A lot’s changed since I received a Keurig coffee maker for my birthday some 10 or 11 years ago. At that time, I was the only one in our home drinking coffee. About three cups a day. Then my wife adopted the habit, and quickly jumped to two cups. Then so did our kids, as they got older. Problem is, my son and I like stronger java than my wife. And my daughter drinks iced coffee everyday. The old Keurig simply couldn’t keep up. I’d have to make smaller cups for stronger coffee — and for iced coffee — and larger mugs for a weaker brew. We considered getting a regular coffee pot for making just the strong coffee, but we didn’t have the counter space.
That said, we recently started using the Keurig K-Supreme Plus machine. And it’s made all the difference. It’s the brand’s first brewer to feature “MultiStream” technology that more evenly saturates the coffee grounds in every pod. Thus, it extracts the full flavor and aroma. While that may sound like an ad, it actually works very well. As a user, what I notice is that it punches five holes in the top of each pod to drip hot water through — instead of the one hole that my previous machine did. There’s now a depth to the flavor. In fact, I performed a taste test — using identical pods in the new and old machine — to make sure it wasn’t my imagination. It wasn’t.
The other thing that I like is its degree of customization. I can choose from three strength levels, three temperatures, and I can pick an “iced coffee” setting when I want to — instead of just trying to make a strong coffee over ice. Perhaps most important for our house, though: I can set up three user profiles so I don’t have to think at 5:30am about the settings. I just pick my profile and it starts dripping. And unlike my old machine, I can now make a large 12-ounce cup of joe in the morning that’s nice and robust. I used to have to make two small cups and combine them, or else it wouldn’t brew strong enough. There’s no dilution in the new machine.
Then there’s the lack of noise. In the wee hours of the day, my old machine was jarringly loud. The K-Supreme Plus I hardly know is on. The first time I used it, I honestly had to look to see if I’d plugged it in because it was whisper quiet. The machine has a sleek look, too, and comes with a 78-ounce removable water reservoir. That means I don’t need to refill it as often as I used to with the previous Keurig. While the new unit brews slightly slower than its predecessor, I can be patient in knowing that the cup turns out the way I like it every time. And to help reduce my usage of disposable pods, I’ve also been grinding beans on my own and using them with the reusable My K-Cup filter.
Listen, I consider the first cup every morning my time for bliss. I read the paper, watch sports highlights, do the crossword, and gently coast into the day. With the new Keurig, that process has become a lot simpler and more reliable.
