Breville BKC600XL Gourmet Single-Cup Coffee Brewer

Renowned for making exceptional small kitchen appliances, Breville has once again excelled.

They teamed up with Keurig to introduce this high end Keurig brewer. Designed by Breville, it is aesthetically gorgeous, looks high end, is stainless steel with chrome accents, and uses Keurig K-cup technology.

The Breville is actually a Keurig B70 in a different body so beverages from the two machines taste exactly the same, but the Breville costs $100 more.

The Breville BKC600XL Gourmet Single-Cup Brewer is one of the most expensive, feature laden Keurig single serve coffee makers that uses both K-cups and ground coffee, and retails for $299 but you can get it from Amazon new for $224.95.

Due to its solid design, the Breville is quiet compared with other coffee makers.

The noisiest parts of the cycle are the initial heating and the final blow of air, which are louder than a drip coffee maker but not offensive at all.

This stainless steel single cup coffee maker uses Keurig K-Cups, of which there are over 150 different to choose from, with selections from 13 gourmet brands. Beverages range from hot chocolate to organic dark-roast Columbian, and are produced by roasters Tully's, Green Mountain Coffee, Caribou, Newman's Own, Celestial Seasonings tea and others.

K-cups are cheaper than T-discs. If you sign up for auto shipping with Amazon tea and coffee, your favorite brew costs you between 34 and 50 cents a cup.

Most varieties can only be found online. You might also need to go through a few different flavors before finding one you really like. Single K-cups are obtainable online and Keurig sell 5 packs.

At the moment the K-cups are non-recyclable plastic but Keurig are working on this.

With the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet comes the reusable Keurig My K-Cup coffee filter, giving you the option to grind your own coffee, adjusting the quantity and type to suite your taste, and brew into a small container which can be read as a K-cup.

Together with a measuring scoop, they or the K-Cup holder (whichever you are not using) can be stored in a compartment under a spring loaded self-opening lid on top of the brewer. If your Breville is on a countertop with cabinets above, make sure you have enough room to open the top up.

With the dishwasher safe My K-Cup it very quick - 5 seconds to put a spoonful of coffee in, 10 seconds to rinse, you choose your favorite coffee and you save a fortune on K-cups.

If you intend mainly using your own coffee and find the My K-Cup reusable filter with its screen basket delivers disappointing results, grind your coffee finer until you find your preferred brew strength. The finer the ground, the stronger the brew.

If you are still unhappy with the results, use the K-Cup Perfect Pod Holster which is spring loaded and intended for paper pod inserts, and keep the My K-Cup for use with tea bags.

Remember, this is a coffee maker not an espresso maker. If you want to, froth milk and add it to your coffee, but the machine doesn't make lattes, cappuccinos or coffee crema.

With the hot chocolate K-cups, shake them before brewing. You get better results when you loosen the mix up.

The Breville 600XL single cup coffee and tea maker comes fully assembled. Setup is easy, but before you first use it, purge the machine.

Size wise, the Breville single cup coffee maker is slightly wider and heavier than the Keurig B70.

Made from heavy-duty stainless steel with a die-cast safety locking arm, the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet Single-Cup Coffee Brewer weighs 16.7 pounds and measures 14-3/4 by 12-3/4 by 16-3/4 inches.

Breville is durable. After six months in offices where 15 people make at least 30 beverages a day, nothing on the machine has broken and it still looks new.

The power button is conveniently on the side of the brewer instead of the back.

This programmable single cup coffee maker with a lit up, easy to read LCD control panel offers features like four brew strength sizes (5.25 oz, 7.25 oz, 9.25 oz, 11.25 oz with the smallest cup size being the most robust because it uses the least water), variable brew temperature control (1 degree increments between 187 and 192 degrees Fahrenheit), a digital clock with auto on-off time, allowing you to control the brewing process with one touch.

When the machine switches on, it heats up very quickly.

Bear in mind this is a single serve coffee maker, with a single serve being 8 oz at the most. If you fill a 20 oz travel mug and use only one K-cup, the coffee will be watery. Even an Extra Bold with enough coffee to use the 11.25 oz setting will not taste its best in a large travel mug so use at least two or even 3 K-cups.

A single cup coffee maker with timer is sometimes convenient.

With the clock of the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet you can set auto-turn on/off times, for example set it to turn on at 6 am and off at 9 am.

The programmable idle shut down timer can be set it so it will turn off after two hours of inactivity. If you prefer, you can disable this function, in which case it will stay on until you manually turn it off.

The brew head comprises a patented showerhead which sprays a precisely calibrated amount of water through the K-cup. Temperature and pressure are designed to extract the maximum amount of flavor from the grounds.

The programmable default brew size allows you to set your own default cup size, giving you one click access to your favorite brew size. If you need to change to a different size, simply use the up and down buttons to highlight the brew size you want, and it automatically returns to your default for the next brew.

The large 60 oz water tank of the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet keeps the water at brew temperature while it is switched on, so you don't have to re-heat it for every cup.

With the blue backlighting you can see how full the water tank is and when it needs a refill, the blue light flashes.

To remove the tank for refilling, grab it from underneath where there is hand grip for you to do so. You could first take off the tank cover and grab inside but that's awkward. Or you could fill water in a jug and pour that into the reservoir without removing it at all. Some people feel constant removing of the tank causes wear and tear on the valve under the tank.

The water reservoir is fitted with a charcoal water filter, ensuring optimum quality water and taste, without you having to spend extra on filtered water. If you already use filtered water from your refrigerator you don't have to install the water filter.

Cleaning the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet is a breeze - open the machine's head and discard the K-cup. As no cleaning is required between uses, you can brew a cup of coffee and then a cup of tea immediately afterwards, with no trace of coffee taste or aroma in your tea.

The large drip tray doesn't vibrate during brewing, and it accommodates large mugs, even a travel mug if your remove the tray. A float in the drip tray lets you know when it is full.

There is built in cord storage so your countertop looks neat and tidy.

The Breville is BPA free (BPA plastics are linked to several health problems).

Your purchase includes a water filter, 18 sample single portion coffee blends, a grounds filter cup and scoop. It is covered by a one year warranty and currently this machine can be shipped only within the U.S.

In conclusion, if you have the money to spare, want a stylish K-cup maker with a water filter and a built-in My K-cup, the Breville BKC600XL Gourmet single cup coffee maker is the machine for you.