Review: Keurig Vue makes quick and easy coffee, but at a cost
If you crave the convenience and simplicity of single-cup coffee brewers, you've already heard of Keurig (and probably have a Keurig brewer in your kitchen). But if you're unfamiliar with this latest coffee trend, here's what you know to get up to speed: A Kuerig coffee maker brews a single cup of coffee or tea at a time from a prepackaged K-Cup. Put a K-Cup into your Keurig brewer, press a button, and a minute later you're rewarded with a cup of coffee. Cleanup is just as simple. Instead of messing with coffee grounds, all you have to do is remove the K-Cup and toss it in the trash.
Keurig coffee probably isn't the best you'll ever have, but it's quick and easy — perfect for getting an early-morning caffeine fix on the way to work.
Keurig's new system, called the Vue, aims to increase your drinking options while keeping Keurig's trademark simplicity — but at a cost. The Keurig Vue brewer sells for $250, while you can find K-Cup brewers as low as $80. As fans of both coffee and convenience, we put the Vue brewer through its paces to compare it to the Keurig B60 K-Cup brewer that currently lives on our kitchen counter.
How does it work?
Once you've turned the Vue on, it needs a couple of minutes to warm up. If the water tank is low, you'll need to add more water, but the 70-ounce tank ensures you won't have to do so frequently. After the brewer has warmed up, set a coffee cup in the brewer, lift the handle to insert your Vue Pack of choice, and follow a simple touchscreen menu to determine the type of beverage you're brewing, the strength of the brew, and the size of the cup.
While there are a lot more options on the Vue than other K-Cup systems, it's still straightforward enough to get through easily even when you're half-asleep while you try to make the morning's first cup.
After about a minute of mechanical growling (which is loud but not notably louder than other Keurig models), your cup is full of coffee. All you need to do is toss the Vue Pack out for cleanup.
Why to buy the Vue
The Vue's biggest advantage over old K-Cup systems is that it is able to brew different drinks in different fashions. With K-cup systems, you can insert many different types of K-Cups, but the machine itself shoots hot water through the cup without any differentiation. the Vue adjusts temperature, water pressure, and time depending on what exactly you're brewing. Again, all of this is controlled through a simple touchscreen menu (compared to the buttons of previous models) that walks you through options with little effort.
The Vue will fill a travel mug (up to 18 ounces) and has preset brewing for stronger coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and even iced beverages.
But the most interesting of the Vue's features is its ability to brew what Keurig calls "café beverages." Keurig currently offers four café options: vanilla latte, café mocha, cappuccino italian roast, and sweetened cappuccino.
Each of these drinks is produced using two Vue Packs, one of which is dry milk. Through the Vue brewer, that dry milk becomes something akin to the foam you'd find in a similar drink at a coffeehouse. The result is far from perfect — it's no replacement for a Starbucks visit — but it is a quick and easy way to make these fancy drinks at home. And if you're interested in Keurig's brewers, chances are this kind of speed and simplicity is just what you're looking for.
If you're environmentally conscious, it's worth noting that the Vue Packs are recyclable. Just tear off the foil top, pull out the packet of coffee or tea inside, and toss the plastic cup into your recycling bin. On the downside, when removing the foil top, we frequently found ourselves tearing the paper filter that held the coffee grounds inside, making a mess. While we're keen on going green, one of the appeals of the original Keurigs was the ease of cleanup.
Smaller selection, bigger cost
While the Vue offers a number of new drink options, there's far less variety in Vue cups than in K-Cups. Keurig offers 50 different Vue cups, which sounds like a lot of variety until you realize that there are 263 different types of K-Cups. The Vue system offers mainstay brands like Green Mountain, Caribou, Newman's Own, and Celestial Seasonings. Beyond fewer options for each brand, it's also missing names like Starbucks (perhaps because Starbucks recently launched their own single-serving brewer), Folgers, Twinings, and Tazo. Further, while K-Cups are easily found in most grocery stores, Vue cups are less commonplace, and it's likely easiest to order online.
It's difficult to do a price comparison between Vue Packs and K-Cups, since they're sold in different-sized boxes (24 K-Cups per box versus 16 Vue Packs in a box), and the type of drink makes the cost vary widely. However, prices seem on the whole comparable. A box of K-Cups costs from $16 to $22 (66 cents to 91 cents per cup), while a box of Vue Packs costs $10 to $13 (62 cents to 81 cents per cup).
The Vue's café drinks are pricier simply because each uses two Vue Packs when brewed; a box of 16 will set you back $12 while only brewing eight drinks. At $1.50 per drink, that's still a lot cheaper than going to your nearest coffee shop, but it's by far Keurig's most expensive drink option.
And as far as costs are concerned, these are all suggested retail prices. You'll likely be able to find deals if you shop around, and Keurig itself offers a free membership program that lets you buy K-Cups and Vue Packs at discounted prices.
But how does it taste?
We find the Vue's drinks to be good, if not great. The coffee tastes just like you'd expect it to, without any of the hassle of brewing a pot of coffee. We were especially impressed by the Vue's ability to brew a travel mug's worth of coffee — Vue Packs are offered in larger sizes for travel mugs, while K-Cups only come in one size. As for the café drinks, while it's convenient to be able to make these at home, we're not going to be kicking our Starbucks habit any time soon.
Whether you'll prefer the Vue's drinks to a K-Cup brewer's drinks will in large part depend on whether your favorite type of coffee is available in a Vue Pack. While the Vue has enough variety for anyone, if you have a favorite that isn't available, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed.
Vue brewers vs. K-Cup brewers
Though the new Vue brewer and Vue Packs brew a decent cup of coffee quickly and easily, so have the K-Cup brewers we've used in the past. We found these two Keurigs performed similarly on speed, noise (both noisier than your average kitchen gadget), taste (though it varies depending on what you're brewing), and general ease of use. So if you're in the market for a single-serving coffee maker, which way should you go?
Vue brewer pros
Wider variety of drinks than other Keurig brewers
Easy-to-use touchscreen interface (navigable even when you're too caffeine-deprived to think clearly)
Recyclable Vue Packs
K-Cup brewer pros
Wide variety of K-Cups to choose from, which can be found easily at your local supermarket
Non-recyclable K-Cups with no-mess cleanup (Vue Packs often tear open and spill coffee grounds when you're trying to recycle them)
Less expensive, no matter which model you buy
In the end, its price makes the Vue difficult to recommend — though the similar Starbucks Verismo system (with units at $199 and $399) makes the Vue seem less extravagantly priced. Even the highest-end K-Cup system — and there are lower-priced Keurig brewers, as well — retails for $200 to the Vue's $250. Though the Vue system does add several features above Keurig's K-Cup brewers, the higher cost combined with a limited variety of Vue Packs (especially Vue-only drink options) doesn't make this a must-buy. But if spending an extra $100 or so doesn't faze you and you're keen on the new drinks — we do like being able to get lattes and a travel-mug-sized serving of coffee — the Vue may be just the machine for you.
You can buy a Vue today directly from Keurig from $249.99. K-Cup brewers, if that's your preference, are available in a variety of styles starting at $89.95.
This article originally appeared on Tecca ›
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