Keurig K-Cafe Clever Coffee Machine: Straightforward to Apply and Remote Controlled

With so many coffee makers on the market—brands like Keurig, Nespresso, Instant, and Moccamaster, to name a few—you might be tempted to buy the simplest one you can find. You’d be doing your sizzling drinks game a grave disservice.

We are not saying that you need Keurig coffee maker. Between the cost of K-pods, the penniless quality of ground coffee most of them contain, and the environmental impact of disposing of K-pods, there are a number of drawbacks to this type of coffee maker.

If you’re determined that the Keurig system is for you, however, the latest Keurig K-Café Clever is the best Keurig we’ve tested. The previous K-Café was honored as our Most Versatile Single-Serve Coffee Maker, but this up-to-date version dethrones it.

With more customization options, both in coffee and frothing, than the previous K-Café, you can create more unique coffee drinks to your exact specifications. It also looks better than its predecessor.

What is Keurig K-Café Clever?

This up-to-date machine lets you customize every aspect of your chosen drink. As a continuation of the previous K-Café model, the up-to-date K-Café Clever includes an improved milk frother with three levels of sizzling frothing, as well as frigid frothing.

From the amount of coffee you brew—6-, 8-, 10-, or 12-ounce cup sizes—to the strength of the brew, which leaves the grounds in contact with the water for a little longer, that’s just the beginning of the customization. From there, there’s a setting to brew directly over ice, and you can also choose a single or double shot of espresso, which you can combine with your choice of frothed milk to create café-style drinks—both sizzling and iced.

With the improved 5-hole brewing process, as Keurig calls it multi-stream technology—significantly more water comes into contact with the coffee in the pod, fully saturating the grounds to extract more of the coffee’s flavor—and it works. Of course, you have to start with a quality coffee to end up with a good cup, which isn’t always effortless to find in pod form.

How we tested

Testing a single-serve coffee maker with as many features as this one requires drinking a lot of coffee. Luckily, as a mom of two newborn kids, I’m always up for the task. But to be candid, I’m also a bit of a coffee snob—I usually start my day with a Chemex drip coffee using freshly ground beans that were roasted no more than three weeks ago.

So, in addition to all the usual test procedures of brewing, cleaning, and evaluating every aspect of the machine, I also brought in food. To round out the evaluations, I recruited a few family members who all own older Keurig models, as well as a few Reviewed staffers.

First, we made standard 10-ounce cups of coffee with our choice of pods, then moved on to all sorts of coffeehouse drinks—lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, iced coffees, and iced lattes. While I was evaluating the machine’s features, I gathered feedback on the drinks themselves from my recruits.

What we like

It has a compact size and a better design

The folks at Keurig put some thought into the design of this model, saving space while also building in features. The streamlined shape of the water tank — and the way it’s placed behind the milk frother — not only makes the machine take up less space, but it also looks aesthetically pleasing.

The app works well and is pleasant to apply

While you can manage all your settings via the buttons and digital screen on the device, it’s nice (and effortless) to connect to an app for even more customization. BrewID technology recognizes most K-Cup pods and recommends an initial brewing setting, but you can customize it to suit your needs. It’s elementary to set up, and effortless and fun to apply.

From the app, you can control the machine, adjust brewing settings, set schedules, and get cleaning reminders. You can also buy capsules and accessories by shopping directly through the app. In the Café Creations section, you can choose a recipe for any drink you can imagine and get step-by-step instructions.

Of course, you need to physically interact with the machine before pressing the button. To go in the app, but once your pod and cup are in place, you can walk away and control the machine from anywhere. Luckily, the app will remind you to check that your cup is in place, so you don’t accidentally make sizzling coffee on the counter.

The app cannot control the milk frother, and brewing and frothing milk at the same time is not possible, but following the instructions in the app will aid you quickly prepare any drink.

The water tank is cold effortless to fill

Not only does the water reservoir hold a whopping 60 ounces, it’s also much easier to fill than any Keurig I’ve used before. The sturdy handle makes it effortless to maneuver to the sink to fill, eliminating the need for another pouring container.

The elementary round lid is At last effortless to remove and reattach, eliminating any awkwardness associated with filling the tank.

Makes good coffee and quickly prepares great coffee drinks

As I mentioned, I am a firm believer in capsule coffee machines. But I was pleasantly surprised by the experience of drinking Green Mountain Murky Magic 10-ounce coffee from this machine.

While we tried a lot of low-quality capsules in the process (more on that later), using high-quality coffee and combining it with frothed milk and other ingredients to create a café-style drink is where this machine really shines.

All of the family members who visited me were impressed with the coffee I made from their chosen pods, saying it was fuller and tastier than the Keurig machines they owned. They especially enjoyed the cafe-style drinks I made for them—lattes, mochas, and tea lattes were all downed quickly, with requests for more.

The milk frother with three sizzling and frigid foam settings makes it effortless and fun to create sizzling or iced lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, caramel macchiatos, or any other fancy coffee drink you can dream up in the comfort of your own coffee bar—yes, even pumpkin spice lattes. And it does it quickly, making coffeehouse drinks from start to finish in about 3 minutes. That’s faster than I can place a Starbucks order remotely.

What we don’t like

Does not include a reusable insert

You get what you put in

We certainly have no complaints about the coffee machine in this regard, but to get a good cup of coffee, you have to start with a good grind of coffee – and in the case of capsules, it’s a bit more tough to remember to grind your own beans.

The intense flavor of coffee depends on the freshness of the beans. Coffee beans in capsules that were filled a long time ago and have been sitting on store shelves simply will not produce great coffee, regardless of how they are stored and brewed.

Trying a variety of regular medium roast coffee pods from brands like Green Mountain, Dunkin’, Starbucks and others, the results ran the gamut. At best, we got mediocre diner-style coffee, and at worst, heated, brown water that had almost no flavor.

If you care about the taste of your coffee and don’t plan on filling your own reusable capsules, you’ll need to put in a little extra effort to find a good product and buy capsules that are fresh and full of flavor.

Don’t expect real espresso

Is it worth buying a Keurig K-Café Clever?

Yes, if you are a Keurig devotee and want to have coffee shop-style drinks at home

Whether you choose to fill your own cartridge or buy pre-made cartridges, the Keurig K-Café Clever is a joy to apply. If you want to try making café-style drinks at home, you can do so easily with this machine, and for a fraction of the price of a regular coffee maker.

Meet the Tester

Danielle DeSiato

Editor-in-Chief, Kitchen and Appliances

@kissthecake

Editor-in-Chief, Kitchen & Appliances. Danielle has a BA from Syracuse University and an AAS in Culinary Arts from Newbury College. Previously, Danielle was a test cook and associate editor at America’s Test Kitchen, and a freelance recipe developer and food writer. She is a mom of two boys and loves making pizza on Friday nights.

See all reviews by Danielle DeSiato