The K-Mini was Keurig’s most affordable coffee maker before it released the K-Express Essentials. That machine has a 36oz removable water tank and a refined design. You can read our comprehensive K-Express review here. The K-Mini Plus has a pod storage container, which the K-Mini lacks.
This is to the consumer’s advantage, as 1.0 pods are much more readily available and affordable . You can even find compatible K-Cup coffee pods for brewing tea and hot chocolate. You can also play with the coffee strength using the “Strong” button, which is an unexpected and very welcome addition to such a tiny machine. Contrary to popular Keurig K-Mini belief, the strong brew option doesn’t just brew with less water to provide a more concentrated coffee. Instead, it actually slows the passage of water through the coffee grounds in your favorite K-Cup so that you extract more flavor compounds using the same volume of water . Perfect for the coffee lover who prefers a bolder coffee.
The water reservoir and drip tray can be taken out and cleaned separately, allowing you to wipe down the rest of the unit with a cloth. The whole process is much simpler than it was before. While these two coffee makers may look almost identical, and both are Keurig Mini models, they are far from the same. The Keurig Mini Plus comes with enough added features to make up for the difference in price. Join us in todays review as we take a deep dive into the features, brew quality, ease of use and maintenance of Keurig’s popular K Mini and K Mini Plus coffee makers. To brew your coffee, you need to pour water into the tank anywhere between the two levels, and then the machine will brew the coffee with whatever volume of water you’ve added.
Its convenient size comes as no surprise to us, as the entire Keurig brand aims to make coffee easy and accessible to anyone. This machine is a very small, convenient size perfect for small spaces and single homes. The K15/K10 for instance only stood 11.1 inches high and 12.8 inches high when fully open.
Those plastic ones aren’t reusable, and so combine the hassle of filling with the environmental problems of throw-aways. I have the Keurig, and I use it for my instant coffee in the cup…works both ways..just lift handle and back down. Would be tough to use if conditions were boisterous — you’d have to hold the cup in place or perhaps loop a bungee around the machine and cup to hold it. No need to keep coffee in a Thermos — just make another cup when you want it. I’ve gotten some questions about a Keurig brewer as well as hearing from a couple of people who are using them and loving them.
Black Ink Coffee is a veteran owned and operated, subscription service and specialty quality coffee business. With the goal of fueling our customers dreams in life, we make it our mission to motivate and serve you. Plus, Keurig recommends that you descale your machine every three to six months to keep it safe, clean, and functioning well. The K Mini Plus is definitely on the more expensive side of the aisle, so it may not fit into a tight budget.
By sliding out the removable drip tray, you can get up to 7 inches of clearance beneath the brew spout. Place your mug under the spout, removing the drip tray if necessary. Press the brew button and wait for your coffee to flow into your mug. Open the top of the machine and place your K-Cup inside. From here, you can choose to use the strong brew button or not. The idea of a single-serve may be appealing to someone who lives alone, but you can’t make big batches of coffee at once to accommodate more people.
This made it easier to use when it was placed on a countertop under a cabinet than the current K-Mini models which stand a full 16.8 inches high when open. We test every product and want you to love what you buy. If you have repeated the descale procedure on your brewer two times and it is still only brewing a partial cup, contact Customer Service.
At one cup at a time everything is fresh and so much easier to keep clean. What’s reminding me to submit this is just having a cup of perfectly brewed coffee right now. There’s even a button to push for a “Stronger” cup of coffee.