate, lattes, cappuccinos, and chai tea then you might want to go with the Tassimo. It does work as advertised, but a Keurig system with a cheap Aerolatte Milk Frother might still be better, but not if you don't want the extra clean up. The Keurig's coffee taste better, has a much larger selection, and is more convient to buy. As long as you didn't have the machine turned off the Keurig system is also faster. That about wraps it up, so I hope I've given you enough information to decide between the two.

I admit it. I love the smell of fresh coffee, but after it's sat for a while in a coffee pot, growing stronger and more bitter by the microsecond, I hate coffee. A friend of my daughter's bought her a Tassimo as a wedding gift, and every time we visited, she offered us the hot beverage of our choice. Now one thing I am for sure is a gadget-lover, and I fell in love with this one. So my daughter, son and husband surprised me with this wonderful machine on my recent birthday. As I sit here writing this review, I am enjoying a cup of Gevalia with cream. And I didn't have to make a whole pot which I would later end up dumping because of bitter taste which makes me cringe to think about.

When I don't feel like having coffee, I can make tea, cappuccino, latte, and many others (I'm sure) which I haven't yet discovered. Every morning, my husband has his traditional Lipton tea first and then his second beverage before heading off to work, a fresh cup of breakfast coffee. My son's favorite is Maxwell House French Vanilla. Within a few short minutes, we can each have the beverage of our choice.

So, if you're like me ... a finicky coffee drinker, or if you just want to improve your coffee experience, this is the machine for you. Buy one ... and have a cup of coffee on me!

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We've had this for about 3 weeks and enjoy it quite a bit.

I've oned a Keurig B77, Melita one:one, B&D Home Cafe, french press etc.

Our one year old keurig died with a failed pump and while I had much parafinalia for it I decided to try something different.

The t20 was the most readily available model but from some coffee site reviews the previous models were better made but the resulting brew was the same.

Size & appearance

The footprint of the T20 is very acceptable; about the same size footprint wise as a standard automatic drip coffee maker or about roughly 2 gallon milk jugs one in front of the other. Not too bad really.

The colors available at wal-mart were black or black. You can buy colored front inserts for about $20 to jazz up your maker if that's your thing, but the rest of the unit is still black. I've seen white units for sale too but not locally.

It's a bit modern looking, sleek with clean lines. The Keurig by contrast was HUGE and quite well ugly. This is fairly short too so we put a shelf right above it to hold the t-disc boxes. That's a nice touch for us since counter & cabinet space is at a premium.

Operation

Pretty straight forward; what you'd expect if you've used a pod/k-cup/disc type system before.

You simply lift the lever to open the top of the unit. Place your t-disc FACE DOWN so the unit can read the barcode, push down on the lever to close the unit and press the big button. That's it.

You MUST use the cleaning disc to descale or brew hot water. The brewer will not operate without a disc in it. There's a handy slot in the back to store your cleaning disc, but it's not so hand if you simply want hot water. This is a BAD design feature. For the life of me I cannot see why a compture controlled device cannot have a default brew setting. It baffles me. Simply baffles. So, DO NOT LOOSE, the cleaning disc and make sure you don't damage the barcode on the disc. The brewer reads the barcode to determine what it is brewing and how to brew it (amount of water, temp of water, brew time etc) so it won't work without a t-disc or the cleaning disc in it.

The tank removes and installs quite easily. You can pull it up and slide it out from the side. We use bottled water since we are on a well and have massive mineral deposit problems and it's be nicer for a bit bigger fill hole just to make it a bit easier to refill without removing the tank. Drop it and it break$.

The power button is on the front of the unit right below the brew button. The unit goes into standby after a time then it seems shuts down eventually without use. I thought this would be a problem but it isn't. I have to turn the unit on in the morning but as soon as I put the disc in and hit brew it starts brewing and about 1 minute later I have coffee!!! The Keurig took at least 2 minutes to warm up but my B77 model had a timer to turn it on before I got up so that wan't an issue.

You can stop the brewing cycle short by pressing the brew button at any time or after the brewing cycle is done you can hold in the brew button to extend the cycle for a larger, but weaker, cup of coffee. There are only I believe 4 icons (ready, brewing, add water and descale). Pretty simple to operate.

The cup holder can be adjusted up for small containers for brews like espresso or removed entirely for a travel mug.

