There are also reusable K-Cups for your own blend, or disposables for tea, hot cider and hot chocolate -- the latter reminding me of childhood ice skating memories from a rink where there was a rundown but wonderful hot chocolate machine that spurted out a syrupy brown cup of cocoa after a great deal of wheezing and rattling and whirring. The Gloria Jean's French Vanilla K-Cup fills the room with a distinct aroma that takes me back to how the forever-brewing pots of flavored coffee at the Wawa at 17th and Arch in Philadelphia used to smell (and probably still do). And then there's the Donut Shop experience, which allows me to remember a lackluster temp job and a nearby now-closed Dunkin Donuts by the CTA's Clark/Lake Blue Line station, with its tasty cranberry-orange muffins and staunch refusal to ever honor Dunkin Donuts gift cards. All this making the Keurig not just a coffee machine, but a fast as lightning beverage time travel chariot as well....
