Last week, I was (surprisingly) asked to weigh-in on the Colin McEnroe show about the Keurig (aka K-Cup) machine. Colin McEnroe sought to deconstruct the growing popularity of the machine and any social and/or financial impact it may (or may not?) have the cult of personality... specifically, those of us who are coffee fanatics and/or purists. Surprisingly enough, the topic of the show generated a lot of callers and there were several other guests who were champing at the bit, to chime in about the coffee pods and how they soil the wonderfulness of coffee... not to mention the impact the tiny plastic pod-cups have on the environment.

I didn't get to say too much or even everything I intended to, but received an email from a friend who'd listened in and opined that us coffee lot were "scary". One commenter on the show's website went further and wrote...

I have often suspected that certain members of the Colin McEnroe show are members of the Socialist party which is alive and well in this country. Today my suspicions were proven true through the coded content of your K-Cup show. Much like Spencer Bachus who at any moment can out certain Democrats in congress for their ties to communism, I could go public with my suspicions and demand that birth certificate be produced. I mean come on, what kind of liberal Pinko world we live in where we all have to share from the same pot like we are living in a sunshine [sic] day dream yippie hippie Grateful Dead world. America is about freedom and choices and forcing me to drink the same kind of coffee as my neighbor brings me back to the Cold War 80's. I remember hearing the horror stories from Russia-toilet paper lines out the door for one kind of government issued, scratchy inferior roll. I saw the movie 'Red Dawn' enough to know where this Socialist rhetoric will take us.

I refuse to be taken in by your entertaining and seemingly innocent show about K-Cups. What's next- a war on Quilted Northern and call for deposits on soda cans, incentive at grocery stores for bringing in canvas bags? No sir I'm not drinking your Socialist red Kool-Aid because I believe in a system of freedom, liberty and the rights to make choices (as long as my choices are limited to coffee and toilet paper-reproductive and marital rights are best left to government mandates). 

Umm, okay (weirdo have several seats blank stare). In any event, I wanted to convey that these days, I alternate between using a Keurig machine and my French Press… and I have an affinity for the latter. I’m not keen on artificially flavored coffee nor do I begrudge anyone’s right to drink it (I may chide you a bit though). My coffee preferences usually fall within the realm of: dark roasts (Italian and French), Sumatra blend, medium roast, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Ethiopian and coffee ground blends of the like. I take my coffee with just a splash of cream, thank you very much. Needless to say I straddle the fence. I enjoy the ritual coffee brewing and pressing allows. I do realize that Keurig machines afford people who don’t have a lot of time to waste using an espresso machine or waiting for their coffee to brew, an opportunity to literally fly out the door as they grab their travel mug on the way. I also get that corporations probably favor the Keurig machine and are investing in them, because they’ve probably surmised that it’d cut down on outside coffee breaks and chatter around the coffee pot, as employees wait for a fresh pot to brew. Either way, I’m not the only one who’s passionate about her coffee.  I’m not a member of the Socialist party as the one commenter (with an apparent axe to grind against Colin McEnroe) suggested. I just prefer a perfect (or damn near perfect), robust, no-frills cup of coffee minus the sweet, syrupy bells and whistles; while welcoming the pomp and circumstance that goes into making a cup.

If you’d like to hear me fumble my way through this great, First-World debate… check out the podcast of the show: “Keurig Coffee: Revolutionary Invention or Environmental Scourge?”