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, 2016We 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!

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.

First, I am (or was) primarily a coffee drinker -- almost never a cappuccino or latte drinker. When it comes to coffee, I'm a connoisseur. I'll pay the high price for genuine Jamaica Blue Mountain Wallenford Estate coffee (when you can find it) and lament the difficulty of obtaining it. I had to find something more reliably obtainable, so why not try cappuccino/latte?I never expected all that much from the Rivo, having been disappointed by the Keurig K-Cup machine, but I was greatly surprised by the quality of the latte and cappuccino from the Rivo!I can't comment on the espresso because it's not something I drink, but the latte and cappuccino is, as one Colombian friend put it recently, "delicioso!". And that was a soy milk latte (which I like more than cow's milk as it has more flavor). You should be aware that the soy milk will froth less than regular milk, and that skim milk will basically turn into puffy clouds of whipped cream (with very little flavor -- hey, it's skim milk!)With the machine you'll get a sample of the four kinds of Lavazza espresso paks made especially for the Rivo only. There's a decaf (meh!), a Delicato (fair), the so-called Classico (excellent), and the strongest one, Intenso (a flavor different from the Classico). You'll probably use Classico for your cappuccinos/lattes as it has the sweetest flavor (it's a subtle difference). The Intenso, well, it is an interesting espresso and makes a different latte. To me, the latte and cappuccino I get from the Rivo compares favorably with that from commercial establishments. And the good thing, the Rivo is reliable: it's good every time.I mentioned the Keurig K-Cup. Pretty much only reason I use it now is to prepare hot water. A friend suggested that I froth some soy milk in the Rivo and add it to the coffee produced by the K-Cup -- just to see how it would compare to latte prepared from espresso coffee rather than regular coffee. Hands down winner, the Rivo. It's the real thing.It's so real you may be surprised by the sound it makes when preparing the espresso. That's the compressor inside producing the high pressure needed to properly infuse the espresso grinds. It's a low buzz. You'll be preparing the smaller amount (not the "longo," but the "short") of espresso, just under 2 ounces. It's quick, maybe half a minute at most.Next, and it must be next, since you cannot simultaneously brew and froth, you'll froth the milk, selecting either a cappuccino setting (maximum froth), a latte setting (more steamed milk), or a cold froth setting (I've done this by mistake a few times, so add ice and enjoy an iced latte).The frother is a cup into which you add milk to two possible levels. You put the cap on, push the frother into the machine, press the button, and are treated to a cool display of a whirlpool of milk. This takes time, about a minute or just over.Add the heated and frothed milk to the espresso, and you're good to go. I found a great cinnamon on amazon.com, called Kirkland Saigon Cinnamon. It's intensely piquant, fragrant, and sweet, and is a must final step to your drink.Keurig includes a beautiful book with suggestions on preparing every kind of espresso-based drink you can imagine, that's a plus!Are there an cons? Well, there is a lot of dripping. It's just part of the process. So, you will be emptying a drip tray at the end of every day. Since (so far as I can tell) the frother sends the milk into the machine, where it is heated, that means it's a good idea to send water through the machine to clean it. How often? I prefer more than once a day. I think the manual says after a dozen cups, but I wouldn't want to leave milk sitting in a machine's innards. But this cleaning cycle is easy to accomplish.You'll probably be buying the Lavazza paks directly from Keurig, where the price is lower than on amazon, and they are a company with really good customer service. I know, I'm a complainer, and they were genuinely nice when a shipment was later than I'd liked (they sent an extra shipment for free by FedEx -- that's a good company!). So, if you ever have any problems with the equipment, Keurig should be great to deal with.Everyone who visits me now asks for a cappuccino and often a second or more! No one has been less than delighted It's, to quote my friend, "yummy!"UNSWEETENED SOY Update October 6, 2014: I've found that regular soy milk doesn't froth that much. However, unsweetened soy milk froths almost into whipped cream! Unsweetened soy isn't to everyone's taste, so you can easily have the creamy frothiness of unsweetened soy and the taste of regular soy milk just by adding a teaspoon of sugar to the espresso side.TO GET EXTRA FROTH Update October 24, 2014: They don't tell you this in the manual, but if you want a creamier froth, after selecting the cappuccino froth (which heats the milk) you can select the cold froth (button on the right) -- in just 10 seconds I've seen a noticeable increase in froth and creaminess. Be careful you don't let it run too long because you could overflow the pitcher.

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).

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

ok

Worked well, delivered quickly