Keurig K-Mini Plus review: thinly better at a shocking price tag

Why choose Keurig K-Mini Plus over other coffee machines?

In preparing this Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker review, I wanted to better understand what differentiates K-Mini Plus from K-Mini and other similar coffee makers.

Just like Keurig K-Mini, K-Mini Plus coffee machine requires a k-cup, water and a coffee mug to brew coffee. I was able to brew a neat cup of coffee in 4 simple steps: insert my favorite k-cup, re-fill water, place a coffee mug under a spout and press an on button. Voila!

Keurig K-Mini Plus makes coffee brewing simple. With this coffee maker, it’s all about enjoying coffee, as opposed to indulging in the coffee brewing process. I did not need any advanced skills or knowledge in order to brew a neat cup of coffee.

Compared to K-Mini, Keurig K-Mini Plus comes with a few upgrades and improvements. Specifically, K-Mini Plus has the following advantages over K-Mini:

• A removable water reservoir, which makes cleaning and filling MUCH easier.
• A Strong brew button, which allows to brew bolder and stronger coffee.
• 5 unique colors, which make daily task of brewing coffee extra joyous and pleasing.

Who is Keurig K-Mini Plus perfect for?

Through this Keurig K-Mini Plus review, I realized that there might be some pockets of consumers benefiting from this product. Though Keurig K-Mini is definitely on a more expensive side (high $$- or low $$$-price tag), there are some consumers who would most likely fall in love with this product.

Keurig K-Mini Plus is among the easiest coffee makers to use. The machine appears very intuitive for people of all ages: from young adults to more mature users.

The Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee machine is among the best machines for coffee lovers who do not need or want to learn ins and outs of coffee brewing. The machine is simple, quick and easy.

Despite the ease and convenience, Keurig K-Mini Plus allows some flexibility in coffee brewing. Specifically, it allows to brew stronger and bolder coffee, due to an inclusion of a strength control.

Given its size, this machine can accommodate many different lifestyles and purposes.

• It can fit into smaller spaces, whether it’s kitchens, dorms or offices.
• Some of my friends carry this coffee maker with them on vacation. Instead of using a hotel coffee maker (which has been used many times for questionable purposes), they use their own beloved coffee maker to brew delicious coffee.

You might find the following appealing about Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker:

✓ More flexibility in coffee brwing (strength control + removable water reservoir)

✓ Strong brand behind a coffee maker

✓ Simplicity, convenience and ease

✓ Several brew sizes

✓ Ability to fit in a travel mug

✓ A small size

Who is Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee machine NOT perfect for?

Just like with other coffee maker reviews, I would love to remain honest in this Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker review.

Keurig K-Mini Plus is a good machine, but will likely not fit everyone. We believe that Keurig K-Mini Plus is overpriced given its quality, capacity and features. There are coffee makers with advanced features, which allow to brew tastier, richer and deeper coffee. Some examples include other Keurig coffee makers, Black and Decker, Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach.

In all, I think that there are a couple of examples where where Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker might not be a perfect choice:

✗ Mediocre price-to-value ratio

✗ You like hosting larger gatherings or enjoy drinking coffee with another person

✗ You would like a machine that offers flexibility of coffee pods and coffee grounds

✗ A coffee maker that extracts nuanced and sophisticated coffee flavors

✗ Plastic-free machine

✗ A machine that looks and feels sturdy, reliable and prestigious

✗ A machine that comes with a larger water tank

Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker Review and Evaluation 🕵️

→ Appearance

Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker sells in several color options, all of which look great! Unlike Keurig K-Mini, Keurig K-Mini Plus was selling for the same price at the time of publishing.

The machine is extremely easy to use. I was able to remove the drip tray to accommodate a taller travel mug under the spout.

The control panel was located on the front top of the machine, and it was very intuitive. It came with 1 on/off button, strength control and a brew control.

A small removable water reservoir is at the back of the machine. It was very easy to re-fill. The reservoir fits as much water as it is necessary to brew one cup of coffee, and it needs to be refilled before each brewing.

→ Features and technical specs

Voltage: Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker is made for 120V, and can be used in Canada and the US only.

Basket size: Keurig K-Mini Plus works with k-cups coffee capsules, so it does not have a portafilter. I was able to use reusable My K-Cup to fill with ground coffee.

My K-Cup, however, appears to defeat the purpose of a single cup coffee machine. If I want to fill a container with ground coffee, I may as well invest in a different type of machine.

