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Brewing System
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The B60 Brewing System, is one of the most successful coffee and tea brewers developed by Keurig for the home. It introduced programmable (timed) brewing, a fixed set of three cup sizes (5, 7 and 9oz) that can be brewed from identical K-Cups (proprietary, single-use, disposable containers that carry the tea or coffee to be brewed) and a removable spill tray that enables the use of travel mugs when the tray is removed. This brewer retailed for $150 when it was introduced and similar products from Keurig now retail for $80.
In the following pages we will go through the B60's functionality, some of the benefits from adopting the Keurig system, challenges posed by the B60's design and potential solutions to these problems. The specific brewer used in this analysis sits on top of a counter at an MIT fraternity. It is used by a subset of the house's 30 residents (both men and women) and guests. Most of the users are between 18 and 25 years of age. The B60 was designed for home users, and based on the design characteristics, it was probably targetting users between 20 and 60 years of age.
Before continuing on to the other pages of this analysis, please refer to the Brand Overview to learn more about the single-cup brewing technology developed by Keurig and a summary of the company's history and impact below.
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Brand Overview
Keurig, which is now a synonym for single cup brewing in the home, took several decades to become the billion-dollar enterprise it is today. Surprisingly, Keurig was founded in 1998 (a 20 year old company!), by John Sylvan, after years of tinkering and prototyping with brewing machines and coffee-filter-lined cups.
The Keurig name was unfamiliar to the home until 2003 when it introduced the B100 brewing system as a premium home appliance ($249.95) for individuals seeking convenience in their coffee and tea brewing. Since then, Keurig has introduced a wide range of products in an attempt to capture the various market segments within the home brewing space (they currently offer brewing systems anywhere between $80 and $170). And they have performed… 
…by 2014 over 30% of the coffee consumed in the United States was used in single cup brewing machines, around the time Keurig was first able to sell in excess of 10 million brewing systems per year.
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