KEURIG INVASION! (Your move, Flavia)

The other day, when I was shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond (shut it - I'm married and that's what married folks do), I saw this:



That's right. Keurig has invaded Bed Bath & Beyond with an enormous display right when you enter the store. They must've paid big bucks for that floor-to-ceiling display.

A couple weeks later, as I'm rolling into the office (mentally going through my checklist of which Flavia combination to brew), I see this little gem:



Ladies and gentlemen, Keurig has launched a full-blown assault on Flavia's territory. We here at OCR are caught in the middle of a turf war between two caffeine drug lords.

In my mind, I'm thinking there will be two dudes who will set up some janky wooden table with one Keurig machine and maybe 5-6 varieties of instant coffee. In actuality, I think there are currently seven employees downstairs, three Keurig machines, and 24 varieties of instant coffee (and some teas).





They even have a flat screen TV showing random things (I'm too infatuated with the coffee to notice what's on the TV), a computer for you to browse for more information, two kids with clipboards taking post-coffee surveys, and NO FRENCH VANILLA CREAMER. Purists, I guess.

And I, for one, welcome our new instant coffee overlords.

(Delayed) Breaking News: Flavia Still Waiting to Accept Starbucks’ Rose

Starbucks announced that it will soon provide its branded “super-premium” coffees for the Keurig instant coffee brewers. Flavia, meanwhile, is waiting for her prom date to arrive.

“Today’s announcement is a win for Starbucks, a win for GMCR and most importantly a win for consumers who want to enjoy Starbucks coffee with the Keurig Single-Cup Brewing system,” said Howard Schultz, president, ceo and chairman, Starbucks Corporation. “Our research shows that more than 80 percent of current Starbucks, customers in the U.S. do not yet own a single-cup brewer and our relationship will enable Starbucks customers to enjoy perfectly brewed Starbucks® coffee at home, one quality cup at a time.”

Full article here.

I wonder if I automatically prefer Keurig’s instant coffee system rather than Flavia’s simply because I’ve been drinking Flavia for almost five years and have only sampled Keurig’s nectar a handful of times. When you’ve been eating Honey Smacks (Editor’s note: it’s the most disgusting “popular” cereal on the market) for 4.5 years, of course you’re going to love Corn Pops, especially if life throws you a bone and you get to eat Corn Pops about once a year.

For all of you with access to Keurig brewers, congratulations. I think a tear just dropped into my House Blend with French Vanilla.

Field Trip – Keurig Combo: Newman’s Special Blend with French Vanilla

Office Coffee Romance field trip!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of tasting the instant coffee at my ladyfriend’s office. Check out this fancy machine with its futuristic blue lights. It looks like alien lasers are getting blasted into my paper cup.

The coffee comes in these cupcake stumps and her office has Nestle’s Coffee-mate creamers instead of the International Delight variety at my office. If our faithful readers will recall, one of the nice perks about drinking Flavia every single day is that other types of coffee will taste so much better, even if the other type of coffee is another brand of instant coffee. This Keurig combination is definitely worlds better than what I’ve subjected myself to on a daily basis here in the office.

To start, the coffee is from Paul Newman’s company, Newman’s Own Organics, and therefore it is automatically awesome. People a generation ahead of me will probably conjure up words like “cool” or “suave” or “sexy” whenever they think of Paul Newman. To me, he’s just “awesome” mostly because of his role as Reggie Dunlop in Slap Shot. (Note: Yes, I realize the movie came out in 1977, hence before I was born, but this was my first Paul Newman movie which I watched when I was kid.)

The coffee tastes smooth, there’s no bitter aftertaste, and before I know it my cup is empty – all signs of great instant coffee at the office.

The French vanilla creamer by Coffee-mate is stronger than the International Delight creamer, if that’s any piece of information you think is worth remembering.

My only problem with this coffee is that although the package claims it is “Extra Bold,” there is nothing “bold” about this coffee except for the fact that it claims to be certified organic. The only bold thing about this coffee is that it makes me want to “put on the foil” before going to work.

In tribute of the fact that I continue to refuse to believe that Paul Newman is no longer alive, instead of using our traditional Dos Equis Most Interesting Man logo to indicate good coffee, I’m changing things up a bit today.

Enjoy your coffee.