Keurig's New Coffee Brewer Features Some Major Tech Upgrades
Ever tried searching for the phrase, "Ways to hack your Keurig?" There are many more uses for your Keurig than just brewing your morning cuppa joe. Per Spoon University, Keurig coffee brewers can be used to make everything from oatmeal to pasta to instant mac and cheese. In 2015, Keurig even partnered with Campbell's to create a line of k-cup soups you could make in your coffee pot, via CNN, and by 2015, a third of U.S. households were using coffee makers with single-serve coffee pods (per The Atlantic).
Now, Keurig is hacking itself — and it's getting back to basics. According to a press release shared with Tasting Table this week, Keurig Dr. Pepper announced the release of its newest coffee-making model, which Mauricio Leyva, Group President at Keurig Dr. Pepper, says "takes customization to a new level." Introducing: The K-Café SMART, a machine designed with aspiring baristas in mind.
Here are the major tech upgrades fans can expect to see in the new coffee brewer.
Thirsty for high-tech customization?
The "SMART" part is that this coffee pot pairs with a Keurig smartphone app featuring an online recipe Rolodex called "Café Creations." The app offers brewers 70 different recipes for recreating coffee shop-grade craft bevvys at home — most of which take just three minutes or less. The model also comes with a built-in three-speed milk frother and Keurig's "MultiStream Technology," which means your grounds will be steeped by five streams of water instead of one.
Unlike other models in Keurig's lineup, the K-Café SMART can detect the exact brand and flavor of each coffee pod a user inserts and recommends specific recipes to fit the roast. This feature is called "BrewID technology," and the impressive tech comes with an impressive price tag: $249.99. If you're thirsty for something a little more affordable, Keurig also released a "lite" version of the do-it-all coffee maker, called the "K-Supreme SMART," with a price tag of $199.99.
For now, the K-Café SMART is exclusively available on Keurig's website, but the company plans to branch out to other retailers later this fall.