Taste

Locally we can get the Maxwellhouse Master Blend and Morning Blend plus Maxwellhouse Decaf. I've tried the first two. I really liked the Master Blend which brews about an 8 oz cup but wasn't happy with the Brreakfast Blend which brews a 12 oz cup. Not the best Breakfast Blend I've ever had.

We also received 2 pack of coffee free when we registered our brewer. We chose the Master Lorenzo Espresso and the Crema. I haven't tried the Espresso but my wife says she was happy with 3 brews from it! BUT her only requirement for coffee is that's it's strong taste is not relevent to her; she believes the stronger and darkere the brew the more of a caffine kick she'll get. The Crema was very nice. That said I can't say if it's the brewer or the coffee but they work well together.

I'd suggest you check the variety and prices if you are wavering betweek a k-cup and a t-disc brewer. It seems that the t-discs are cheaper per disc by about 18-20 cents for "normal" coffee while the Starbucks seem to be double. Speaking of Starbucks, if that's your selling point I understand they are no longer making t-discs. Available quantities are all that's left. K-cups have a much larger variety of coffees available too; as well as teas and cocoas (which are available in t-discs but without the variety).

As far as i can find there is no way to use your own coffee with the Tassimo. If that's a selling point for you go with the k-cup system the Solofil refillable k-cup is the best of the available reusable k-cups.

Conclusion.

If you want a single serve automatic brewer in this price range this is a good choice. You can go cheaper but what you'll get is probably a mini automatic-drip machine which take much longer to brew and isn't very good. If you want cheap get a french press it's manual but it's cheap and makes very good coffee.

Cons: variety. Price of teas!!! I haven't tried the tea simply because of the price after you add in shipping. I loved the tea in my keurig; good cup of tea so I'll eventually try it with the Tassimo when I put an order together at Amazon that nets me free shipping.

Good luck and good brewing.

Danneauxs

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I've had this Tassimo T20 for just over a month now. The coffee that you can get in the form of the T Discs are not as huge as the competitor the Keurig. You can get Starbucks, Gevalia, Maxwell House, Jacobs, Nabob, Seattle's Best and hot chocolate from Suckards and teas from Twinings.

As far as the machine is considered, this beverage delivery system is made by Bosch and so far I have not had any issues with it. The first time that we tried to make the Suckard Hot Chocolate, the chocolate was very thin, but this was due to a defect on the T-Disc. All the coffee has been great and of course it depends on your liking and choice for the types or roast.

With this machine you can make Lattes and Capuccinos, and they taste just like the ones you would buy at Starbucks for . I am very impressed with the Lattes from Maxwell House. I've tried the Starbucks Colombian, the Breakfast Blend, Gevalia Morning Blend, Gevalia Swiss Hazelnut, Maxwell House House Blend, and the Maxwell House Caramel Latte. So far, the best are the Starbucks Colombian and Gevalia Swiss Hazelnut. The Maxwell House Blend needs lots of creamer as this one leaves a metallic after taste.

You can also just heat water if you want to make other drinks as your own tea. Most drinks brew in about 90 seconds from the time insert the T-Disc and push the Brew button. It makes drinks from 3oz for the Espressos to 12oz on the morning blends; most drinks are 8oz.

The only drawback and the reason I don't give it a full 5 star rating is the lack of market penetration at the local supermarkets (the machine itself would be 5) Local choices are limited to just a few, usually Starbucks and Maxwell House; so if you want to try the other variations you have to order from Tasssimo Direct of Amazon if you can find them. There is also rumors that Starbucks may be pulling OUT of the Tassimo; so again choices that are already scarse now will be even harder to find the good stuff.

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Ok, the trouble started when my husband got hooked on his $$$ Jura machine at his home office next doors. While I admit being a grateful recipient of the occasional -amazingcup of espresso from the Jura, the offers aren't very frequent (sheesh). It no longer made sense making a pot of coffee just for me in the am, plus it took too much time. Coffeeless on the way to work too many times, I caught myself longing for my office Keurig. So I decided to buy another one-cup coffee maker, and chose the Tassimo just to give it a try. I won't go through the issues raised by other comparisons here, just a list of matters that to my mind make the Keurig far superior to the Tassimo from a practical standpoint.

Tassimo pros:

-More compact on the counter (though this is mitigated if one buys the compact KeurigI have the Pro model, which I don't regret).

