The Keurig Rivo Cappuccino and Latte System

PROS: (a) Fast, heats up in <1-min; (b) easy to use; (c) very easy to clean up; (d) pump machine produces great crema; (e) makes great espresso using high-quality espresso grounds from Lavazza; (f) low noise; (g) compact; (h) well-made; (i) non-leaching; (j) inexpensive for a semi-automatic pump espresso, latte, cappuccino machine; and (k) comes with 12 free espresso pods, 3-ea in Decaf, Delicato, Classico, and Intenso. CONS: (1) Proprietary Rivo pods are expensive, though Keurig did drop the price recently. The cheapest price is $0.613/ea with discounts. That's high vs. E.S.E. pods. (2) The pods are not environmentally friendly. You can't just add the grinds to your garden or recycle them, nor are they biodegradable. I would very much like to see this change. The Rivo is a semi-automatic espresso maker. It heats up quickly (<1-min), and pumps the water through the Lavazza Rivo pod producing beautiful crema on top of the espresso. The brew is consistent, the water temperature just right, and the aroma amazing. This is our first espresso machine. There are four of us who drink espresso daily, having converted from Starbucks. We are all very, very happy with this machine. We did a lot of research before buying it. We didn't want to go all-in on a multi-thousand dollar machine for coffee, nor were we thrilled about paying $300-$999, but we figured about $350. This device was a wonderful surprise as we got it here on Amazon from CuppaCoffee for $129. This machine paid for itself in 23-days vs. our normal coffee run. We have Mac people and PC people in our office. The "Mac" people want things to be as simple as flipping on a light switch -- and they are very loud when frustrated. The "PC" people want to understand the wiring, maybe electricity, and occasionally customize the switch with a motion sensor or dimmer; frustration is an excuse to learn more. I'm a PC as the ad goes, but we needed a "Mac" espresso machine if we were going to make our own and stop the daily coffee run 7-days a week. We considered a broad range of devices eventually narrowing it down to two "Macs": The Keurig Rivo and the DeLonghi Bar32. I was pitching the Bar32. I wanted to have more coffee choices than the four the Rivo offers, and the option of grinding my own special beans. My co-workers wanted plug-and-play. Reviewers said the Bar32 leaked; my co-workers said it looked like it would be harder to use. Since Bed Bath and Beyond carries both, we took a field trip to see them in person -- and I'm glad we did! The Bar32 leak issue turned out to be a design/user problem. All of us had difficulty rotating the grinds/filter holder completely to the right all the way to make a good seal against the washer. This would definitely result in the types of leaks described. Torque stress of the Bar32's plastic body to make the holder tight would crack it over time. To use the Bar32 we'd have to create a special mount for it on our counter with sturdy side walls to withstand the torque when trying secure the holder. (Others wouldn't need to do this, but in our situation we would.) All of the DeLonghis, from the Bar32 to the $900+ jobs share this design. That killed the Bar32. The Rivo was dead simple -- WIN! DETAILS: Making espresso is as easy as 1-2-3: STEP-1 Turn on the machine. It lights up solid for <1-min to heat up, then the lights flash and there's a beep to let you know it's ready. STEP-2: Lift the lever-lid on top, insert a Rivo pod and close the lid. STEP-3: Put your cup under the spout, choose your shot (regular or long) and push the button. That's it! Making lattes, cappuccinos, etc., involving the milk device takes more steps. You choose a little foam, a lot of foam, or cold foam. The steamer/foamer makes fabulous foam using almond, soy, non-fat, and whole milk -- we tried them all. To get plain hot water, like for tea, just don't put in a pod. (You may need to drain a short shot of water first to clean out the spout.) Keurig does not offer a way to use your own grounds in the Rivo, but I have seen that sort of thing offered by 3rd parties. I'll pass on that for now. Clean-up is as easy as making the drink: just pull out the steamer/foamer, give it a good rinse and let it dry. When the water tank needs to be refilled, we dump the drip tray and spent pods. For us that's about every 2- to 3-days, depending on consumption. Keurig says once a month or so it should be de-scaled, but YMMV, it really depends on your water hardness. Keurig sells a nice easy-to-use kit for this, or one could try the old stand-by white vinegar. We use triple-filtered water. The water tank plastic does NOT leach; there is no flavor whatsoever imparted to the water by the machine at any step. That's important to me; I taste the plastic leached from the cold cups at Starbucks into the drinks, I also taste the plastic from their pitchers. Lavazza offers four different styles of espresso for this machine: Intenso dark roast; Classico medium roast; Delicato light roast; and Decaf which tastes most closely like the Classico medium roast. I have grown accustomed to a customized Iced Americano from Starbucks, which I would get every morning. I use the Intenso and get a better and more consistent Americano than they make. The other users have different types of drinks with raw sugar, flavorings, etc. All report after some experimentation their drinks are now as good or superior to what we were buying. We did end up buying flavored syrups, and various milks, etc., for their exotic tastes. I like the idea that I could move to organic and pure flavorings if I wanted to. Some reviewers have mentioned a lack of durability for this device. We have not experienced that, but just in case we did buy the $11 36-month Canopy protection plan to extend the original warranty from 1-yr to 3-yrs. UPDATE September 13, 2016 We have now purchased three Rivos! We've liked this unit so much, we bought another one for our vacation home, and when a member of our family moved, we got one for their new place. We've been using the Rivo now for 8-straight months. I discovered my "empty tray" rate was low, we actually empty the drain tray and discard the spent pods when we replace the water every morning. There is no leaching, but the water tastes "stale" if it sits in the water reservoir undisturbed overnight. We did encounter two interesting situations. (1) Milk quality = foam quality. My latte makers like the steamed foamed milk. When they try to use average priced milk, their results are hit-and-miss. Some cartons foam well, others do not. When they buy cheap milk they get lousy foam, even near-none. When they buy high quality organic milk they get fabulous foam -- every time, every carton, consistently. (2) After several hand washings we ran into a situation with the steamer where it wasn't injecting air into the milk properly. We thought something was broken and Keurig shipped a replacement part immediately, without hassle, and at no charge. After its arrival we compared the parts and found that ours had a piece that was not properly seated. Just the least extra little push to properly snap it in place and it returned to working like a charm. We called Keurig to return the new part, but they told us to keep it as a spare just in case. These are great little devices and I would definitely buy again -- in fact I did, twice!

