Many of you that visit Starbucks regularly have seen the Coffee Traveler, or as I refer to it, the Box of Coffee.
Last week, at the office, I wanted some coffee. So I walked down the first floor where we have a Starbucks in the building. I ordered a "Box of Coffee, please". The Starbucks people did a double take and said, "Seriously?" I confirmed I wanted a box and they brewed it up. The coffee cost $12.
You get a lot for your $12. In addition to the 96 oz. of coffee, you get a QUART of half and half, a stack of cups, and as many sweetener packets you can carry. What are people doing with quarts of half and half, I can't imagine.
The 96 oz. ( aka 3 quarts or 2.8 liters) of coffee is supposed to be split into twelve 8 oz. cups of coffee. Now a quart of half and half is 32 oz. Split that twelve ways and you get 2 2/3 oz. (better known as a 1/3 cup) per cup of coffee. Now, are people really dumping 1/3 cup of half and half into their coffee? I think their hearts would clench up from the fat entering their arteries in that amount.
Really now people, you gotta cut back on the dairy fats. Are you doing something else with the half and half I don't know about? Is there some secret Starbucks cereal dispenser somewhere that gives you something to do with a quart of fatty milk?
Cream issues aside, the box worked well and I gave out plenty of coffee to everyone I saw.
I took the box home to examine it in more detail. The cardboard box obviously came apart in some fashion.
I opened it up and saw that the Box of Coffee was actually the Mylar Bag of Coffee.
Unfurled, the bag seemed quite large. I thought it could hold more than the three quarts of coffee it held in the box.
I filled the bag with water until it was full. The bag holds a LOT Of water.
I got out a measuring cup and started pouring out the water. Amazingly, the bag will hold six quarts. SIX quarts.
Now you can use this bag several ways. Obivously, you can fill the bag with clean water and use the box as a simple water carrier for travel. Or you can put the water into the box and put it into the freezer. The bag has plenty of room for the water to expand as it freezes. Take the box with you outdoors where you need cold water, like the kid's soccer games, and viola! Cold water!
Even just leaving a box of water in the trunk would be useful for things like washing hands or washing the bird poop off you new car's paint.
Perhaps it would be most fun for parties where you could put mixed drinks in the box and the host could walk around pouring drinks to the guests. I'm thinking frozen daquiris and margaritas would be tasty. The possibilities are endless.
So get your thinking caps on folks. Those Boxes of Coffee should never be thrown away, they are too valuable!