Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus

This is our comparison of the Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus coffee makers.

At The Coffee Arsenal, we produce very high-quality guides about coffee gear.

To do this, we make sure to spend many hours researching, so you can read only proven information that will help you find your ideal coffee equipment in no time.

Both the K-Elite and the K-Supreme Plus are good coffee makers. However, the K-Supreme brews better quality coffee and it comes with some interesting features.

Do you want to learn why we like the K-Supreme Plus so much? Keep reading.

Overview: Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus

Keurig K-Elite

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Keurig K-Supreme Plus

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Here we’ll give you a quick overview of our Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite comparison guide.

In short words, the K-Supreme Plus is better than the K-Elite, mostly because of its MultiStream technology that brews better tasting cups of coffee. This is because it allows the machine to saturate the coffee grounds evenly on each extraction.

The K-Elite is still good, it comes with a decent water tank, and many convenient features like the Auto-On/Off functionality.

Also, it is just a little bit more affordable than the K-Supreme Plus.

If you want to know more about the differences between the K-Supreme models, check our dedicated review: K-Supreme vs K-Supreme Plus.

Here’s an introductory video of the K-Elite.

Here’s an introductory video of the K-Supreme Plus.

Comparison Table

Key Differences: Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite

These are the key differences between the Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite. We will go through their water reservoir, brew sizes, additional features, and more.

Brew Sizes

Both coffee makers come with multiple brew sizes:

• 4oz
• 6oz
• 8oz
• 10oz
• 12oz

Having all of these brew sizes is a huge benefit since you can enjoy cups of coffee of different sizes throughout the day. Also, this gives you even more flexibility when you have visitors or if you share the machine with relatives or friends.

Water Reservoir

The K-Elite comes with a capacity of 75oz and the K-Supreme Plus with a capacity of 78oz. The reservoirs in both machines are removable.

Now, talking about placement, the reservoir on the K-Elite is not adjustable, this means that it is only accessible from the left side (if seen from the front). Unfortunately, the K-Supreme Plus has the same issue since you cannot adjust its reservoir.

However, the K-Supreme Plus has an advantage over the K-Elite, and it is that it has a nice handle attached to the reservoir.

The K-Elite doesn’t have this handle and it can be a little bit difficult to remove the reservoir sometimes.

Finally, you should know that both coffee makers come with a water filter that you can add to their water tank.

So, the K-Supreme Plus is just a little bit better since it has a 78oz water tank.

Having a large water tank comes with a lot of benefits, especially if you need to brew several cups of coffee throughout the day or in a few minutes.

Technology and Additional Features

When comparing the Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus, the most notable differences reside in their additional features. Because of that, this is going to be a section a little bit longer than the rest of the sections in this article.

Strength Selection

The Keurig K-Elite provides you with a “Strong” mode, however, in reality, this just makes the machine take a little more time when brewing.

On the other hand, the K-Supreme Plus comes with 3 strength settings, which make it the better model.

Note that if you select the smaller brew size, in this case, the 4 oz. brew size, it will brew a stronger coffee in both machines. So you can mix this with the built-in strength settings to have an even stronger coffee.

Temperature Controls

Both coffee makers have temperature controls. However, they operate a little differently from each other.

The K-Elite allows you to choose your preferred temperature ranging from 187°F to 192°F. You can choose any number in that range.

Note that this is the brew temperature, so it will be a few degrees lower once you’ve brewed the coffee.

On the other hand, the K-Supreme Plus, similar to the K-Elite, lets you choose your preferred temperature, but, in this case, it doesn’t show you exact numbers.

After doing some testing, we found that the available temperatures are 175°F, 177°F, and 180°F. These are the temperatures after brewing, so the brew temperatures are a few degrees higher.

MultiStream Technology

MultiStream Technology is basically a new needle system implemented in some Keurig machines, this system improves the overall quality of the coffee they brew.

Thus, as it is a new needle system, machines equipped with MultiStream technology, instead of having a single needle at the top, they will have 5 needles.

The coffee makers with this system saturate the beans more evenly, extracting all the flavor and aroma so that you can enjoy even better coffee.

MultiStream technology is exclusive to Keurig K-Supreme machines. This includes the K-Supreme, K-Supreme Plus, and K-Supreme Smart. 

So, unfortunately, the K-Elite doesn’t come equipped with this innovative technology.

Auto On/Off and Programming

The K-Elite shuts itself off after 2 hours after the last infusion by default, however, you can configure your coffee maker and select from a range of 15 minutes to 120 minutes (2 hours). You can also disable it if you wish.