-Euro design courtesy of Bosch (though my Pro Keurig also looks nice).

-Ability to make frothed and espresso/crema drinks.

Tassimo cons:

-Coffee sprays too much making a mess if close to a wall (this with the special stand and a regular cup in place).

-T-cups are more expensive and have less variety than Keurig.

-Drinks somehow come out scalding hot (not the case with my Keurig): about 5 mins later, they are drinkable.

-Less brewing flexibility due to the automated/barcode led brewing process: for instance I can't choose the size of my drink with any t-cup, the machine chooses it for me.

-The water tank is much smaller than my Keurig, resulting in more refills.

-The frothing works, yes, but then milk t-cups cost as much as a coffee cartridge: a cappuccino pack for instance has 16 t-disks but that breaks down in 8 coffee disks and 8 milk disks: so one ends up paying 10+ bucks for 8 cups of coffee. Btw one can buy a milk cartridge pack separately, but at a ridiculous price in my view. In effect, this whole thing means I won't be using the frothing capability much because of the price of milk disks. In other words, I should have bought another Keurig.

-The verdict is still out on espresso-making capabilities, haven't tried. The Gevalia Crema is OK (this is a full coffee drink, not an espresso), but the crema is rather thin.

May the force.

UPDATE: tried the Carte Noir 'Expresso' (it's called espresso, folks), which instantly brews a delicious and rich espresso, nice crema on top; the home-made milk froth works great for a cappuccino btw -so at least to my mind this somewhat justifies the Tassimo purchase. Still, Tassimo, please make the milk discs cheaper!

UPDATE2: Gevalia Espresso: even better.

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Breville BES250XL Cafe Venezia 15-Bar Stainless-Steel Espresso Machine

I'm not sure why this espresso machine has such a low rating (note: small sample size), but the Cafe Venezia espresso machine has been magical ever since I bought it in March 2010. Since this machine was a bit more complicated than my previous machine, it took a little while to get everything exactly the way I liked it, but now the machine is pretty much perfect.

My one and only complaint would be that it seems to use a lot of water for non-coffee making/milk frothing activities. I'm assuming it's doing some self cleaning or whatnot, and it's not all that big of a deal since this thing holds a good amount of water, but the trough (as I like to call it) seems to get filled with water pretty quickly. But really, I'm just nitpicking.

I grind my coffee using a burr grinder on the extra fine setting, and the machine has never blown up on me except for the first time I used it (All espresso machines do this to me for some reason). The frothing wand needs to be cleaned regularly, and if not it turns a weird color, but even if I'm now drinking poison, I welcome my delicious, aromatic death.

This machine requires a lot of maintenance to stay functional. Each of the filters needs all the little holes unclogged between almost every use or else it gets clogged a huge time suck. The coffee is luke-warm and although the crema is thick and beautiful, the flavor is mediocre. I wish I still had my simple Kitchen-Aid one that was half the price, reliable & low maintenance.

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We were given this espresso machine as a Christmas present and absolutely LOVED it. We were making our special lattes every morning, the coffee tastes great, everything was working just fine... untillll... water started shooting out of the electronic buttons as tears flowed from my face. It looked like the machine was crying with me. It was a tragic day. We are now debating whether or not we should get the same one and pray for the best or try a different model...

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I agree that I don't know why people don't like this machine. Mine has been going great for several years. Several things to keep in mind: 1) Take off that little black tip on the frothing wand and only use the naked one. Before frothing turn on the steam wand until it steams nicely (no water coming out), turn if off and on quickly and then insert into the milk. This will avoid water going into the milk before the steam comes out. 2) I learned that the coffee tastes a lot better if you use a burr grinder. 3) Regular maintenance is to run the steam wand and wipe with a damp sponge or cloth to prevent clogging after each use. I have never had my filters get clogged. I do agree that the coffee is not as hot as that which you get from Starbucks but from what I understand lattes are not supposed to be drunk really hot. Breville has excellent customer service.

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This machine looks good, thats it. Everytime you use it you have to unblock the tiny holes in the filter with this needle type tool, washing the filter isn't enough! This is a major pain! The espresso is not hot, but is does test nice.

So if you want a machine that looks good but aren't going to use it then this is the one, but if you make espresso everyday like me then buy something else.