Note that Keurig K-Mini Plus does not brew K-Carafe pods, K-Mug pods, Vue pods, or Rivo pods.

Beverage size: Keurig K-Mini Plus can brew anywhere between 6oz and 12oz of coffee. The actual cup size depends on the amount of water in the water reservoir. If I fill the water reservoir with 6oz, I will get 6oz of coffee. If I fill 9oz of water, I will get 9oz of coffee. Note that the machine uses all the water poured into the water reservoir.

Weight: The Keurig K-Mini Plus is a very light machine, weighing about 6.5 lbs, which is 2 pounds more than its sister version K-Mini. Overall, it was easy to operate and most people should have an okay time dealing with this coffee maker.

Unit size: Keurig K-Mini Plus is quite tiny, but tall. It is 12.1 inches tall (16.8in tall when the pod chamber is open), 4.5 inches wide and 11.3 inches deep.

Water reservoir: Keurig K-Mini Plus comes with a small removable water reservoir that can hold up to 12 oz of water. I was easily able to remove the reservoir by pulling it up. It made water refilling and cleaning MUCH easier. I need to to put at least 6 oz of water in the water reservoir in order for the brewing to start.

Additional perks: I was so excited for this Keurig K-Mini Plus review. Though this coffee maker is extremely simple, I loved some of the design solutions in this coffee maker:

✓ A bolder brew with a strength control button. Keurig K-Mini Plus is an upgrade from K-Mini. It allows a user to control strength, or boldness, of coffee through a strength control button. When I used this feature, the brewing time was a little longer, but coffee felt stronger and richer.

✓ Saving space with K-Cup storage. K-Mini Plus has a storage that can fit 9 K-cup pods. This way, the pods can be stored inside the machine, saving even more space.

✓ A smaller size allows it to fit almost anywhere. The Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker can be a great choice for space-constrained homes, offices and even dorms. Some of my friends take this coffee maker on vacation. It fits easily into a car and a suitcase. This machine is less than 5 inches wide, and weighs about 4.5 pounds.

✓ Saves energy and provides extra protection with auto-off. This feature is programmed to turn of the coffee maker automatically after it has been idle for 90 seconds. This helps me save energy and, in consequence, it helps me save money too.

✓ Brews various sizes for various days. This coffee machine can brew anywhere between 6oz to 12oz of coffee, depending on how much water I pour in the water reservoir. This is great news for people who like drinking their coffee in larger volumes, or want to brew more than 6oz of coffee for whatever reason.

✓ Mess-reducing spout and drip tray. The drip tray not only helps the cups to get closer to the pouring spout in order to avoid splashes.

✓ Compatible with a travel mug to enjoy coffee for longer. The drip tray is removable. This helps me place a travel mug up to 6 inches under the spout to pour more coffee to go.

✓ Saves space and keeps things clean with a smart cord storage. The machine has a small storage that can fit its cord. This helped me transport the machine more easily. Further, it helps me keep the countertops tidy and free of electrical cords.

→ Performance

Brewing time: K-Mini Plus takes a bit of time to brew coffee. It took about 2 minutes to brew a 6oz cup of coffee. The machine took a bit longer to brew 12oz, just like it took longer to brew a cup of “bolder” coffee. This is much slower than Keurig K-Mini.

Flavor: Keurig K-Mini Plus allowed me to indulge in a variety of k-cups. Coffee was tasty and perfectly drinkable. Thanks to the strength control button, which is lacking in a base model of Keurig K-Mini, my coffee was bolder, stronger and richer. In the end, I was only brewing coffee at a bold function.

Temperature: Keurig K-Mini Plus did not allow me to control the temperature of the brew. In my tests, the water reached about 160-170 F degrees, which is significantly below the perfect brewing temperature. Further, the coffee maker had difficulty brewing a second cup of coffee immediately after the first. The second cup of coffee was not properly extracted, and water was too cold.

Noise levels: The noise coming from this machine is rather insignificant. In my opinion, it was among the most quiet machines I have tested.

Cleaning: I was really happy with how easy and convenient Keurig K-Mini Plus was to clean. Some of its parts, such as the drip tray and the k-cup pod holder, were dishwasher safe. Further, Keurig K-Mini Plus had a removable water reservoir, which allowed me to remove any leftover water. I felt it was necessary to regularly clean the body of the machine with a damp cloth or sponge. Keurig recommended that the interior of the machine should be descaled between 3-6 months, which is on par with our cleaning guidelines.

