Holiday Guide 2009: Wake up with Coffee from Keurig

So for the past month I’ve been waking up to the easiest cup of coffee I ever made. I go in the kitchen, push 1 button and within 60 seconds I have a super fresh cup of premium coffee that is brewed just for me. No more wasted coffee, no fidgeting with spoons or coffee filters. It’s just me, my mug, my K-Cup and my Keurig.

Please, don’t ask me what a Keurig is. I am ashamed to say I am a late buzzer on this one must-have overall – but it would make a hot gift for a coffee lover in your family this Christmas. I am talking better than Starbucks, here. In fact, it’s like having a your own Barrista in your kitchen!

Keurig manufactures 6 different one-cup brewers that can be used in an office setting, at home or even in a tiny cubicle or dorm room. Coffee for everyone! The one that the Mom Buzz has been thoroughly testing, cup after cup, is the Keurig Platinum Home Brewing System.

It took me three cups of coffee to figure out how to brew without running into human-error. Honestly, how are you supposed to run anything electronic without coffee in your system yet? But once you have a few cups and can actually read directions it’s quite simple. Here is how I run mine.

I have mine programmed to turn on at 7 am. I wake up, choose a K-Cup Flavor and place it in the  choose my cup size and then hit brew. Here is a video so you can see how simple it.

Make your drink your way, cup-by-cup: Normally when I use a coffee cup I make it to my liking, which is strong. And when I make a pot – I make at least 4 cups. So then I am stuck with 4 cups of THAT FLAVOR. As good as it is, I like to switch between vanilla, hazelnut, holiday options, etc. And I really only drink 1 cup a day. Sometimes I drink 2. So often those 4 cups are spread out over days and/or wasted. But with the Keurig I can brew one cup, as strong as I like.

Great for Entertaining: When my dad comes over, I can brew him his cup as strong as he wants and a different flavor. It makes it EXCELLENT for entertaining at parties, because every guest gets to have their own perfect cup brewed just for them. And it is just as good, and way less expensive, than store bought. And since the brewer is always ready there is no LAG time for guests as you get out the coffee, measure, find the filters, pouring in water and let it drip drip drip into the coffee pot.

Did you hear – NO LAG TIME: Honestly, all you do is pop in the K-Cup with your choice of coffee and you get coffee right into your mug in 60 seconds.

Less to Clean or Buy: With the Keurig there is no more wasted time cleaning the plastic filter or coffee pot. And there is no more buying paper filters! All you have to buy is the coffee! The coffee comes in individual K-Cups. You can buy a package of the same K-Cups or you can get Variety Packs.

Your grind is portioned into pre-packaged K-Cups to use with your Keurig. K-Cups are airtight for freshness, have an ideal measure of grinded beans for a cup of coffee, uses pressurized hot water for optimum flavor and includes a filter for flavor extraction. There are over 200 varities of coffee, tea and speciality drinks – like hot cocoa – to choose from.

The Keurig came with a few samples, like Van Houtte French Vanilla, Green Mountain Coffee Breakfast Blend, Organic beans, Tully’s Kona Blend, etc. As you can see, I named a few coffee brands here. Don’t be surprised if your favorite brand comes in a K-Cup already! I saw familiar names like Green Mountain Coffee, Gloria Jean’s, Newman’s Own Organics, Emeri’s GOurmet Coffee, Caribou Coffee and Celestial Seasonings – just to name a few.

Coffees come in Extra Bold, Dark Roast, Medium Roast, Light Roast and Decaf. And the flavors are overly abundant. To me, French Vanilla is a must. But I also tried Caramel Vanilla Nut, German Chocolate Cake, and Hazelnut. The French Vanilla was so delicious I had to hide it from myself to ensure there was more than enough for when my dad comes to visit.

If you are insistent that you want to keep using your specific brand or type of coffee, then the Keurig is still a perfect fit. All you need to do is buy the Reusable K Cup Filter Basket and use your own beans.

The Platinum Brewer is $169.95. One of the best parts of this brewer is that you can choose between 5 cup settings. I like mine a little strong, lots of my friends like theirs weak, my dad likes the recommended setting. So pretty much, everyone is happy with their cup thanks to the Platinum Brewer. No more complaints of how strong I made it.Although, since I drink it the most I love the “Set Your Favorite Cup Size” option.

There are a lot of digital options that help save time. I love that there is an auto on/off. I don’t use the Auto Off, I just shut it off when I am sure I am done with coffee, which can be anywhere between noon and 6pm. But the Auto On is AWESOME. My coffee is ready to brew at 7am! Of course, since it has an auto on and off, it also has a digital clock. There is an adjustable temperature control, although I leave it on factory settings. The water resorvoir holds 60 ounces of water, which is like ten cups. That totally saves time! And the removable drip tray is super easy to remove and clean. You can even move it out of the way to fill up a tall travel mug with coffee.

There are other brewers available for home use, though. For a personal office of dorm room, the Mini Brewer is perfect and only $89.95.  For family use there is also the Elite and Special Edition Keurigs. Those are $99 and $129.

Overall, every Keurig owner I’ve met is a happily caffeinated one. Even when I talk to other coffee lovers on the street, I am amazed at how many own are contemplating owning a Keurig. Do-it, Do-it! If someone says they haven’t had their coffee yet, I say they need a Keurig. One minute, people, to coffee your way!

MANDATORY, FIRST ENTRY: Visit Keurig and tell me your favorite feature.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But for extra entries, you can do the following – leave a comment for each:

• Add the Mom Buzz to your Twitter and Tweet the contest. Leave your Tweet Link. (1 tweet per day is allowed)
• Blog about the contest – add a link to the Mom Buzz and the Sponsor
• Add the Mom Buzz button to your site
• Add the Mom Buzz to your blogroll.
• Enter the GE appliance give-away – you can do this daily!
• What K-Cup do you want to try? (You can choose a different K-Cup every day to enter daily!)
• Enter the Timex Give-away at As They Grow Up’s Holiday Gift Guide! (It’s a $149 watch!)

Contest ends 11/27/09. Please refer to complete contest rules. The entries listed above are the ONLY entries for this contest. Winners will be notified by e-mail (if supplied in the entry or on profile page), as well as on the Winner’s Wall.

This is solely the opinion of the Mom Buzz. Other people may have different experiences with the product. The Mom Buzz was provided a Brewer to review. And don’t forget to enter my other hot contests so you can win and try buzzworthy products!