Keurig 1.0 vs 2.0: Which Line of Brewers Is More Suitable for You?

Keurig is a smart company, and it’s always known how to find its way in the new and ever-changing trends. The proof for that is its enormous popularity among people from everywhere around the world. One could easily argue that the company doesn’t just blindly follow trends, but that it creates them too. Being successful in these two things takes a lot of effort and changes to the products, and this is exactly what Keurig’s 2.0 coffee makers are about: changes that reflect the trendy needs of Keurig’s customers. Contrary to the expectations, however, this doesn’t seem to affect the popularity of the classic 1.0 series. That said, we had to do our research and find out why this is the case, so that we can help you decide which Keurig coffee maker to buy. The way to do this was by comparing the Keuring 1.0 and 2.0 series.

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Our Pick: the Keurig 2.0 Coffee Makers

Even though the Keurig 1.0 coffee makers represented a big breakthrough in the industry of the single-serve coffee makers once they first went out for sale, it is time for something new. Many people love the simplicity and the efficiency of the 1.0 machines, however. For this reason, the 2.0 series are improved 1.0 Keurigs, but they’re also more than that. These coffee makers keep the good qualities of the 1.0 line and integrate them with some new settings that go hand in hand with the personalization of coffee drinks. The 2.0 Keurigs are fast, reliable, and they can customize the coffee to everyone’s preference. Clearly, the 2.0s have more advantages in comparison to the Keurig 1.0 coffee makers.

About the Keurig 1.0 Coffee Makers

People like their coffee makers to be simple, and the Keurig 1.0 definitely offer them that pleasure. Everything about these coffee makers can be described as simple, from their design and control panels to the way they make your coffee and how they need to be maintained. This simplicity and convenience gave these Keurigs a pass for entrance into many households throughout the world.

The 1.0 Keurigs might not have a lot of features, but they are sure easy to use and highly reliable. To brew yourself some coffee on a 1.0, you need to insert a K-Cup coffee pod from your favorite coffee brand. However, if you sometimes feel like you’d like to try some coffee that you can’t find in a K-Cup, you’re free to do so since these Keurigs can brew third-party pods as well.

Being so simple to use, the 1.0 Keurigs are convenient for everyone who likes their automatic setup. A pre-set temperature of the brew water and coffee strength equals an easy coffee, which makes the life of many coffee lovers a bit simpler.

As we already mentioned, many people have, year after year, been putting their trust into Keurig. If you, however, feel like you do want a bit more tweaking and picking of some coffee-making parameters, you’ll love Keurig’s 2.0 line.

About the Keurig 2.0 Coffee Makers

Coffee lovers who also love single-serve coffee makers can kind of sense what the improvements of the 2.0 Keurigs have to do with. In general, these are Keurig’s responses to what their customers had to say about the 1.0-liners. That said, the new Keurigs are coffee makers that have made a smart and gentle transition from the automatic and pre-set options on the Keurig 1.0 models, making a lot of settings adjustable.

Pick a 2.0, and dive into its world of temperature control, strength adjustment, and have iced coffee with Keurig 2.0 coffee makers. If you feel like you want to skip coffee, you can choose the hot water function and make yourself a cup of tea for a change. And if you like to take personalization to the highest level, you can create a list of your favorite beverages and enjoy them.

The models from the 2.0 line have kept the simplicity of the 1.0-liners. Their control panels are intuitive, and their designs make them an easy fit for in the kitchen. However, you do have more choices when it comes to the colors in which your coffee makers come, and their dimensions are also more diverse.

If you like using third-party coffee pods, you might make a grumpy face when you learn that a 2.0 Keurig is not exactly compatible with pods other than the patented K-Cups. For the sake of honesty, there are third-party brands that do work on a 2.0 Keurig, but there are not plenty of fish in the sea of the kind, if you know what we mean. Keurig is, however, partnered with a lot of coffee and tea brands, and there’s a lot of K-Cups to choose from.

Similarities Between the Keurig 1.0 and 2.0 Coffee Makers

We did say something about the 2.0 models ‘inheriting’ many of the good qualities of the Keurig 1.0 coffee makers. That said, it is impossible there to not be similarities between the two series.

One similarity is that all Keurig coffee makers have been among the best coffee makers that use K-Cups for years. This is a huge success considering how many coffee makers use the K-Cup technology nowadays.

Apart from this obvious similarity, the coffee makers in these Keurig series alert you when it’s time to descale them.

Another similarity between Keurigs 1.0 and 2.0 is that the coffee makers from both of these lines do have programmable features, even though the 1.0s are simpler machines, as we already mentioned. The features you can program of both Keurig 1.0s and 2.0s have to do with the coffee makers’ turn-on time and the automatic brew function.

Other than these similarities, all Keurigs can brew different cup sizes and have removable water tanks. Also, both 1.0 and 2.0 models can work with reusable pods, even though there are certain differences between the two Keurig series when it comes to this.

Differences Between Keurig 1.0 and 2.0 Coffee Makers

To have a full comparison of the two Keurig series, we have to also speak about the differences between them. One difference between 1.0s and 2.0s are the cup sizes they can brew. The models from the first line usually brew 6, 8, or 10 cups whereas 2.0 models can brew even travel mugs and 4-cup carafes. So far so good when it comes to the brew size versatility of the Keurig 2.0 coffee makers.

Another difference between the two lines is that while the 1.0s brew different cup sizes from one size of K-Cups, the 2.0s brew the coffee from K-Cups made for different cup sizes; keep this in mind when buying a K-Cup gift basket!

Even though the 2.0s score a point more than the 1.0s when it comes to this, the 1.0s have this one advantage that the 2.0s don’t: they work with a lot of third-party pods. As you can notice, the ‘debate’ here is whether you like to use third-party pods and K-Cups or you prefer using only K-Cups with many different coffee blends inside.

Speaking about the pods, the 1.0s are known to work with reusable coffee pods. This was not an option with the 2.0s until the public raised its voice making Keurig to start selling their reusable My K-Cup solving a bitter problem for a lot of customers in the world.

One of the most important differences between the two Keurig lines has to do with the features of the coffee makers. Features like water temperature and coffee strength control, black and white or color displays, and specialty beverages are all part of the design of 2.0 line Keurigs. These Keurigs are even able to change the brew parameters in accordance with the blend of coffee in the K-Cup. That means that these coffee makers can brew different blends at a different temperature and with a different water volume to make you better coffee.

Other nice features are also present on the 2.0 models, and they include auto on/off, hot water on demand, larger water tanks, and more. These coffee makers are, therefore, more flexible when it comes to personalization and in tune with the newest trends in single-serve coffee makers.

Which One Should You Go With?

This depends on what you need, ultimately, and our best Keurig coffee maker list might help you decide. We think that more personalization of coffee drinks doesn’t hurt, but we also understand why some would go for the simpler option. However, even though we do understand the two viewpoints, the Keurig 2.0 coffee makers are clear winners for us.