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Keurig 2.0 K550 Brewer
The Keurig K550 2.0 Brewer
The 2.0 machine series was introduced as a way for Keurig to reclaim its market share after its largest K-cup producer, and now owner, had its patent expire in 2012. That led to a lot of low-cost producers rushing into the market and making their own K-cups for the machine. With this new series, old style K-cups will not work. Further, the 4-cup style is completely new. The other item that does not work with the 2.0 series is the reusable cups that allow for custom ground coffee in disposable filters, such as My K-Cup. If an incompatible cup is placed in the brewer, the touchscreen throws up an error and does not continue brewing.
The Keurig K550 2.0 Brewer has a removable, 80 ounce water reservoir on the side and a 2.75 inch color touch screen on the front. The removable reservoir allows it to be filled up via a sink. The touch screen shows the time and offers brewing options when the machine is started. It allows four different background colors for the screen and includes an option to illuminate the reservoir when it's dark. The color of the machine is black and gray plastic with silver metallic trim. The base can be removed and doubles as an overflow tray that can hold eight ounces of liquid.
The usual package for this brewer includes a water filter, four cup carafe, K-carafe packs and regular K-cup packs.
The primary benefit of the Keurig K550 2.0 Brewer is brewing coffee on demand, eliminating coffee getting old and stale in a pot. Even the four cup carafe works in that fashion as it is meant to be used for multiple people and getting four cups at once. The Keurig system generally appeals to people who want individual cups of coffee and not an entire pot. They work well in offices, dorms and hotel rooms.
I have to get the new Keurig 2.0! It has a Karafe and I like the new design! The only coffee I drink is made with a Keurig! I love trying out different flavors of coffee!
I bough one of these brewers about a month ago. It’s my first Keurig. While I love the convenience of brewing quick coffee, I do have some issues with it. The carafe that comes with the brewer is just plastic (or whatever it is) and doesn’t keep coffee hot. You can buy an upgraded thermal carafe from Keurig for about $30. I think for the money you’re paying for the machine, they should just include the thermal carafe. The water filters are supposed to be changed every 2 months, but my machine started tell me just after a couple of weeks that the filter needed to be changed already. The filters are not cheap either! 2 filters cost about $9.00 from Keurig. Keurig says the machine brews at the perfect temperature for the perfect cup of coffee, but it doesn’t brew my coffee hot enough for my taste. My sister told me that on her older Keurig, she could adjust her brew temp., but I don’t see how to do it on this model, if it’s possible. It’s quite messy when it brews. Coffee splashes on the machine, tray and countertop. And last, but not least, the K-cups. The K-cups for the new 2.0 models have a special code on them that the machine “reads” and if you’re using K-cups without this code, etc., yes, the machine will display an error message. But there is a hack around this I found that allows me to use K-cups without the special labeling on them and I’m also able to use my single cup reusable coffee filters in the brewer. Thank goodness because the K-cups can really start to add up! I purchased a Solofill Cup K3 at Target for about $15. While I love the convenience of the Keurig 2.0 550 brewer, I think there is much that can be improved upon. As they make improvements to the brewers and start putting out upgraded versions, I think Keurig should have some sort of program where you can swap and upgrade your brewer for registered brewer owners. I realize that wouldn’t be able to do this for free, but maybe for a nominal fee.
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