The Evolution of Kool-Aid

Thinking back to when I was a little kid when kool-aid was one of my favorite drinks, one thing I remember more than the sweet taste is the actual process of making it. Taking out the pitcher, emptying in the pack of kool-aid and adding seven and a half scoops of sugar before filling the pitcher with water. The only thing left to do was stir it all up and pour yourself a nice tall glass to enjoy. During those hot summer days, kool-aid was my favorite drink. I even recall pouring some into the ice cube trays and making kool-aid flavored popsicles.

Although there were other companies who made drinks similar to kool-aid, nothing was as good as the name brand. Flavor-aid and Wylers just didn't do it for me. Those kool-aid packs, which were often on sale for 10 packs for $1, were abundant in our kitchen. Soon I began noticing those containers with the kool-aid in it. They still offered the same great taste, and for those of us who actually collected those kool-aid points on the back of the packs, they offered 3 points instead of just the 1 point you got from the regular packets. You needed about 10,000 points to get a remotely good prize like a game boy or some other gadget but I think the best thing I got was a Super Mario key chain game. With siblings to share the kool-aid points with, there would be no 10,000 points for me.

As time went on, more kool-aid flavors were introduced. Although my taste for kool-aid didn't diminish, as I got older I started drinking less sugary drinks. Fruit juice and water is more my preference these days although on occasion I will buy a packet of kool-aid. But making them these days is not the same as it used to be. Now, in addition to the regular packet and the containers, they make those kool-aid on the go packs. You know, the ones that look like the Crystal Light on the go packs. Replacing the pitcher, sugar, and spoon to mix it up is a simple bottled water. Just empty one of the packets of kool-aid into a bottled water, shake it up and there you have it-instant drink. I admit these on the go packs are much more convenient than the conventional kool-aid packs but there's still something special about the old way we used to make it, which was the only way to make it.

This generation of kids more than likely prefers the Kool-Aid Jammers juice drinks which don't have to be prepared at all. Just insert a straw and drink away. The kool-aid tastes the same but gone are the childhood memories of making it and also of collecting the points on the back of the packet. Somewhere along the way they stopped offering prizes. Just like they stopped showing those Kool-Aid commercials with the red pitcher of kool-aid as much. Like all other things, I guess even kool-aid has to evolve.