Breakfast in bed is the quintessential way to kick-off a quality Mother’s Day.  Mom gets to lounge, kids get creative in the kitchen, and dad gets to coordinate to make it all happen (and clean it all up)!  To simplify the process but still give mom that special, “For me?” moment, how about brewing her up a little something sweet and tropical in your Keurig® brewer?

Coconut Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

- Green Mountain Coffee® Island Coconut® K-Cup® pack, Vue® pack, or bagged coffee

- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

- ½ - 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

- 2 teaspoons of heavy cream or whipped cream

Directions

- Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar into a large mug

- Brew or pour 6-8 ounces of Green Mountain Coffee® Island Coconut® into the mug

- Add ½ - 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to taste

- Stir

- Pour 2 teaspoons of heavy cream over the backside of a spoon into the mug creating a layered effect or top with whipped cream

Tip from the Brew Team

- Don’t stir again after adding the heavy cream or whipped cream. Sip the coffee through the cream and transport your senses!

If you’ve got a Keurig® K-Cup® or Vue® brewer, there are lots of options for trying something new to “Renew Your Brew.” Things like flavored coffees – Limited Edition Island Coconut comes to mind – and Brew Over Ice flavors like lemonade, iced coffee, and iced tea. (You did know that every Keurig® brewer can make iced beverages, right?)

The point is, single-serve packs are a really convenient way to enjoy a great cup of coffee any time of day. But being able to use your brewer to make iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade and other fruit drinks is a little like discovering that your washing machine can also fold and do ironing. Sigh…if only.

So in case you need a little more motivation, here are 10 Ways to Renew Your Brew that you may see floating around as you travel through cyberspace in the next few weeks. And if you do try something new – beverage related or not – please leave a comment; we’d love to hear about it.

10 Ways to Renew Your Brew

1. Start chillin’ with your Keurig® brewer. Enjoy iced coffee, iced tea, and more.

2. Raise a mug to Mom. Order a special Mother’s Day Brewer Bundle to make her morning easy.

3. Think outside the bean. Try Brew Over Ice lemonade by Green Mountain Naturals® and other fruit brews.

4. Stockpile your favorite flavors with 15% off storewide, now through May 7. Just use keycode RENEWBREW at check-out.

5. Give a gift of good taste to someone special (see #4 regarding storewide sale).

6. Take a sip to paradise with Green Mountain Coffee® Island Coconut® seasonal coffee.

7. Get a special delivery. Café Express® members enjoy regular automatic delivery of their favorite items AND save 15% on every order.

8. Get a newer brewer. Check out the Keurig® Vue® V500.

9. Make time for tea with Bigelow and Celestial Seasonings K-Cup® and Vue® packs.

10. Try something new to you. Fair Trade Certified™ selections, Tully’s Hawaiian Blend, and more!

You know where to find all these great options, but here’s a shortcut to get you started: www.GreenMountainCoffee.com

Mother’s Day isn’t too far away, so make sure it’s time to make sure you get her the perfect gift. Struggling for some ideas? We wanted to make things easier for you this year with a gift guide of things to buy mom on her special day to go with that Keurig^® brewer you got her last year.

1. When you were younger, you probably got one of those “#1 MOM” coffee mugs. You can still let your mom know she is #1 with a beautiful mug like, the Guatemalan Teal Mug. A lot of care went into making these hand painted Guatemalan mugs, and she'll know it, too.

2. You can’t always be there for her to help tidy up the house, but the Black and Silver K-Cup® Pack Storage Tower  will help her organizing the kitchen and keep things neat.

3. To make her day extra special, buy her some of her favorite Keurig® brewed beverages, like some Café Escapes® if your mom needs some “me time”, or maybe some Barista Prima® coffee for mothers who want to transport themselves to a European coffee house for the afternoon!

We have a lot more ideas on our website, in case your mom is more of a maple syrup or biscotti lover. No matter what you end up getting mom for Mother’s Day, make sure you give her all of the love and appreciation she deserves.

We're committed to creating a higher quality of life for our coffee communities all over the world, and a better cup of coffee for you. That's why we're excited to announce that one of our best-selling and most loved coffees, Green Mountain Coffee® Nantucket Blend®, is now one hundred percent Fair Trade Certified™!

That’s right. One hundred percent fair trade!

This means approximately five million pounds of our coffee will switch to being fair trade this fiscal year alone!  That's almost $1 million in fair trade social premiums that go back to the farmers each year.  Named the world’s largest purchaser of Fair Trade coffees in 2010 and 2011, this is just another step in toward our commitment to support fair trade - and other opportunity to share the great quality and familiar tastes that a conversion of such a beloved coffee can do for fans!