We love the Rivo. It makes a great espresso and foams milk really well too. This machine is very easy to use. The cons: It takes about 4 minutes to make a latte. The machine has to warm up, then you can pour the coffee, and after that espresso shot is done, then you can froth the milk. You can only do one thing at a time. the cost of each rivo pod is a little too expensive There are 3 espresso choices and they are all the same brand of coffee. So, if you don't like the brand, you can't get any other kinds. Alternative milks do not froth up very well, but almond milk works the best.

I bought this as a gift for my mom for for Christmas. Upon opening it, it seemed like the perfect option for a low maintenance and easy to make latte machine. However, about 2 months into using it, it stopped working. The boiling hot water began to seep from behind the cup stand along the back side of the wall. Initially, I investigated and thought that it was due to the fact that the pump was broken. So I disassembled the entire thing and found that the pump was working fine. Upon further investigation it was seen that when the top is closed with an espresso pod inside, it never makes contact with the water meaning the mechanism is broken and the espresso pod is never punctured allowing the hot water to flow through it and create a cup of espresso. I did nothing to tamper with the mechanism and found that there is about 1/14th of an inch gap. I am extremely disappointed in this product and honestly would not buy a Keurig again.

So I have had this machine for over 60 days now. I am a coffee snob, admittedly. I come from Europe and struggled to find a proper coffee barista style machine that also fitted the bill that could also produce a decent quality froth. After an awful lot of research I decided to give the Rivo a shot. I wasn't into the coffee pods only option but hey ho. Got the machine, enjoy my first decent coffee in ages after a month in the USA. Starbucks doesn't quite cut it for me either: pricey and way too hot of a coffee! So here's what my thoughts are, What I like: -Easy set up, easy maintenance, amazing lavazza coffee pods. -Good customer service (phoned to redeem coffee pods offer that comes with the machine) -Opted for the coffee sample pack which lasted a while and gave me a good input on what to buy next. -Perfect packing, easy set up instructions, good quality sturdy (albeit plastic) materials. -perfect coffee everytime, you can play around with the settings until you create your perfect brew. I'm not into espressos so use one pods for two shots everytime to make a longer brew. A single shot is very strong, if you like that, you'll be delighted. -THE FROTH: So i read some reviews of how it stopped frothing properly after a while etc, which was why I hesitated at first to buy this machine, it did stop producing froth for me too after a while, I was very frustrating so I did some research and amazingly my findings changed my world (yes, I do like my coffee just right that much) THE MILK. Organic milk (I buy kirklands one from costco) makes ALL the difference. switched back to posh milk and voila, thick, beautiful froth every time! I'm not saying is good froth, am saying its AMAZING froth, like merengue density, thick, heavy froth that could well pass as cool whip, only lighter. You use the regular milk and forget about it, flat again, so it's definitively all in the milk. What I don't like or would improve: Temperature, this produces very hot coffee. I like to drink mine straight away hence why am not a fan of american coffee which could literally burn (burning the coffee itself with it) and this does produce coffee with almost boiling point. That said, coffee does not come out smokey, burnt taste at all and I counterpart this with cold froth (for which you have an option in the settings). A temperature setting and the ability to make coffee with both pods and ground coffee would be amazing but at this price this is the best machine I'd hoped for. I'd recommend you to buy it, doesn't take up much space and looks quite smart on the counter.

We have had this product since December 2015. We use it nearly every second day since then. I did have trouble sourcing pods but found ICS had stock after Keurig discontinued them (I STILL HAVE STOCK). Makes great steamed lattes and espressos with the Keurig mini pods. I would love to be able to source another (new) unit but will now have to move to a next-generation coffee and espresso maker. Good bye old friend.....

This is the best gift she has gotten in years, she can not only close her eyes and enjoy the coffees she makes in her own home (she always complained so much about having to travel for 20-25 minutes to get a simple Cap or Latte. She is the greatest critic of kitchen tools. And, she says: it works fantastic, it looks fantastic,. it smells fantastic and her friends are jealous. I don't care about those things, I just crave my home made ExpressoS (each morning still in my pyjamas).

ok

Works well but not worth the money if you ask me.

Excellent machine! Very easy to use!