Keurig K500 promises tastier coffee, big carafe brewing, and more control (hands-on)

If you’re addicted to the taste of hand-crafted coffee but don’t like waiting forever for it and can do without excess mess, Keurig is convinced it has the solution you crave. Its new single-serve coffee maker system, called Keurig 2.0, promises gourmet java brewing blended with a jolt of 21st-century technology.

Single-cup coffee brewers are nothing new, but Keurig’s latest creation is designed to offer more flexibility and control than its previous generation of devices. Specifically, you’ll be able to select the strength of your beverage as well as the amount you’d like to enjoy. For example, you can whip up serving sizes ranging from just 2 ounces all the way up to 30-ounce carafes.

I was able to give one of Keurig’s new machines, the K500, a whirl at the company’s swank press event in New York. Keurig executives explained that the K500, equipped with a large backlit LCD screen, provides better temperature performance than its current K-cup brewers. Additionally, to make a stronger (or milder) cup of Joe, the appliance tweaks factors such as brewing time, temperature, and water volume.

Brew big or small with the flexible Keurig K500 (pictures)
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It’s even possible to dial up or down the brewing temp (typically 193 degrees in the tank) by 5 degrees. The idea here is for coffee drinkers to receive the same enjoyable flavor profile brew after brew, regardless of whether they live in the high Colorado Rockies or down in New Orleans (below sea level).

Experience and outlook

I confess that one of the big drawbacks to brewing — and especially grinding — your own coffee beans is all the fuss and potential mess involved. I’ve spilled countless filter-loads of grounds all over my kitchen counter (and floor) in moments of extreme morning grogginess — we’ve all been there. That’s why the prospect of simply dropping in a Keurig cartridge and pressing a button has a certain appeal to this java addict.

That said, aside from caffeine, it’s flavor and richness I truly strive for in my brew. Even at the “strong” setting, I’m sorry to say that the “Black Magic” blend I sampled at Keurig’s event tasted flat and rather bland. Perhaps I need to try one of the company’s single-source varieties before I make the ultimate call on Keurig 2.0. Hopefully by the time the K500 (priced at under $200) and other machines in Keurig’s new lineup hit the market, slated for fall of this year, I’ll have zeroed in on a more satisfying K-cup flavor. Or then again, perhaps not.