Take part in our quest to do good and pop in a Fair Trade Nantucket Blend K-Cup® in your Keurig® brewer.  Brew a Better Day™!

Your wait is over: Green Mountain Coffee^® Island Coconut^® is back for the spring and summer!   It’s time to brew yourself into a tropical getaway – even if you never leave your cubicle.

We’ve captured the lush aroma of fruity, exotic coconut and blended it with the subtle sweetness of a lightly-roasted, Central American coffee. The result is as refreshing as it is unexpected.  Enjoy it in bags, K-Cup^® packs, and, for the first time, Vue^® packs for your Keurig Vue^® brewer!  Remember: It’s Limited Edition – brew it while supplies last!

Are you going to take a trip to paradise with Island Coconut this season?

That’s right coffee fans, Café Express® is brewing up a bold “THANK YOU” with a Member Appreciation Sweepstakes! In appreciation of our loyal members, Café Express® is giving ten lucky winners the chance to brew like a barista with their very own Keurig® Vue® Brewer. But we couldn’t just stop there, no sir! There are also twenty five first prizes and fifty second prizes to be won. So don’t be bashful, check out the Official Rules and Enter Here!

Today marks a first for Green Mountain Coffee® Special Reserve.  For years we’ve offered exquisite, rare coffees in limited supply through our Special Reserve collection, but this marks the first time it is also available in K-Cup® packs for Keurig® brewers, and we couldn’t be more excited about it!  Introducing the latest Green Mountain Coffee Special Reserve, Colombia Geisha:

I recently had the opportunity to visit the farm where this coffee is grown and to get a rare, first-hand glimpse into the process that is meticulously followed to bring you this amazing coffee.  I was astounded to learn of the care and dedication that is put into each step of growing, harvesting and processing this coffee.  For example, only the tiny plants in the nurseries with straight roots are used for growing the Geisha varietal.   The coffee cherry pickers are trained for four-twelve months to ensure only the best cherries are selected.  Plus, once harvested, the coffee is processed in a wet mill that is dedicated for Geisha and is then dried in a mechanical dryer so the flavors are preserved.   That’s a lot of extra care and consideration – which you can taste in every cup. 

While we were in Colombia at Finca Cerro Azul, we had the opportunity to go and cup a variety of coffees, and when I got to Sample #4, I had my ah-ha moment.  I instantly knew that the coffee I just tasted was this Special Reserve – it was no ordinary coffee.  This coffee is known for its sweet, dynamic citrus-like flavor profile.  As you sip it, it turns gently from honey to blood orange, with hints of juicy cherry, lime and orange blossoms. 

I’ll take a lot away from this trip, but the most important is that the coffee I sip on while getting ready each morning will never be seen as “just a cup of coffee” ever again!  I hope you enjoy this coffee as much as I do!

Colombia Geisha  is available online in whole bean bags and K-Cup®  packs, while supplies last, exclusively on www.GreenMountainCoffee.com and www.Keurig.com.

As a smartphone owner myself, I must admit that I really enjoy the convenience of being able to shop all of my favorite products no matter where I am. With the smartphone market continuing to grow with no sign of slowing down, it is important that we give coffee lovers the opportunity to shop on the go. With endless days of seemingly endless christmas shopping right around the corner, Green Mountain Coffee has made shopping for the coffee fanatic in your life easier than ever. Green Mountain Coffee fans can now shop their favorite Keurig® beverages, brewers and accessories from the convenience of their smartphones with our new mobile website. Check it out today at www.greenmountaincoffee.com/mobile. Happy Shopping!

There has never been a better time to save on a new Keurig® brewer. Through October 28^th, anyone who purchases a Keurig Vue® or K-Cup® brewer on GreenMountainCoffee.com will get up to $50 off with a mail in rebate. This rebate can also be downloaded by customers who have recently purchased a brewer (online or in a retail store). Add Keurig Brewed® packs and accessories to your order for additional savings. (Café Express® 15% savings and benefits are eligible for purchase.)

We are very happy to announce yet another addition to our Family of Brands. 8 O’Clock® Coffee is now available in K-Cup® packs. With coffees such as Dark Italian Roast, Colombian and Hazelnut, you are sure to find the brew that is right for you!

