by Carla Roberson

Created on: April 17, 2009   Last Updated: April 21, 2009

I like coffee; let me rephrase myself. I love coffee! I drink it constantly; sometimes, I have as many as three cups in one day. I make a small pot in my coffee maker in the morning and it carries me throughout the entire day.

Because I am such an avid coffee drinker, I am not really all that picky about the coffee that I drink. I'll drink almost anything. It can be Folgers, Maxwell House or any generic brand coffee; whatever is cheapest or on sale.

So, when my husband approached me about purchasing a Keurig, I thought he was nuts. Paying for a high-priced coffee maker did not make much sense to me. Sure, it sounded fancy enough and I do appreciate fanciness along with extravagance. Such a posh looking contraption, the Keurig appeared to be.

The Keurig Company's claims to make a fresh cup of coffee in under a minute intrigued me. The fact that k-cups came in a wide variety of flavored coffees and teas and even offered hot cocoa made my mouth water; but that was not reason enough for me. My husband and I debated on the issue for weeks. He contended with me so much about the Keurig that I eventually started having visions of entertaining.

I imagined my friends and relatives over for a visit. I pictured myself with my hair swept neatly into an updo with curl ringlets around my face, wearing a pink apron; my lips perfectly outlined with coffee- colored lip liner and shaded in with an impeccable color lip gloss hinted with bronze.

In one of my hands, I held a serving tray lined with homemade finger cookies. As I approach each guest, I ask "coffee, tea or hot cocoa?" When my respective guest responds "coffee", I would smile and ask "french vanilla, hazelnut, or pecan pie?" Then I would waltz over to my Keurig, place the k-cup in and out would pour a fresh cup of fabulous coffee and in less than a minute!

Okay, so maybe I have not ever worn my hair swept into an updo with soft curl ringlets and I have certainly never worn a pink apron (even though I have nothing against aprons or the color pink, for that matter) and homemade finger cookies sounds fabulous but only if someone else is baking them.

I stood my ground and told my husband that I am satisfied with my cheap, humble little coffee maker.

Two weeks later, to my surprise my husband came home with a Keurig; and I was coerced into enjoying the pleasures of gourmet coffee from a whole different perspective.

Of course with my frequent drinking coffee record, it was completely necessary for me to shop for k-cups sooner rather than later.

I went online comparing prices to get the best value for our money. I found plenty of online stores offering k-cups and claiming to have the best prices as I googled away in an effort to validate their claims.

Eventually, I found out that there was only one place that offered my k-cups at the cheapest prices; retail and/or online. Amazon.com offers the largest selection of k-cup retailers, flavors and the best value that I have ever seen.

So now you ask "where is my cheap, humble little coffee maker that I refused to want to give up?" It went out with Monday's garbage, weeks ago. This is one time where my husband was actually right.

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