Keurig 2.0 Review: Is It Worth It?

Learn all about the Keurig 2.0 machines. Updated!

Keurig 2.0 Review

Do you love coffee as much as I do? How many cups of coffee do you have in a day? I usually start my day with one, but by the end of the day, I have had three. Coffee keeps me going!

I received the Keurig 2.0 thanks to Influenster in order to write this review. All words and opinions are mine. This post contains affiliate links.

My hubby and I used to have an old drip machine, but thanks to our local grocery store a few years ago, we won our first Keurig K650 in a contest. It was heavenly, being able to brew just one cup at a time. No measuring, no filling the pot, no soaking the pot, no wasting what was left.. We could have a cup of coffee whenever we wanted without having to brew an entire pot!

Then, just two months ago, Influenster sent me an email saying I was going to be able to review the new Keurig 2.0 K550.

[NOTE: This review was first written in 2015. I was not paid for this post. Please scroll down to see updates! As of 2019, I still use this machine.]

I was ecstatic! Why?

• The 2.0 has the option to brew an entire carafe. No more bringing out the old drip pot when company came over!
• The 2.0 has a new sstrength control feature. I could have strong coffee when I needed wanted it!

The Keurig 2.0 K550  comes with:

• a Keurig™ Carafe,
• a 2.0 Water Filter Starter Kit with one filter,
• and K-Cup® and K-Carafe™ sample packs

Curious about the @Keurig 2.0? Here's an interesting #review! Click to Tweet

Is a Keurig Worth It?

I have now used the Keurig 2.0 for a little over a month (updates below). I brew about 2-3 cups a day, as does my husband. Here are some of the things I have noticed:

1. The Keurig 2.0 only uses licensed Keurig K-cups. More on that below.
2. It brews cups either 4 oz., 6 oz.,  8 oz., or 10 oz. According to the brochure, there will be k-cups that will open up new features with more sizes, but those have yet to be on the market. (However, I have discovered that you can open up these new features using a carafe  k-cup. See my YouTube Keurig 2.0 review.)
3. This machine is MUCH quieter than my previous Keurig machine.
4. There are 4 different lights: white, blue, red, or green. While the lights are fun to play with, they can almost be tacky. I tend to use the white or the blue since some of my other appliances have similar lighting in their clock features.
5. The Keurig 2.0 clock has a mind of its own. It seems to be ahead all the time, no matter how many times I reset it. According to some online research, I have discovered that this is an issue with many of the machines. For some reason, the internal clock changes the minute every 30 seconds instead of 60 seconds. So if I set the machine on a Saturday, by the next Monday it’s ahead by more than an hour. I swore at first it was my husband playing tricks on me, but it’s just the machine. No biggie. I see that many people are sending the machine back because of this issue, but since I don’t set the timer for my coffee to be waiting for me in the morning (who wants their coffee cooling off before they can get to it?), I won’t be sending mine back.
6. There is an option to brew a strong cup or a strong carafe. LOVE <3
7. There isn’t much of a variety of wallpapers for the touch screen. Eh, not a big deal.
8. Did I mention there’s a touch screen? Very cool and very easy to use.
9. There is an option to brew hot water for tea.
10. I can add a favorite setting when using the carafe. No need to push all the buttons every time; I just push my favorite button and it’s ready to go. (Apparently this feature will be ready in future versions of regular k-cups as well. Fingers crossed.)
11. While the carafe cups are recyclable, the regular k-cups are not. Boo.

 

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The Keurig 2.0 glows! Which one is your favorite? #HelloKeurig (I received this to review from @influenster )

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Does the Keurig 2.0 use regular K Cups?

Many people are asking this question. In short, there are specific K-Cups that it uses, and those K-Cups have a special ring around the edge of the cup so that the machine can read it.

[READ UPDATES BELOW]

 

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The Keurig 2.0 only accepts Keurig pods. It also does not accept a filter for ground coffee. No biggie. (I got this free to review from @influenster ) #HelloKeurig   View on Instagram

People are getting very upset about this, accusing Keurig for just wanting more money. While yes, that may be the case because they are a business, they are also protecting their name. Unlicensed products may not be tested or reviewed for the high quality Keurig wants to uphold.

Think about it, when you hear k-cup, you automatically think of Keurig, right? Not every k-cup goes through quality testing. Keurig wants to make sure that when k-cups are used with their 2.0 machines, they are of the quality you expect, otherwise, Keurig would get a bad rap.

As they say in their Welcome brochure that comes with the 2.0:

“It’s our way of making sure that the beverage you love will always be the beverage you get”. 

But, from what I’ve seen and read, there are ways around the licensed products, if you’re bound to go that way to stick with the pods you want. It involves cutting rings off of a new K-Cup and using it over an old K-Cup. (It works! I tried it myself)

Personally, I don’t find the need to do that since the coffee I buy already has the special ring and there is absolutely no difference in price due to the licensing.

Does the Keurig 2.0 use ground coffee?

[SEE UPDATES BELOW]

Again, this is another no. I’d have to admit that I was a little disappointed in this one, since we keep an extra bag of ground coffee on hand in case we ran out of k-cups and needed an emergency cup of coffee before we could get to the store (I don’t visit the store early in the morning in my jammies, thank you very much).

Reusable K-Cups for Keurig 2.0

NEW>> You can now reusable k-cups that work in the 2.0 machines!

Can the Keurig 2.0 use Vue Cups?

Nope, but if you search online, there are ways to do it. I don’t recommend these hacks as they can potentially damage the parts of the machine.

Is the Keurig 2.0 dishwasher safe?

No. It needs to be washed by hand. There are parts of it that could be damaged in the dishwasher. This goes for the carafe too.

Would you recommend the Keurig 2.0 ? 

In my opinion, the new Keurig 2.0 is worth it. I have yet to have a bad experience with it when it comes to my coffee (and I am very serious about my coffee!!). When Keurig does finally come out with the newest versions of the k-cups to unlock the other features, it’s going to be an amazing machine.

Many thanks to Influenster for sending me the Keurig 2.0!

Keurig 2.0 Update Feb. 2015: 

It has now been three months since I have owned this machine. I’m still in love. The clock is still wonky (minor issue), but other than that there are absolutely no problems (other than my husband forgetting to place a coffee cup under the machine now and again…).

 

Update May 2016:

Still using my Keurig 2.0! It still works great for my 3 cups of coffee every day!

Update September 2017:

Still going strong! No issues that a good cleaning couldn’t fix. Coffee tastes fresh and strong.

Update December 2019:

I’m still using this machine. I personally buy generic k-cups that work perfectly in the machine. I wish there were more recyclable k-cups available, but hopefully that will happen soon. The reusable k-cups on Amazon work well too. 

See the Keurig 2.0:

Thanks for reading!