Keurig Courts Coffee Geeks With a Wi-Fi-Enabled Smart Brewer

Since their debut in the late 1990s, Keurig coffee machines have built a mass following for their sturdy dependability. The functionality and design—think the no-frills cousin to Nestlé SA’s sleeker Nespresso range—speak to an era when coffee was chiefly thought of as a utility to rouse the sleepy.

These days, as more Americans come to revere a cup of coffee as something of an art form, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. believes drinkers will pay a premium for an appliance that promises to perfect java down to its most minute details. Enter the Keurig Custom Smart, a $399 Wi-Fi-enabled capsule brewer seeking to gauge the U.S. thirst for connected caffeine when it begins selling in late October.