On 21 Apr 2007 08:31:39 -0700, Richard Henry
wrote:


Good, simple things endure. Like me!

John- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

A couple of years ago I got an electronic coffee maker as a gift.
When it works right, it makes really good coffee in small amounts.
However, I have had a couple of problems.

Soon after I got it, I dropped the water container while filling it
(it lifts off so it can be filled at the sink or wherever your best
source of water is). I broke off the little check valve at the
bottom, so all the water woulr just run out at once.

After that was replaced, it became apparent that it is insane. There
are two buttons on the device to allow a large cup or a small cup of
coffee to be delivered. There is also a cleaning mode that empties
the entire water container (to be activated when no coffee cartridge
was in place). However, I could not be sure that the machine would do
as asked, so I always had to have an extra-large joke coffee cup in
the machine when making coffee.

The machine sits on a storage shelf now unused, and I buy pre-mixed
bottles of Starbucks' Frappacino for my home coffee needs.

We have a steel kettle, a cute yellow porcelain coffee pot (I collect
coffee pots) and a ceramic drip cone. With a bag of Peet's coffee and
the local Hetch Hetchy water, it makes as good a cuppa as you can get
anywhere in the world, which is approximately 10 times better than you
can get anywhere in Britain.

But there's a trick: before you put the Mellita filter into the drip
cone, place a toothpick sideways in the bottom of the cone. That keeps
the filter from plugging the outlet hole and it drips much faster, and
faster dripping makes better coffee. After, we compost the used
coffee, the filter, and the toothpick.

John