Giving Thanks for My Single Cup Brewer

My Cuisinart/Keurig gets a pretty rigorous workout on a daily basis, but Thanksgiving Day was a new test for the machine as we had a house full of guests that all are big coffee drinkers.

The single K Cups made it so easy for me to keep up with the rapid coffee consumption. In the past when we’ve hosted a gathering I am brewing, washing, refilling, and grinding beans. It’s a non-stop job. It’s also one task that due to my overly neat (some might say OCD ways) I’d rather not have others handling. God forbid if someone screwed up my old coffee machine. I’d by pissed. And of course, I’d have to buy another one immediately.

But not this time around. The single cup brewer stood up to the challenge. The coffee flowed with ease (thanks to the 84 oz tank) and my only job was adding water every now and again. Because making the coffee was as simple as pushing a button everyone was able to make their own beverage at their convenience and I was not on coffee duty all day. One less thing to worry about when hosting is always a very good thing.

However, I did take a little different tact on one aspect of the coffee serving. Normally, I’m all about choice. I love to provide guests with options and make sure that everyone feels accommodated in all aspects of their time over at our place.

But this time, I didn’t put out all of our coffee K Cup options. Not because I was being stingy with my favorites, but I find that sometimes when faced with a choice people often feel like they picked the wrong thing. So I just offered one type of K Cup (Tully’s Kona Blend) and a decaf option (which went completely untouched).

Only providing a single choice meant people enjoyed what they drank without feeling like they made a bad choice and almost everyone who had coffee made a point of mentioning that they had no idea these single cup brewers made such a tasty cup.

Because things went so smoothly on the coffee front, I’m thinking of having a Christmas gathering that only involves only serving coffee, tea, hot cider and a variety of desserts. Prior to the Thanksgiving test run on the Cuisinart/Keurig I was sure that in order to pull off a holiday party I would need to rent one of those huge coffee urns just to keep up with the guest’s consumption. Now I have no worries. The only thing I have to worry about is baking holiday cookies and this time providing some festive K Cup choices that do justice to the spirit of the season.