After seeing one of these at Timothy's in Sherway, I made a quick note to look up what it might be. I like Timothy's coffee, so maybe they had something to offer in the way of a coffee maker. Turns out, I had no idea what I was missing.

 The Keurig introduces, at least to me, the concept of vacuum-sealed, individual serving of coffee, called K-Cups in Keurig's case. Other companies have their equivalents, and I'm not sure who originated the concept. Timothy's has a wall of these K-Cups, which I've previously ignored, but now am in awe of the choices that can be made. A 25-pack sample of various teas and coffees - it can do tea as well as coffee, due to the design, which we'll get to - came with the device, as was good enough to start (along with another 25-pack of some Ethiopian blend, I tend to like any Ethiopian coffee).

Device setup couldn't be simpler. Fill the reservoir on the left side, plug it in, hit the "Prime" button before using it, which loads the device with water to heat, which takes about 3 minutes, squirt out a cleansing cup of water, and you're good to go. The glowing blue LCD sports a clock, allows for auto-on and -off settings, has water temperature adjustment, and will alert you if/when the device needs to be cleaned due to mineral deposit excess.

To get a cup of whatever you want, you lift the top handle, which opens its maw, and tilts a chamber out towards you, much like a printer cartridge receptacle, or an FPS weapon would on reload. Here, you place your chosen K-Cup, which resemble coffee cream packages, but are twice as large. No piercing, peeling, or disassembling is required. On closing the handle, the K-Cup slants back in, and is pierces through the top foil packaging, and through the bottom of the plastic. Water is then shunted through it, brewing your beverage within 45 seconds. Once complete, discard the used K-Cup, and enjoy.

The only part of the device that sees any actual product flowing through it would be from where the spigot pierces the bottom of the K-Cup, to where it flows into your cup, no more than an inch or two, at best. The rest of the machine only sees water flow through it, and maybe finger prints and DNA on the buttons.

It can serve just a heated cup of water, should you want a cup of bagged tea, or run out of K-Cups and have to resort to instant or the like, so our kettle now has a home in storage, along with our coffee grinder, and coffee press. We found that buying bags of coffee and grinding the beans ourselves was great, but a little unwieldy. Also, we tend only to drink a cup or two a day of coffee, and several cups of tea, so anything that had to be opened and sit for a few weeks, even sealed as best we could, tended to go stale near the end of a bag, or box, with regards to loose tea bags. Individually sealed servings are not only convenient, but allows us to choose, really, whatever we like - which could be completely different between us at any time - and in the space of less than 2 minutes, we're both kicking back and enjoying.

I am a convert. It would hurt to go back to brewing pots of coffee, or pressing a pile of one flavor of coffee that everyone has to drink. Truly, this is like having a coffee shop in your kitchen, which serves up whatever you choose to have on hand, in the blink of an eye. With the multitudes of beverage choices at Keurig's disposal, the convenience of the device, the sound, solid engineering, and the aesthetics, my only regret is that I didn't notice this machine earlier.

(The B60 is an earlier model, and as such was $50 shy of the newer B70, but reviews just as favorably, and performs the exact functions of the B70. The B70 seems to be an engineering tweak, which can only make an incredible brewer better.)

Amazon.com: Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System: Home & Garden