Keurig and stuff

Keurig Mini-Plus

Just popping in amidst sinus issues making life... interesting.  Doctors through the years have asked if I had any major illnesses before developing Juvenile Diabetes and I have always answered... problem pregnancies and problem sinuses.  March, with its' extreme temperatures in one day, has always been a challenge.  I can handle the sinus pressure but it is the nausea that just knocks me out.  But I'll take it as it means we are going from winter to spring.

I'm planning a few posts about homeschooling and education, which I will write as soon as I'm not in a Benedryl induced coma.  My apologies to those I've promised for YEARS that I will write about the subject.  I want to have it all ready to go before I start posting.  So... if I'm out of pocket here I'm probably writing the homeschooling posts.

Regarding the Keurig... I heart my Keurig.  It sits on the counter very near my Precious mixer.  I fell in love with the Keurig after using Stephanie's when we were there in October.  She and her hubby have the Big Kahuna Keurig.  It is not only convenient but it makes an exceptional cup of coffee.

I knew ahead of time she was getting us one for Christmas as she had to ask what kind I wanted.  She'd planned on buying one like hers but when she saw the new Mini-Plus in... red... she had an idea I'd prefer it.  It's bigger and better than the little desktop model and takes less counter space than the biggy (which is important in my small kitchen) and it is... red.

It's advertised as a good "second coffee maker" and that's how I use it.  Most mornings I brew coffee in the bigger coffeemaker as that is much cheaper.  However, I have used the K-cups in the morning when I needed coffee quickly and did not prepare the bigger coffeemaker the night before.  But I always feel guilty when I do that. ;)

The real benefit of the Keurig is in the afternoon and evening when one of us only wants one cup of coffee.  It's also great for the nights Christopher comes home late and has to study for a couple of hours.  Used to he'd make a pot of coffee and it would be bitter by the time we were up the following morning.  It works well for Stephanie and her husband since one drinks regular coffee and the other decaf.

I'd say if you are going to use it for your main coffee maker, you'd want the bigger Keurig.  Neither the small nor the midsized we use store water in a canister and neither can use the big mugs (although ours can use a bigger cup than the desktop model).

At one time, most of the available K-cups were in dark roast (which my husband doesn't like at all) but I've been able to find lighter roasts at the grocery store these past few months.  Now that the Keurig has become so popular, our regular grocery store coffee is available in a K-cup.  I personally buy what is on sale (and I can usually find one brand on sale at the various stores) but when I have my druthers, the Green Mountain Breakfast Blend is one all three of us like.  It's the Goldilocks of the K-cup world...

When you buy a Keurig, it usually comes with a variety of Green Mountain K-cups to try and most are dark roast.  I believe it does come with a sample Breakfast Blend, though... at least it did in ours.  I'd already tried a variety at Stephanie's house so I knew what to expect.

I use the Keurig to quickly heat water for tea, too.  Just don't insert a K-cup in it when you run the water through.  If you can afford it, there are all kinds of really neat K-cups on Amazon... tea, hot chocolate, and "apple cider" just to name a few.  I haven't tried any of them, yet.  Although I did have a few cups of Celestial Seasonings tea on Stephanie's dime and they were all delicious.  :)

If you currently spend a lot of money to purchase coffee at coffee shops instead of brewing it at home, you will end up saving money with the Keurig.  If you drink only one cup a day or you have different needs for caffeine and decaf, it is still worth being your main coffeemaker. 

Since my Keurig was a gift, I didn't have that original cost of the machine.  Since I purchase K-cups when they are on sale and I do not use them (most of the time) for morning when we have two cups of coffee... they are affordable luxuries... but they are a luxury item as they cost about 50 cents to 60 cents each... much more than when making coffee with purchased beans or ground coffee... much less than if you purchase your prepared coffee away from home... lots and lots less.

Stephanie bought me the Keurig insert that makes it possible to use your own coffee instead of the K-cups but I still haven't figured it out, yet.  I will overcome... it is not rocket science and I will figure it out.