In addition, you can program your K-Elite to turn on automatically. 

You can program this coffee maker to start heating the water the moment you wake up, and when you go to the kitchen just press any brew button and it will start brewing immediately.

On the other hand, the K-Supreme shut off itself after 5 minutes of non-use. However, it doesn’t come with an auto-on feature.

You can save a lot of energy if you enable the auto-off feature on both machines.

High Altitude Settings

Both brewers come with the High Altitude Setting Function.

The high altitude setting function reduces the brewing temperature to about 187 °F, which will ensure optimal operation from 5,000 meters of altitude.

So, in a nutshell, if you live at an altitude of 5,000 meters or more, you need to activate this function.

Iced Coffee

Both coffee makers come with a mode to brew iced coffee. And they work exactly the same.

Just press the Iced button in the K-Elite or the Over Ice button in the K-Supreme Plus to start brewing your iced coffee.

Keep in mind that with this mode enabled, both coffee makers will brew a 6oz cup.

This mode is almost the same as the other modes, the only difference is that the brew temperature is a little bit lower for an optimal iced coffee flavor.

Hot Water On Demand

The K-Supreme Plus and the K-Elite come with a Hot Water on Demand Feature.

The process is very simple for both coffee makers.

In the K-Elite, just press the Hot Water button and select your brew size.

In the K-Supreme Plus, you just have to select a brew size without a pod inserted.

This feature is awesome because you can use your coffee maker to make oatmeal or tea.

Quick Brew

So, we’ve tested both coffee makers in order to compare their brewing speed, and they do the job pretty quickly.

We brewed an 8oz cup on both coffee makers with the strong setting activated and they took around 1 minute and 10 seconds.

If you were going to brew the largest brew size that will take a little bit more time, but overall, they can brew a cup of coffee in less than 3 minutes.

Also, these coffee makers don’t have to warm up first like other Keurig models, which makes the process even faster.

Conclusion

After analyzing all of these factors, we can conclude that both machines have almost the same additional features.

However, it seems that the K-Supreme Plus has an advantage over the K-Elite just because of its MultiStream Technology. Which helps to brew better cups of coffee.

The K-Elite has the Auto On feature, but honestly, since both machines brew so fast and they basically don’t have warm-up time, this feature is not very useful.

Anyways, here you have a table with all the points we talked about earlier.

Ease of Use

Let’s talk about how easy it is to use the Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus.

Honestly, both coffee makers are very easy to use. They follow the same process.

Press the power button, insert a coffee pod, and select your brew size.

This is the “basic process”.

But what about the programmability?

Well, the K-Supreme Plus is a little bit easier to use since it has fewer programmable features, also, the digital display is very easy to understand.

The K-Elite requires you to configure the hour, auto-on feature, auto-off feature, and more.

When you are just starting to use the coffee maker, it is pretty confusing to set up all of these features.

Also, the way they structured the menu is not very easy to use at all, and you are almost obligated to read the manual.

So, overall the K-Supreme Plus is easier to use. But keep in mind that it is just because it doesn’t have all the programmable features the K-Elite has.

If you want to know more about how to use these coffee makers properly, you can check their official user manuals below.

• Keurig K-Elite User Manual
• Keurig K-Supreme Plus User Manual

Brew Quality

In short words, the K-Supreme Plus brews more flavor-rich and aromatic coffee than the K-Elite. This is just because it comes with the MultiStream Technology.

When we performed our tests, we found that the differences in flavor between a normal 8oz cup of coffee produced by both machines were not that different at all.

However, when we used the strong mode, the flavor changed dramatically. Definitely, the coffee brewed by the K-Supreme Plus was better.

But what is better?

More aromatic and stronger. The taste was more similar to a coffee brewed by a regular drip coffee maker than by a capsule coffee maker.

We all know that coffee prepared by capsule coffee makers is a bit watery.

Capsule Compatibility

Both the K-Supreme and the K-Elite are fully compatible with K-Cups.

So, when purchasing a capsule for your coffee maker, make sure that it is K-Cup compatible.

If you like to purchase coffee capsules from many different brands, this is definitely a huge benefit.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Cleaning the K-Supreme Plus and the K-Elite is extremely easy. Both machines follow the exact same process.

You can clean the exterior with a damp soapy non-abrasive cloth, and clean the water tank and the reservoir in the sink.

If you want to clean the system of your coffee maker you just have to perform a cleansing brew. This can be done just by brewing hot water in an empty cup.

