John's Blog

This time of year I like to take our dogs Sadie and Jake exploring in the Vermont wilderness that surrounds our home, but there's just been too much rain to venture outside for more than a few minutes. Needless to say, the whole affair has us all feeling pretty cooped up. But this last weekend we caught a break when the clouds finally cleared and the thermometer showed that it was a beautiful 75 degrees outside. The second the first ray of sunshine appeared, I finished off my cup of Barista Prima®Italian Roast and a few minutes later we had our hiking boots on, the dogs leashed and were ready to hit the trails.

I won't say it was the perfect conditions for exploring - what with the ground still muddy and puddles everywhere - but after two weeks of continuous rain, it didn't matter much to us. This was also our first real chance to take in the beautiful leaves and flowers that had started popping up. I took a few photos of the early spring flowers in the woods, anyone know the names of them?

You know, this spring's weather has been a bit perplexing to me. A few weeks back it seemed like warm, sunny days had arrived for good, but since then the weather hasn't been able to make up its mind if it's spring or not. One minute I'll be enjoying a beautiful, 70-degree day, and then next it's suddenly cold, damp and cloudy. All of this inconsistency has made it really difficult to enjoy one of my favorite seasonal activities - grilling.

But this past weekend I decided to hedge my bets on the weather and break out the old charcoal grill. With my eye on the sky, I rounded up the wife and kids and told them to get ready for the first delicious barbecue fare of the season. The second I mentioned grilling, the kids, Spencer and Sabrina were instantly asking to help.

I have to laugh every time the kids want to be included with the barbecue, because it's almost impossible to get them to participate when I'm cooking a regular dinner in the kitchen. If there's an oven involved, neither of them are anywhere to be seen, but mention "BBQ" and they're suddenly aspiring chefs. I can't blame the kids for their enthusiasm for grilling though - meat and vegetables cooking over an open flame is what I live for in the summertime.

With my wife's supervision, I set the little ones to work shucking corn, cutting veggies and brewing some delicious Half  & Half iced tea with our Keurig® Brewer . Meanwhile, I headed out into the yard to get the grill started - all the while hoping that our first barbecue of the season wouldn't be called on account of rain.

Luckily, the clouds cleared up immediately - just in time for the kids to run outside with a couple of pitchers of delicious iced tea. I got the fire started as Sabrina poured a few glasses of Sweet Raspberry and Southern Sweet Perfect iced tea. As the weather began to warm up, I remembered just how great a cold glass of iced tea is during a summer barbecue. In fact, both of those flavors reminded me of when I was a kid and it was my dad manning the grill - cooking up incredible burgers and hot dogs.

Seems that I wasn't the only person in my neighborhood impatient for the weather to clear up. As the evening wore on, I got some serious whiffs of grilled steak and chicken wafting down my street. It's official - barbecue season is finally here. Now we'll just see if Mother Nature is willing to play along.

Looking for great barbeque recipes? Check out these flame broiled recipes with an interesting Coffee twist  from Green Mountain Coffee’s participation in the Safeway Barbecue Battle last summer.

Mother’s Day is the perfect day to recognize your mom for all of her kindness. It is also the perfect day to recognize other moms like your wife, sister, grandmother, or even a favorite aunt. The day gives us all time to reflect on all of the amazing things these important women have done for us and their children.

But what to get someone who’s done so much?  I find it hard to shop for my mom and I am always looking for perfect gift ideas. I am also always on the look-out for the perfect Mother’s Day gift for my wife. I was recently browsing GreenMountainCoffee.com for ideas and had a few things that caught my eye.

For my own mother, who has always liked and collected, on a small scale, hand-made pottery, there is a good selection of fun ceramic mugs and a few choice hand-thrown artisan-crafted pieces. She is a fan of the Native American style glazes and when I saw the Mocha Red River Mug, I immediately thought of her. I think it is the perfect addition to her eclectic pottery collection.  I was also partially persuaded to purchase this for my mother based on the amount of positive reviews it’s received.

Chocolate is always a good way to go for the women in my life. A chocolate cake made from the Molten Chocolate cake mix may be just the right way to say, “Thank you” to my Wife Natasha.  

While looking around on GreenMountainCoffee.com, I noticed there is currently a bundled offer -- buy a Keurig Platinum brewer and get free K-Cup packs plus a Brew Over Ice tumbler - that is hard to refuse. I can easily see my mother, wife or sister using this every day and smiling each time she brews.

Happy Mother’s Day!

You may have heard, but today it was announced that the line of Keurig^® Single Cup Brewers is expanding with the addition of the Keurig^® Vue^™ brewer, a premium new platform designed with the ability to brew stronger, brew bigger, and brew hotter.

The new Vue^™ brewer, paired with new Vue^™ packs*, comes with all the ease and convenience of the existing Keurig^® K-Cup^® system with added customizable features so you have control over the strength, size, and temperature of your coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and iced beverages, as well as new frothy café beverages.

Pretty nice, right?

To say the least, I can't wait for the Keurig® Vue™ Brewer to be available for purchase in the coming weeks.  It has a lot of options that I’ve been dreaming about in a single cup coffee maker:

• Stronger Coffee: The Vue^™ brewer adjusts water pressure, timing, and airflow so I can have the stronger brew I love in the mornings – at any size.
• Bigger Coffee:  I can now brew into my large, stainless steel travel mug with new Vue^™ packs specially formulated to brew a bigger cup up to 18-oz.  I’m ready to fill my travel mug with a strong cup of my favorite Green Mountain Coffee® variety, Breakfast Blend.
• Hotter Beverages: Now, we can choose a temperature range between 187 and 197 degrees Fahrenheit to really customize our cups.  My wife Natasha enjoys drinking Celestial Seasonings Green Tea and always likes the water to be extra hot to let the tea seep. It’s like the designers had her in mind when they created the new Keurig® Vue™ Brewer!
• And much more:  A few Sundays back, I was enjoying some Dark Magic Extra Bold with Natasha with a plate full of crêpes (I like to think I am an expert at making crêpes).  We decided to add some homemade whipped cream to the coffee and crêpes – just to mix things up. Suddenly, Natasha looked at me and said, “Wouldn’t it be great if our Keurig® brewer could make a cappuccino?” Good news: The Vue™ brewer can!  With exclusive two-step Barista Prima^® Café beverages, I can now enjoy a cappuccino on the weekend when I am eating my crêpes with the family.

The Keurig® K-Cup® Brewer and the Keurig® Vue™ Brewer complement each other so well!  Deliciously simple and brewing what I like, the way I like it – what a pair!

*Just a reminder: The Keurig® Vue™ Brewer is not compatible with K-Cup® packs; they use Vue™ packs.