Just in time for autumn, the ever popular Pumpkin Spice from Green Mountain Coffee® is now available for your Vue® Brewer! Shop Pumpkin Spice Vue® packs and bring the flavors of autumn to your Keurig® brewer.

.

For those of us in New England, the fall season conjures up images of brilliant fall foliage, apple picking, pumpkins, and a hint of chill in the air.  With the onset of this glorious season comes another highlight to fans of the Green Mountain Coffee® Family of Brands: our fall catalog! The fall edition of our catalog is jam-packed with a large assortment of coffees, teas, and beverages, as well as a variety of food, mugs, and gift baskets to help get you started with your holiday shopping.

These days, a healthy choice doesn't have to be a hard decision between what's good, and what's good for you. 

That's why we're thrilled to introduce Wellness Brewed™ beverages, a new line of K-Cup® packs that are a delicious complement to your wellness lifestyle. Taking care of yourself can be as easy as the touch of a button on your Keurig® brewer, and as satisfying as knowing you've done the right thing.  Because when wellness is balanced by goodness, both your body and your tastebuds benefit.

This new collection of six beverages includes two new Brew Over Ice favorites, Strawberry Pomegranate and Acai Berry from Vitamin Burst™, as well as Fair Trade Certified™ Green Mountain Coffee® Antioxidant Blend,  Green Mountain Coffee® Focus Blend™, and two Celestial Seasonings® Antioxidant Max™ Green Teas that are available in Blackberry Pomegranate and Blood Orange Star Fruit flavors. Shop now and explore these wonderfully craveable beverages!

They're here: the dog days of summer. If you're like me, you're craving fall (and Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice K-Cup® packs) like crazy. But we're not quite there. These last few weeks of summer's warmth and late sunsets are just the time to savor Green Mountain Coffee's Brew Over Ice flavors.

Around our house, we adore all the Brew Over Ice choices, from Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee to Strawberry Pomegranate Vitamin Burst™, but we decided to harness the inherent dessert qualities of Brew Over Ice Hazelnut coffee to make one last summery treat - Brew Over Ice Hazelnut and Cream Ice Pops! Just a few simple ingredients and one press of your Keurig® brewer's button will have you on the way to an indulgent sweet treat that's easy too. We love this novel approach to "iced" coffee. I can see making many more ice pops this way with all the Brew Over Ice flavors! I used my Zoku Pop Maker to create these ice pops, but you can use any ice pop mold you like. It'll just take longer to freeze each layer.

Green Mountain Coffee® Brew Over Ice Hazelnut & Cream Ice Pops

makes 4 ice pops

Ingredients

6 oz Green Mountain Coffee® Brew Over Ice Hazelnut coffee

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

6 oz Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss Vanilla Creamer

Directions

Brew one 6 oz cup of Green Mountain Coffee® Brew Over Ice Hazelnut coffee in your Keurig® brewer. Pour the cup into a small saucepan and add sugar.

Stir the coffee-sugar mixture frequently over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved completely. Pour the coffee back into a ceramic mug and place it in the refrigerator. Allow the coffee to cool completely before you make the ice pops. When the coffee is cool, use a measuring cup or funnel to pour coffee into each pop mold about 1/3 of the way up.

Place in the freezer and allow to freeze completely before starting the next layer.

When the first layer is frozen, repeat this step with Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss creamer, pouring it on top of the first layer, another 1/3 of the way up the pop mold. Place back in the freezer and allow to freeze completely.

Once the second layer is frozen, finish with another coffee layer.

If you'd rather have ice pops in a hurry, and don't care about the striped look, simply mix the coffee and creamer together and freeze all at once.

 Some things just belong together: peanut butter and jelly, sugar and spice, Sting and Trudy, salt and pepper, Sweet and Creamy Nutty Hazelnut Iced Coffee and French Vanilla iced coffee….

 Trust me, that last pair needs to be added to this list as another perfect combination.

 Why?

As some of you already know, I love a good glass of Brew Over Ice coffee in the summer, and I’m always searching for new ways to drink it. It was a stroke of genius (or maybe just a mild heat stroke) that inspired me to combine two of my beloved icy brews into one fabulous summer indulgence: the Creamy Vanilla Hazelnut Iced Coffee.

 It’s simple to make, and even simpler to drink, and perfectly blends two of my favorite flavors, vanilla and Hazelnut. Here’s the easy recipe.