Customer-reported technical issues

I have tested the machine for a couple of weeks prior to publishing this Keurig K-Mini Plus review. I have not experienced any major problems with the machine.

Many users seem to enjoy Keurig K-Mini Plus for its simplicity, ease and convenience. However, there appears to be a large portion of users who did not have a positive experience with Keurig K-Mini. In their feedback, they complain about the following issues:

• loud water pump
• too expensive for such a simple coffee maker
• difficult/impossible to brew one cup after another (the 2nd cup comes out completely cold and the brewer does not remove the contents of the k-cup)
• the machine does not brew the correct quantity of coffee (e.g. brews 5oz of coffee though 10oz of water was poured in)
• can stop working after several weeks
• the brewing temperature dramatically falls after several uses (lukewarm)

We do not know whether these users have cleaned or used the coffee maker properly. If your coffee maker stops working, we do recommend getting in touch with Keurig as soon as possible. Keurig might be able to replace a malfunctioning coffee maker either free or at a small fee.</p

→ Health and safety

I was somewhat sad about this coffee maker. As I was preparing the Keurig K-Mini Plus review, I tried to research what the product is made of.

On one hand, Keurig claims that all the plastic its coffee machines and K-pods are made of, is FDA approved and BPA free, and hence, safe to use.

On the other, the practice showed me that Keurig K-Mini Plus is made mostly with plastic (and, unfortunately cheaply-made plastic). Whether it is BPA-free or not, this plastic comes into direct contact with scorching hot water. As you may know by now, I am personally very concerned about using products in which boiling water touches plastic.

Further, there have been some health issues concern regarding the k-cups. Keurig has addressed these concerns by saying that their specifications require that k-cups pods be constructed from plastic which does not contain BPA or phthalates. They also added that the temperature of the water dispensed in Keurig brewers is well below the melting and softening points of the pod materials. What that means is that there should be no plastic leaches from the pod into the beverage.

The BPA-free status is helpful to know, but it typically does not guarantee that there are no other potentially dangerous substitutes used in the production process.

Reports show that many manufacturers replace BPA with other types of plastic. These types include but are not limited to BHPF (fluorene-9-bisphenol), TPP (triphenyl phosphate), and bisphenol S (BPS). The exact health effects of the BPA substitutes, such as BHPF, TPP and BPS, are unknown at this point.

Additionally, there are still concerns regarding the safety of single serve brewers, though, which are believed to be prone to growth of mold, algae, and bacteria.

Further, I strongly recommend that anyone who thinks about purchasing a machine that uses K-cups should first do a thorough research on the health and environmental concerns that have been associated with the use of K-cup brewers and coffee pods over the years.

→ Price to value: is Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker worth the money?

At present, Keurig K-Mini Plus sells at a low-$$$ to high-$$ price point on Amazon. This is very high price, in comparison with what is available in the market.

Keurig K-Mini, a thinly more basic version, costs $30 less. There is virtually no difference between Keurig K-Mini and K-Mini Plus.

The only additions to the Keurig K-Mini Plus, which we care about, are as follows:

• A strength control function
• A coffee pod storage
• A removable water reservoir
• Available in multiple colors

Before you buy, you will need to decide if having those 3 additional features is worth paying $30 more.

In our opinion, paying $30 extra is just not worth it. Yes, K-Mini Plus can brew slightly stronger coffee, it has a removable water tank and a coffee pod storage. However, those features are not strong enough to pay this much.

Should I buy Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker? Owly’s verdict! 🔨

I’d like to emphasize in the Keurig K-Mini Plus review, this coffee maker is an interesting selection in the market.

The main advantage is its size. Some users live in small apartments without much space. Keurig K-Mini Plus comes in very handy. Further, some other users decide to take this machine with them on vacation. Instead of using hotel-provided accessories, certain coffee lovers brew their favorite cup of coffee in K-Mini Plus.

The differences between K-Mini Plus and K-Mini are minor. Unlike K-Mini, K-Mini Plus comes with a strength control, removable water reservoir, k-cup storage and availability in multiple colors.

At the same time, K-Mini sells for $30 less, which is almost half the price of K-Mini Plus. It’s up to you to decide whether you’d like to pay a top dollar for a fairly simple coffee maker.

Will you get Keurig K-Mini Plus coffee maker? What is your experience with Keurig K-Mini Plus? Have you been happy or disappointed with it? et us know your thoughts in the comments, under this Keurig K-Mini Plus review!