Here’s something kind of weird. I didn’t drink coffee until I was 25. I had tried it, and although I always thought that the smell was an intoxicating glimpse into what heaven would be, I never liked the taste. However, a guy happened to ask me out for coffee, and I didn’t want to be a dork and order tea or hot chocolate, so I had a cup. And then another. And then another. And while I haven’t spoken to the guy in years (he turned out to be a major d-bag), my love affair with coffee remains.
Maybe it’s because the first cup of coffee that I enjoyed was from a diner, but I’ve never gotten into the whole fancy coffee thing. I just like a cup of coffee, the more diner-y the better. My sister-in-law grinds her own beans and has a french press, and it’s just way too much work for me. I need my coffee right now. I don’t have ten minutes to get into a staring contest with it. What kind of bullshit exercise in torture is that? Luckily, I discovered the pinnacle in quick coffee achievement: the Keurig.
I discovered the coffee pod thing while I was doing market research at an airport. Most of the first class lounges had them, and I instantly fell in love. I had a regular coffee maker at home, and while that was fine, I don’t drink a dozen cups of coffee a day, so I would always inevitably waste some. Plus, it would sit in the pot for hours and then the pot would get stained, and on and on and on.
Enter the Keurig: Coffee? Done. Tea? Done. Hot chocolate? Done. There’s something for everybody. I can get the variety pack and have everything at my fingertips instead of having a freezer full of different flavored coffees, and a pantry full of hot chocolate and varieties of tea.
Ever since I had a baby, it’s been a godsend. When it’s 6 AM and you have an infant who constantly needs your attention, I for one can’t manage much more than pushing a button to release the sweet, caffeinated goodness into my face. I’m sure grinding your own beans is great, but short of an intravenous drip, this is the holy grail for me.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Jan 09, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
True story: at one point in my day job career, I worked for the guy who led the Keurig project while at a different company. Please feel free to interpret that as: “Bob invented the Keurig.”
Have you tried the tea? It’s amazingly awful. Most of the problem is you inevitably get a few drops of the last cup of coffee in there, which doesn’t help. Perhaps that was only a problem in the very frequently used office Keurig, though.
I have had the tea, and I like it. However it seems as though the flavored teas (I have Celestial Seasonings Lemon right now, for instance) come out better than regular tea. The Earl Grey that I had sometimes tasted a little too strong or coffee-y.
That may be. My company only stocked earl grey (which I hate anyway), and green tea — no fun flavors. I ended up bringing my own teabags.