1. Brew 2 K-Cup® packs of Sweet and Creamy Nutty Hazelnut Iced Coffee on the 6 oz. setting without ice into a mug (or cup) and then carefully pour the brew into a standard ice-cube tray (remember: it's hot).
2. Place into the freezer and wait until the Sweet and Creamy Cubes are frozen.
3. Take your frozen Sweet and Creamy cubes and put them in a 16 oz. plastic tumbler (as you would with normal ice cubes for any Brew Over Ice beverage), and place under your Keurig® brewer.
4. Pop a Green Mountain Coffee® French Vanilla Iced Coffee K-Cup® pack into your brewer and brew at the 6 oz. setting, over the Sweet and Creamy Cubes. As the coffee brews, it will melt some of the Sweet and Creamy cubes, expertly blending the Hazelnut and French Vanilla flavors. Add simple syrup to taste.

And that’s it! You have yourself a delightful Creamy Vanilla Hazelnut Iced Coffee! It’s easy, pretty, delicious… A perfect summer pairing!

Here on the PR team, we’re all super excited about a recent…doctor’s visit.

Before you assume I’m about to go seriously TMI and tell you about my last physical, let me assure you that I’m not talking about my general practitioner…or any old doctor. I’m talking about THE doctor: Dr. Gadget. Last Friday, the “Guru of Giveaways” featured Keurig® Platinum Brewer and Brew Over Ice K-Cup® packs on The View’s hottest summertime gadgets segment.

 “What it’s all about is this new system that they’ve got with the K-Cup®!” Dr. Gadget said, demonstrating how to Brew Over Ice with Whoopi Goldberg and Elizabeth Hasselback.

Both Elizabeth and Dr. Gadget noted that the Brew Over Ice K-Cup® packs, ranging in variety from Celestial Seasonings® Perfect Iced Teas to The Original Donut Shop® Sweet & Creamy iced coffee, are specially formulated to retain their flavor when brewed directly over ice.

“You guys know how when you take coffee and put it over ice it gets all watered down?” Dr. Gadget asked the cheering crowd. “Well, not anymore!”

And here in Vermont where the mercury has been regularly rising to a staggering 99°F lately, we are so thankful for that.

The lucky studio audience on set that day got a brewer and K-Cup® packs to take home. No surprise there, as Dr. Gadget gives away more than $200,000 worth of products on average to The View’s audiences, according to his website. He even coined the phrase, “Everybody Gets One!” (Seriously, he did. I thought it was Oprah, too.) Anyway, we’re all thrilled to have the doctor’s approval; he even described Brew Over Ice as “perfectly blended” with a “great formula”!

Want to beat the heat in your area? Get in on this cool (literally) summertime trend ASAP! I’ve been sipping away on my Sweet & Creamy Nutty Hazelnut iced coffee in the office every day, and I think you need some in your life. You can get this tasty summer cool-down in a cup at our website, and check us out on The View in the clip below—we come in at 2:32.

Stay cool!

Yesterday was not only the first official day of summer, but here in Vermont the temperature reached a record-breaking 95 degrees! While we native Vermonters are used to winter conditions – it can snow anytime between November and April around these parts – this heat wave is really throwing us for a loop. We know how to keep warm with a down snowsuit, a hand-knit hat, and a steamy mug of coffee but keeping cool is a new phenomenon altogether.

As someone who drives a non-air-conditioned truck, and whose house is kept cool by a series of fans and open windows, beating the heat can be a bit of an art form. These past two days have seen me relying on my Keurig® brewer to chill me out, brewing cup after cup (after cup, after cup) of my favorite Brew Over Ice iced beverages.  I’ve been drinking my favorite summer treat, Brew Over Ice Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee, to both cool me down, and perk me up.  Until today.

You can imagine my horror today when I realized I was not the only one at the office using Brew Over Ice to beat this week’s heat – when I went to the break room to make myself a cup, I discovered the box of Nantucket Blend Iced coffee was completely empty! After frantically searching for just one more K-Cup® pack, I had to accept that I was going to find a different way to refresh myself.

I decided to try and fend off my disappointment, and the high temperatures, with the Original Donut Shop’s new Sweet and Creamy Nutty Hazelnut Iced Coffee. After all, it was sitting right next to my beloved Nantucket Blend on the shelf. I filled up my plastic cup with ice, popped the K-Cup® pack in the brewer, and pressed the 8-oz. brew setting. I took a curious first sip, and then another deep slurp. The mix of toasty hazelnut and coffee flavors, and the sweet cream notes was the perfect way to beat the heat, and give me that afternoon perk I craved.

I think I’ve just found the best way for a Vermonter to keep cool in the summer months - how are you beating the heat today?

