For Christmas 2011, Brady was given a Keurig. It was an interesting little gift because my son had started drinking a lot of hot tea. Having a Keurig made tea more fun. Other than tea, though, it wasn't going to get used much. Dan and I don't drink hot drinks (although Dan will very rarely, I don't at all). Chesney will drink a pop if it's available, but Kiah only drinks water and Brady drank water and tea.
And then there was the Keurig. When we set it up, it was seriously only used to brew hot tea. A year later, it was used 5-7 times a day. Coffee, iced tea (brew over ice), hot tea, decaf coffee. We used it all the time.
Part of this happened when Dan and I gave up pop. For over twenty years, I woke up in the morning and drank a can of pop. It was destroying my body. My stomach, my headaches... the pop was a disaster for me. So I switched to iced tea. Much easier on my stomach and still gives me a hit of caffeine. Dan stopped at the same time, and I thought "Huh, we're going to save money because we aren't buying pop anymore." Except we bought K-cups. Boxes and boxes of K-cups. Black Unsweetened Iced Tea.
About this time, Mykiah started drinking coffee in the mornings. Then Brady started college, and he started drinking coffee. A lot of coffee. In the mornings. Decaf in the evenings. And soon, we were spending hundreds of dollars a month on K-cups.
The new year dawned and I realized that while the Keurig was a great choice when we were only drinking hot beverages once or twice a week, it was not a cost efficient choice when we were drinking multiple brewed beverages a day. So I buy cold brew iced tea bags for Dan and I and there's always a pitcher in the fridge. And we bought a coffee maker for the kids. We brew a half-pot (6 cups) every morning. It's all gone before I go to work. Sometimes, particularly on the weekend, they brew a pot of decaf in the evening.
I come from a generation that didn't drink coffee. We drank tons of pop. And now my kids are the coffee drinkers. I still don't drink coffee (I tried, I really did... I love my caffeine) but I really do own and can run a coffee maker now. I made it to 42 before I bought a coffee maker. I'm a little sad when I realize I'm probably only going to have it for a few years before the kids move out and take it with them. Just another symbol of our growing family.
