Review: Keurig Mini B30 K-Cup Single Serve Coffee Maker

Review from Single Serve Coffee.com - Coffee Pod Reviews

The Keurig Mini B30 will come in white, black, and red.

Keurig recently introduced the Keurig B130 commercial hotel and office coffee brewer, and we were disappointed it would not be available for consumers to purchase. We are disappointed no longer, as Keurig has revealed the Keurig Mini B30 designed for home and commercial use. The Keurig Mini B30 is very much like the Keurig B130, but it comes in red, black, and white colored casings, and also is My K Cup compatible.

We received a red Keurig Mini B30 - can you say hot!

Besides having the smallest footprint of all the Keurig brewers, the Keurig Mini B30 single serve coffee maker is also very quiet. And yes - it's compatible with all K Cup coffees, teas, and other hot beverages including hot cocoa. So are there any issues? Is this brewer priced at $79 for everyone, or should one purchase a larger Keurig brewer?

Features Include:

Cup Sensors detect when mug is placed
My K Cup Compatible
Heats and brews in under 3 minutes
Brews an 8 oz cup
Add fresh water for each cup you make
Brew temperature is nearly the same as the larger B40, B50, B60 or B70 brewers
Comes in Red, Black, and White - Red online only at Keurig.com
Retails for $79
Travel Bag will be made available and will hold the brewer and some
K Cups Certified for home and office use - BIG BONUS
Very Quiet - doesn't feature Quiet Brew Technology, but uses a quieter method than the current set of brewers to make your cup of single serve coffee
10 K Cups included with purchase

Brewing a Cup of Coffee with the Keurig Mini B30

Like on it's cousin the Keurig B130 making a cup is pretty straight forward. You simply push the button on the top to open, then insert a K Cup - then closing the brewer opens the water chamber. You next take your coffee cup full of water and pour it in. Next you place your cup on the brewer, and press brew. This heats up the brewer and in about 1 minute or so you'll have a cup of single serve coffee.

Pop open the lid and put a K Cup in.

Take your favorite mug and fill the Keurig Mini B30 with 8oz of water.

Look at all that fresh water waiting to be brewed into coffee...

Shut the water reservoir lid...

Hit the brew button....

And in about 3 minutes you'll have a cup of steaming hot single serve coffee.

Daily Use and Comparing the Brewer with Larger Keurig Models

The brewer is priced at $79, making it a perfect gift or gateway into the world of single serve coffee. Since the Keurig Mini B30 is My K Cup compatible, you'll have access to using ground coffee and any K Cup you want to put into the brewer. Daily use means making lots of cups of coffee in our household, and after a few weeks of trying to use only the Keurig Mini B30 over using the Keurig B70 brewer with a reservoir was a bit of a transition, but doable.

We think new single serve coffee drinkers won't miss a beat. Simply getting a fresh cup of water to use in the Keurig Mini B30 each time was not time consuming, and waiting for the brewer to heat up for the 3 minutes was also not that long of a time. The big difference being, you can walk away and then come back to a hot cup of coffee while you make your toast or oatmeal. On the larger Keurig models, coffee is much more on demand and immediate (in the 60 seconds range) than on the Keurig Mini B30.

We also tested several extra bold K Cup coffees, regular strength K Cup coffees, and even teas finding the hot beverages produced had no noticeable difference in quality when using the smaller Keurig Mini B30 over the larger K Cup single serve coffee makers. The coffee produced was both hot, flavorful, and fresh.

Who should buy the Keurig Mini B30

We think this is the real question. Just about anyone who enjoys a cup of coffee or tea is going to love the Keurig Mini B30. The small footprint, ease of use, and the price makes it almost an impulse purchase. We also think the brewer is very attractive, and because it comes in a variety of colors, it will also match the kitchen, office, or even your camper.

And that's one of the major advantages, Keurig will offer a tote bag allowing you to carry the Keurig Mini B30 wherever you want to go. And since it never holds water besides during the brew cycle, you can truly lug it wherever you want to go. It's very light, and also very well built. We took ours over to several friends houses just to see how easy it was, and indeed we could see bringing this to our camp, office, and other places where we would want fresh brewed single serve coffee.

Conclusion

Pros:

Small brewer footprint
No water left in brewer for fresh coffee every time
Great price at $79
Able to be used in both your office and at home

Cons:

You'll have to fill it with water every time

We recommend the Keurig Mini B30, and think you'll be happy with the coffee, tea, and other hot beverages it produces. The Keurig Mini B30 is a welcome addition to the current line of Keurig single serve coffee makers that include the Keurig Elite B40 Brewer, Keurig B50, Keurig Special Edition Ultra Elite B60, Keurig B70 Brewer, and the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet Single Cup Brewer.

The Keurig Mini B30 single serve K Cup coffee brewer will be available this August 2008 for a retail price of $79.

At Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee

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Posted by Jay Brewer at June 26, 2008 6:57 AM

it looks too small to fit a large travel mug. i chose this brand (keurig) out of all the single cup servers because of that feature. the senseo and braun were too short to put a travel mug underneath even if you took the tray out. it's very important when wanting to grab a cup and go.
Posted by: crimdellacrim at June 27, 2008 11:39 PM

$80 for a single cup brewer you have to fill every time you want a cup? Pass. The Senseo machines are still practically free, heat up in less than a minute, and can hold double the water (quadruple if you purchase the bigger reservoir), and there's no plastic k-cup in the landfill. In addition to buying some great pods from on-line vendors, I make my own freshly ground Dunkin' Donuts coffee pods in seconds and they taste great run through the Senseo. My office has a Keurig and I've never been that impressed by it.
Posted by: Geetar Slinger at June 28, 2008 6:24 AM