In August 2014, Keurig unveiled their new Keurig 2.0 brewers that expanded the single-serve giant's reach by allowing users to brew up to 30 oz carafes of coffee.
Customer reaction was mixed as Keurig's 2.0 brewers, numbered from K200-K575, featured pod-scanning system ("DRM" or Digital Rights Management) that locked out unlicensed K-Cups and wasn't compatible with the original My K-Cup. (Keurig would later unveil a 2.0 My K-Cup.)
Keurig also found it challenging to support their 2.0 brewers, which brewed 10 different sizes from 4-30 oz using 4 different types of pods: K-Cup, K-Mug, K-Vue, and K-Carafe.
Ultimately, Keurig scrapped the 2.0 system and went back to the basics: single-serve brewing with K-Cup pods.
But they still wanted to offer a dual-use brewer that brewed everything from single cups to full carafes.
Enter the Keurig K-Duo series with 3 similar brewers.
The K-Duo Essentials is a stripped down version of the regular K-Duo, presumably having only the essentials!
What do you lose?
Aside from those two differences, the K-Duo and K-Duo Essentials are the same machine and give you the option to brew either single-serve coffee or full carafes up to 60 oz.
