With the latch open, it’s roughly 13 inches in height. Its slim silhouette fits neatly on a counter and can easily stand between other appliances you may already have in your kitchen. Using the My K-Cup does do away with some of the convenience Keurig brewers are known for. You’ll have to add about a minute or two of prep and cleanup to your morning coffee routine. If that’s incompatible with busy weekday mornings, maybe consider this option for slower weekend brews. Better yet, the Keurig K-Mini coffee makers work with the My K-Cup refillable pod.
As I was testing the product for this Hamilton Beach review, I really wanted to understand who would most likely fall in love with this product. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products, at NO charge to you. We reserve the right to change prices without notice and to correct errors. The price for this product is set by the individual retailers and varies among them.
It brews very neat coffee, and a prominent brand stands behind the quality of this coffee machine. For such a small coffee maker, I was impressed with what Cuisinart Coffee could accomplish. It brewed perfectly fine coffee quickly and conveniently.
However, if you want to brew the coffee into travel mugs when you’re on the move, you can take out their drip trays, offering an extra inch of clearance. One thing makes this brewer different from other Keurig® models; there is no water reservoir. This Cuisinart Coffee happens to be the only reason I prefer this unit – especially for my weekend cottage. The water does not sit in the unit all week while I am away, and winter storage is a non-factor. This means the water will sit in the coffee maker all season.
This is common on many budget coffee makers and many Keurig coffee machines, so it should be neither difficult nor overly expensive to add. Perhaps this should be another feature distinguishing the K-Mini Plus from the K-Mini. That said, given how quickly this machine heats and brews, it isn’t a huge sacrifice to start from scratch in the morning.
Temperature is another vital part of brewing coffee, and the National Coffee Association says the optimal cup is brewed between 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit. The K-Mini is unable to produce coffee at this temperature. Out of four cups of coffee, each cup I brewed ranged between 180 to 189 degrees Fahrenheit, despite the serving size.
Great little one cup coffee maker and a wonderful choice of colors. I took it to the beach for a “girl’s weekend getaway” and we enjoyed it so much more than brewing a full pot of coffee each morning. We were each able to choose our own brand of coffee and did not have to drink from a large pot that usually would run out before we all had our fill. It’s even small and light enough to be considered portable, at least in the context of road trips.