Keurig Vue Discontinued: Let’s Look At The Single Serve Giant’s Product Release Timeline

Keurig Green Mountain has been an innovator in the pod-based coffee arena since the late 1990s.

I know, can you believe it’s been that long?

In that time we’ve seen product lines come and go as the single serve giant tries to meet (and anticipate) the demands of the American public.

This post looks at the company’s product release timeline, specifically the discontinuation of the Keurig Vue line.

Why look at the whole 20-year timeline?

Keurig has so many different models that it can be hard to understand the differences between them all.

I think understanding this timeline makes shopping for Keurig coffee makers easier.

Keurig Vue Discontinued

Keurig discontinued their Keurig Vue series during the summer of 2014, right before their Keurig 2.0 series was set to debut.

Keurig wanted to roll the defining features of the Vue series — larger serving sizes and additional controls/functionality — into the Keurig 2.0 series with pod scanning technology.

Basically, once the Keurig 2.0 line hit the market, the Vue series was completely redundant.

However, Vue brewers still can be purchased online.

I wouldn’t recommend purchasing a Vue brewer because it’s very difficult to find K-Vue pods, and the ones you do find will be old and stale.

Keurig Coffee Maker Timeline

I find it interesting to look at Keurig’s coffee maker timeline, as it sheds light on the company’s direction:

• 1997: Keurig launches their K-Cup pod-based coffee maker for commercial applications only
• 2004: Keurig develops their first home-use pod-based machine; these are limited to single cups and don’t have a ton of features, like temperature or strength control
• Feb 2012: Keurig debuts the Vue series, which allows users to make travel-size cups with larger K-Vue pods; also introduces additional settings like temperature and strength control
• Dec 2012: Keurig debuts their Rivo series, which competes with pod-based specialty machines like the Nespresso and Tassimo lines
• Fall 2013: Keurig debuts the Keurig Bolt, their first full-carafe coffee maker designed for offices (not many people know about this model)

Note 1: At this time Keurig has a lot of balls in the air. Not only are they maintaining their flagship Keurig 1.0 line, but they’ve also introduced new lines for larger single serve coffee (Vue), specialty coffee (Rivo) and full-carafe coffee (Bolt).

Note 2: Additionally, the popularity of pod-based coffee machines has (unsurprisingly) led to the rise of many other companies selling unlicensed Keurig pods, which really aggravates the Keurig Green Mountain machine. This leads to what happens next: The Great Keurig Consolidation.

• Summer 2014: Keurig announces they’re discontinuing the Keurig Vue series
• Fall 2014: Keurig debuts their Keurig 2.0 brewing system; this system features pod scanning technology to restrict usage to Keurig-licensed pods alone and expands the Keurig 1.0’s single serve functionality to also brew extra large Vue-sized single serve and Bolt-sized full carafes
• Summer 2015: Keurig introduces the K-Mug pod for larger single serve sizes; it’s basically the same as the K-Vue pod but has been renamed so Keurig could discontinue the whole Vue brand
• Sep 2015: Keurig debuts the Keurig Kold line for soft drinks, sparkling water, etc.
• Jun 2016: Keurig Kold discontinued due to lackluster consumer response
• Dec 2016: Keurig discontinues the Rivo line; they’ve effectively consolidated to Keurig 1.0 (single serve) and Keurig 2.0 (single serve with additional functionality, plus full-carafe sizes)

Hopefully that helps answer your question about how Keurig Vue was discontinued.