TV was invented about 65 years ago and our lives have never been the same since. This entire generation has been flooded with new gadgets that we as Americans said we have to have. One of the most recent inventions that has taken over our lives is the new way we prepare our morning coffee. We don’t prepare anything. We don’t even have to clean a coffee pot. Coffee used to be discretionary but now it is a necessity thanks to the easier way we can get a cup of the stuff from a Keurig machine. Pour your cup of water in. Put the round thing of beans in the slot. Put the handle down and there it is all hot too.

The inventor of your instant not so instant powder coffee is a guy who used to work for General Electric in the satellite division and managed to put a few satellites’ on rockets and has them in orbits now. Yeah he is a smart guy, Kevin Sullivan Chief Technology Officer of Keurig Green Mountain also invented the machine. He is now the maker of coffee machines that will brew tea and soup now. He got his start in aero-space and defense. Should it take literally a rocket scientist to make a good cup of coffee? I guess so because it is a good idea and lots of Americans are hooked on their machines.

He had the problem of solving how he could balance the electrical input and the thermal balance in a device so we make sure it is dispensed and a consumer can walk away. The idea of making a cup of coffee a cup at a time started catching on about 10 years ago. It turned out to be a high-tech challenge. Yes, a scientific experiment. Break one apart and you will see just how complicated these machines really are. Yet, it   can’t be complicated for us cranky bears just trying to wake up in the morning.  He managed to make it easy with the closing of a handle and a touch of a   button literally then the magic begins and leaves you with a cup of hot coffee in less than a minute.

Now we have speed and convenience right on our kitchen counter and variety too. There are all kinds of coffee flavors available now like pumpkin spice, mountain blueberry, French toast coffee. Today single serve machines are in one out of every three American homes.  The peculator and the drip machine has been moved to the historic basement. The single serve machine filled the need in us that we didn’t know we had.  The machine that can cost a few hundred dollars has turned itself into a $4.7 Billion dollar business. It is not a cheap cup of coffee but if compared to a Starbucks it is much cheaper without the foam. Last year Americans spent more than $3 Billion dollars on single serve capsules’ alone. Now the controversy is what to do with the millions of pods when the coffee is gone?

There have been environmental concerns about making coffee this way. Keurig has been hard at work to solve   the   problem.  By the year 2020 the company expects to have all cups recyclable. Customers are not deterred by either environmental concerns or price. These days a cup of hot coffee is cooler than ever. What will the invent by the year 2020 that we all just gotta have?