Don

The Keurig brewer is a great invention - no doubt about it.  The engineers that toiled, experimented, failed a hundred times before figuring out how to make something work, showed the kind of grit and determination that is required to bring a new idea, a new machine, a whole new way of doing something like making coffee a marketable possibility.  And what a success it is!

There is an old saying that "necessity is the mother of invention."  And, indeed we often drive our experiments and pursuits for new things based upon perceived needs.  But, its not just the mothers that deserve credit for recognizing necessity - the kids seem to have a good amount of applied creativity, too!

Today was the second of a couple of hot, humid days here in Vermont (believe me, I'm not complaining about the weather, as contractually I cannot), and the kids were alternating between jumping on the trampoline and coming into the house to get cold water, juice and anything else that would cool them down.  Walking through the kitchen at one point, I noticed that the Keurig brewer was on (it isn't usually, as I have a particular penchant for espresso), and upon further examination, I saw that a fresh cup of cocoa had just been brewed.

Emma, age 9, had helped herself to a cocoa, turning on the Keurig brewer, dosing a big glass of ice, and when the cocoa had brewed, poured it over the ice to make a cold cocoa beverage.  I checked on her a few minutes later and she had drank the whole thing!

Well, I had been involved in the development of the Keurig Hot Cocoa, and we had struggled to make it strong enough to suit most people's palates.  Given the small size of the K-Cup, we had to densify everything, the sweetener, the cocoa powder and dairy flavors, and still make it dissolveable.  The project took over 3 years to get it right and bring it to market, and never did I think during that time that we were making something that would be used to make a cold drink.

In fact, we still have this belief that the Keurig brewer is just a hot beverage brewer.  But, necessity proves otherwise.  I did a catering gig one time on Randall's Island for  the Dave Matthew's Band.  We had a whole team of Green Mountain Coffee folks there to service the audience and demonstrate Keurig brewers.  It was boiling out, and we ended up serving more iced tea out of the Keurig brewers than we did hot coffee.

And Emma showed me again today that I have more to learn.  Here is this Keurig brewer on our counter, well used over the cold long winter months (again, I'm not complaining, just being factual) for the kids to make hot cocoa anytime they wanted.  If I had thought about it, I probably would have taken it out of the kitchen and put it down in the basement as Summer approached.  But now I know it has a use for the next few months as well, and I'm sure if I moved it now, Emma would want to teach me a few more lessons!