Trying to get up earlier in the day so I have time to get my day’s writing mostly done before we go skating.
I’m going to have to replace my coffeemaker: it’s decided not to dispense coffee, and I’ve tried every way to clean it I can think of. No joy. I love these Hamilton-Beach Coffee Stations, which have no pot—they just pour it straight into the cup.
I thought about one of those single-cup magic coffee devices, but when I did the math and figured they cost 700.00 a year to supply, versus 300.00 for coffee, in a 10 cup a day habit (and I drink more than that sometimes), I figure I can make it by the pot. It’s really amazing how much a ‘convenience’ can cost you in a year. And besides, some of those pre-done coffees are not innocent of sugar. That’s a way to blow your diet and pay 400 dollars for the privilege.
I can name a number of things I’d rather, than that.
I have a single cup thingy, but then again I only drink one cup a day after years of abuse on that front so I can’t deal with the temptation of an entire pot. I get the medium roast little pod things and love how every cup comes out the same each time. I have to filter my water before I put it in or the machine gets destroyed by the minerals in our local water. Even vinegar wasn’t cleaning it out and that just made the house stink. Since I started my new machine with filtered water no problems at all. Filtered water is the way to go.
You might want to do some research online like at Amazon. Even if you don’t buy it there reading people’s reviews (once you weed out the crazy or inept folk) has worked well for me in the past when I’ve helped my parents decided on a new one. They usually take that knowledge to a local store and make the purchase there.
My Keurig has a reuseable “pod” so you can use your own coffee rather than the prepacked pods. I like making a cup at a time; I drink less coffee (don’t feel obligated to finish the pot) and each cup is freshly brewed, hasn’t been sitting around.
I hope you enjoy[ed] skating!
On coffee – I’m in the middle – 3 to 5 cups most days. SSoometttimes eyeull inndulllge innna laattte, too. 🙂
My coffeepot is still “ticking” but I know it’s just a matter of time. (I always use filtered water, but manage to kill them all, eventually.) I make my pot – 6-10 cups (3-5 mugs) and put it into a thermal coffee server pitcher(mine’s from Gevalia, but I’ve seen others). It keeps it warm well into the afternoon. (Because there isn’t much worse than hot, burned coffee.)
I looked at the Hamilton Beach machines, but I don’t like metal cups, so unless one can use ceramic mugs, probably not an option for me.
And the single-serve machines generate so much trash and one can’t make an “eat my spoon” cup of coffee. Yet, at one cup a day, they *do* make a certain amount of sense economically and tastewise.
My sister-in-Chicago swears by a french press, and I have to say that was some tasty, tasty coffee. (But for more than one cup, I’d need to microwave the rest or put it in a thermal carafe.)
The final option I’ve been considering is a toddy or cold brewer. It makes really smooth and low acid coffee concentrate. Again, would take the microwave.
YMMV, as always.
I had a Black&Decker “Cup at a Time” that lasted several years on Brita-filtered water. I just replaced it with B&D “Brew ‘n Go” which is the same thing but different size. It uses a re-usable Melita-style filter, or the #2 paper cones. I think it will do a three-measure mug; my mug is standard size and I use two measures of coffee. I don’t suppose it will stand a spoon up, but it floats my boat each morning.
Oh, and it costs about $20.00, not $70-100… I’m not cheap, I’m Scottish.
I have a french press pot that makes 4 cups – my cups. It is marketed as an 8 cup pot. (Probably measured for demitasse). With a small coffee grinder it makes great coffed, very quickly…to the point that when I was visiting a friend who is now limited to decaf I started a withdrawal headache!
Cup at a time with your own brew is good!
but I ended up getting yet one more Hamilton Beach — I should have my head examined. But the coffee is so good. Sealed tank, no contact with metal, no contact with the air. If this one fails, I’m going to explore the own-coffee cup-at-a-time option.
One of our gamers hosts our weekly meets, and his mom got something we fondly call ‘The Caffeinator’. It brews up to 12 cups, and has a push-bar that dispenses them one at a time through a nozzle. It uses standard #4 baskets and has no carafe, just a filter basket and bucket that collects and dispenses the coffee. I don’t remember if it’s Hamilton Beach, but we love it, and if it ever breaks, we will buy the house a replacement.
It’s very similar. It keeps the flavor intact because it doesn’t let outside air get to the coffee in the bucket. Yum! But boy, is it cranky! I’ve had them from the first model, and the first model you had to be very careful a ground didn’t get stuck in the outflow, or it emptied the bucket onto your counter! That the coffee is so nice I bought another one says something, eh?
Philosophically, I guess I could tolerate the one-at-a time machine that you use your own coffee in. Otherwise the amazing waste not only in money but in packaging and energy is absurd, just for a little convenience. I have a press at one house and a hand-me-down Mr. Coffee at the farmhouse. I try to remember to shut off Mr. Coffee’s warming plate as soon as the brew is done, so he doesn’t turn the pot into tar, and then microwave a cup at a time after the first made-hot one. Fine coffee that way once you calibrate the microwave to your mug size.
My pod one has a thingy you can swap in so you can do your own. When I first got one like that I insisted that be an option because I wasn’t convinced the pods would stay around as long as they have, but five years later I am still using them the pods. Not sure about the waste you mention though. The little pods are no worse than a tea bag. Coffee itself is a big waste as far as the carbon footprint goes. It’s a vice us drinkers find acceptable.
you’re right about the environmental footprint of coffee. Bad habit. I wish I could find a new, greener vice, but thus far it’s the only thing that fuels my mornings. Unfortunately once tea cools in the least, I’m not interested, and that means I drink two sips, then get to writing, and it’s cold. It has, with me, a very narrow window of temperature acceptability.
Plus I like it English-style, and that’s way too many carbs, as much as I drink. Coffee, I’ll drink at any temperature, including day-old. As bad as the old maker has been doing it—it’s just not that different.
On the other hand, my first cup with the new coffeemaker is wonderful!
Day-old, yikes! I’ll stay with my one-cup-at-a-time Keurig; clearly we have different standards for “drinkable coffee.” (I won’t drink it cold, either.)