I have to say that I'm ecstatic that the weather is finally starting to fall in line with typical spring temperatures, because I was finding it awfully difficult to drag myself out of the house for any sort of activity recently. Not only does the sudden burst of sunshine mean I can start hiking and cycling outdoors again, but I can also pursue one of my favorite pastimes - hitting the open road in search of adventure. While I'm all in favor of traveling to distant, exotic locations by airplane, there's something about embarking on a spring or summer road trip that I simply can't resist.

I'm still in the planning stages of picking a destination for my impending getaway, but I have a couple of ideas in mind. I've already been all over the northeast and southwest, so I'm thinking about hugging the Atlantic coast all the way from Vermont down to Florida for a tour of the southeast.

In my frequent travels, I've developed a series of strategies for not only saving as much as a can on the road, but making sure I'm not bogged down by any unnecessary delays. I've found that if I stick to these tried-and-true methods, I'm able to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment out of my road trips without breaking the bank.

First of all, I rarely travel without a companion if I can help it. Not only does this help in terms of splitting gas and hotel accommodations, but it's also just nice to share an adventure with a friend or family member. This time around, I'm planning on sharing the road with my boyfriend Alden for our first vacation together as a couple. Considering that we live in different states (I'm in Vermont while he's in Massachusetts), I'm super excited to spend more than a couple of days together as we cruise south.

Another great thing about having a traveling buddy is that it makes the trip much safer. While I can always rely on a nice cup of Nantucket Blend® coffee to keep me alert and focused, spending hours behind the wheel can even render caffeine ineffective. It's nice to know that when I'm growing too sleepy to keep driving, Alden can just take over while I relax and sip the remainder of my delicious coffee.

In fact, coffee is such an important part of my travel experience that Alden and I have even decided to pack up my Keurig® brewer to have when we stop in hotels for the night - you can never count of good coffee at roadside accommodations, after all. With a great cup of coffee only a push of a button away, we'll save plenty of money by avoiding expensive coffee shops, and that's something anyone can get behind when you're on an extended vacation.

As a competitive runner, people usually assume that I'm some sort of superhuman fitness and nutrition guru who dedicates her entire day to becoming a healthier person. While eating like an athlete certainly takes work (I regularly fight urges to binge on some very sugary snacks, in case you're wondering), I'd be lying if I said that intense workouts and a rigid diet are my entire life. I think I've managed to find a relatively simple path toward a healthier lifestyle - one that doesn't require sweating profusely in the gym five times per day or eating chalky nutritional supplements on a daily basis.

With summer quickly approaching, several of my friends have asked me for some guidance about slimming down (swimsuit weather is almost here!) and incorporating more nutritious foods into their diets. And let me tell you - they were all stunned at the incredibly easy and straightforward advice I gave them about how I maintain a healthy and happy lifestyle every day. Here are some of my not-so-secret tips for success.

While many people feel like they need to run or jog several miles a day for an effective cardio workout, I've found that hiking and mountain biking are also enjoyable alternatives that fit nicely into my daily routine. On beautiful sunny days, it’s hard to make myself return indoors even after finishing a workout, so I’ll hike some local trails if I feel that more vitamin D and exercise are necessary. Similarly, I love exploring the beautiful back roads of Vermont on the weekends by bike. As long as you get outside and start moving, there's no reason you need to make a cardio workout feel like torture.

To be honest, I've tried cutting snacks and desserts out of my life and it just hasn't worked. Even if I manage to go a day or two without indulging, I typically find myself gravitating towards the junk food isle looking for sugary sweets. Once I came to terms with this inevitable reality, I learned to adjust my eating habits so that my snacks benefit my diet. I try to keep low-fat cheeses in the fridge along with an assortment of fruits.

However, my secret weapon to nutritional success is my Keurig® brewer. While it's great for brewing a hot cup of coffee in the morning, I primarily use it to enjoy a variety of my favorite hot tea flavors, such as Mandarin Orange Spice, India Spice Chai, Green Tea, Mint Medley and English Breakfast. Not only are these flavors rich in antioxidants, but they're also incredibly convenient to make and taste great - all it takes is the push of a button. 

I will admit – when I cross the finish line after a hard race, I often opt for a thick vanilla milkshake rather than tea.  Reward yourself!  A healthy lifestyle change doesn’t have to mean “die” with a t.  So, there you have it. It doesn't take much to lead a healthier lifestyle - all you need to do is make time to get outside and incorporate nutritional snacks into your everyday life in order to get off on the right foot.