Remember to descale your coffee maker every 3 to 6 months. Fortunately, these coffee makers have a light that tells you when it is time to descale them.

Here’s a video on how to descale the Keurig K-Supreme Plus:

And, here’s a video on how to descale the Keurig K-Elite:

Design, Dimensions, and Weight

What are the differences in design, dimensions, and weight between the Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite?

These are the specifications of the Keurig K-Elite:

• Height: 13.1” (16.5″ when open)
• Width: 9.9”
• Depth: 12.7”
• Weight: 8.0lbs.

These are the specifications of the Keurig K-Supreme Plus:

• Height: 12.2” (16.9″ when open)
• Width: 8.3”
• Depth: 13.3”
• Weight: 7.5lbs.

The K-Elite seems to be a little bigger, and the K-Supreme Plus, of course, is thinner.

Also, it seems that the K-Supreme Plus is a little bit taller when the lid is open.

Overall, both coffee makers are beautiful, the K-Elite has a more “Classic” design while the K-Supreme Plus has a more “Modern” design.

Pros and Cons: Keurig K-Elite and K-Supreme Plus

These are some pros and cons of the K-Elite and K-Supreme Plus.

Keurig K-Elite

Pros and Cons of the K-Elite.

Pros

• 5 brew sizes
• Auto On-Feature
• Temperature settings

Cons

• The menu can be difficult to understand without reading the manual
• The water tank is not easy to access sometimes

Keurig K-Supreme Plus

Pros and Cons of the K-Supreme Plus.

Pros

• 5 brew sizes
• MultiStream Technology makes more flavorful coffee
• Temperature settings
• Large water reservoir

Cons

• The water reservoir is not adjustable
• It doesn’t have the Auto-On feature

Alternatives

If you have already read this Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus comparison guide but are still not sure about these coffee makers or just don’t like them, these are some good alternatives to them.

Keurig K-Supreme

• Key Feature: MultiStream Technology
• Brew Sizes: 6oz, 8oz, 10oz, and 12oz
• Water Reservoir: 66oz
• Material: Plastic
• Brand: Keurig

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Many people want to know the differences between the K-Elite vs K-Supreme. Well, the K-Supreme has fewer features than the K-Supreme Plus, but it is also more affordable.

We could say that this is the “basic” model of the Supreme line.

It comes with the MultiStream Technology, a Strong button for brewing stronger coffee, and an Over Iced button for brewing Iced Coffee.

Also, it allows you to brew a total of 4 brew sizes, 6oz, 8oz, 10oz, and 12oz.

Finally, it comes included with a 66oz removable water reservoir that is also adjustable. This is something that you can’t do with the Plus model or the K-Elite.

If you liked the K-Supreme Plus, but you are looking for something more “basic”, this will be your ideal Keurig.

Keurig K-Select

• Key Feature: Simple button controls
• Brew Sizes: 6oz, 8oz, 10oz, and 12oz
• Water Reservoir: 53oz
• Material: Plastic
• Brand: Keurig

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The Keurig K-Select is a basic and affordable coffee maker that you will love. It is very similar to the K-Elite but it has fewer features.

For example, instead of having 5 brew sizes, it has 4, 6oz, 8oz, 10oz, and 12oz.

Also, It doesn’t come with a digital display and fancy features, so it doesn’t allow you to adjust the water temperature or program it to turn itself on. But, it comes with a strong setting, so it is not bad at all.

It includes a 52oz water reservoir that is not adjustable.

As I said before, this is an extremely simple and affordable coffee maker. If you don’t want anything extravagant, this is the way to go.

Honestly, we got to say that the K-Supreme is way better than this one, but this one is good too if you don’t have the budget for the K-Supreme.

The Bottom Line: Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite

Congratulations! You have reached the end of our Keurig K-Supreme Plus vs K-Elite comparison guide. At this point, you should have a good understanding of which one is good for you.

In our opinion, the K-Supreme Plus is the best overall due to its MultiStream Technology, large water tank, and modern design.

However, if you don’t like this coffee maker at all, or you don’t have the budget, the K-Elite is a good option too. It has an Auto-On/Off functionality that you can configure and other decent features too like a large water tank.

Note: Another interesting option you can check out is the Keurig K-Supreme Plus SMART. It has most of the features that the K-Supreme Plus has, but also comes with some connectivity features.

FAQ – Keurig K-Elite vs K-Supreme Plus

Here you will find a section where we will answer some of the most common questions that may appear when you are reading this review.