This morning, I overslept and didn't wake up until I heard the kiddo making noise over the baby monitor. So I dragged my ass out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to fix his breakfast and a pot of coffee for myself. Stumble downstairs for a smoke while everything is heating up. The nicotine helped, so I managed to trudge rather than stumble back up the stairs to assemble Roy's tray and fix that first, blessedly reviving, hot, sugary and creamy cup of coffee for myself.
Grab the filter to pull it off of the carafe, and spit! Dirty drawers! The damned thing is stone cold. Peek inside the filter.... grounds are still completely dry, and none of the water has moved up into the filter as it should. I ended up having to boil water on the stove-top and pour it through the filter just so I could get some nasty over-perked sludge to make it through the morning.
My first Bodum Santos lasted a year, and then the heating element died. The coffee I was getting from the machine was so wonderful I went ahead and replaced it with another one. This one only lasted me 3 years - not a sufficient return on my investment for a machine priced over 100 dollars. It makes a great cup of coffee, but it's a bitch to clean, since even with my tiny hands I can barely fit one inside the carafe to scrub it out, and every time you try to give it a good cleaning, you're taking the risk of it not coming back on. So, while I love you, Bodum Santos, I had to replace you with a different brand.
Here's hoping the new Oster I ordered arrives before I expire from caffeine withdrawal tomorrow morning, and lives longer than the Bodum did. That morning cup of coffee is too important to me for me to screw around with unreliable machines.
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9 comments:
Though I can't relate to a coffee machine dying one me...I hate when things die! grrrr
Hey Celeste---not to be nosy- but I thought you much too smart to be a smoker. ;S
Did you have a good Thanksgivng?? Ours was very laid back and very peaceful THE BEST ever.
LOL, yeah I guess you wouldn't. I've pretty much abandoned the word of wisdom over the years, and smoke, drink and drink a lot of coffee. The husband and I plan to quit smoking once we move out of state, but have decided Virginia just sucks too much to try now.
Our Thanksgiving was awesome! We did it potluck style at my dad's house, and his little sister - who the twins never met, and I hadn't seen her since I was like 4 years old - came out to visit. We all had a great time and it was really nice getting to know Jeannie. AND I finally abandoned the crisco for my pie crusts and went all-butter, and all of a sudden, making pie really was as easy as they say! AND since this was the first year in a while I wasn't responsible for the bird, was very low-stress.
Glad to hear your Thanksgiving was great!
Let me tell you...those pies were AWESOME! I ate tons of leftover pie my last three days there and the crust was my favorite part!
Yes...the pies were tastier than ever! Good move on the all butter crust :).
Getting the mix right on the butter crust was a lot easier than with shortening as well. As a LOT easier to roll out - no splits and jagged edges that I had to mend. I'm all butter from now on. :) Glad everyone liked the pies!
Bodum...I bought a french press Bodum from Starbucks and I loved it so much, I went and bought a big one for when I have guests. No machinery to break down. Simple, elegant, and very attractive, and the coffee is the best I've ever made.
Mmmmm yes. Bodum does rock. Since I'm still busy trying to perfect the grind and quantity of grounds ratio for my new machine, I'm sorely missing my Santos. A french press is lovely, but I like a purer cup of coffee than a press can give me, and a press won't keep my coffee warm for the next two hours either. :)
So I'm working on getting things 'just right' with my new Oster. It's a hard adjustment, since it takes approximately half of the grounds that my Bodum did for the same pot of coffee. The first three pots I made were full of grounds that overran the basket... what kind of twit makes a 12 cup pot that can only take 9 tablespoons of grounds??? Weak!! The recommended ratio is 2 tbs per cup of coffee (24 tbs for a 12 cup pot). Pfft. I'll give it another week or so, and if I'm still not satisfied with the coffee maker and can't get what I consider a proper cup of coffee out of it... I may suck it up and go back to Bodum after all. The Santos might be a huge pain in the ass to take care of, but it's still the absolute best cup of coffee I've ever had out of an electric pot. On the other hand, sticking with the Oster cuts my bean expenses in half... choices! Argh.
Well, as to keeping the coffee hot, the 4 cup French press I bought (at the recommendation of a friend of mine who works at Starbucks) is made of insulated metal, and works a bit like a thermos. It only makes 4 cups though, so if you have a crowd, it's going to be a lot of work keeping them supplied. Me, I like the murkiness of the cup I get from it...that is part of its beauty.
Yeah it's all a matter of taste. I like my coffee to be as sediment free and purely coffee as possible. I already drink really strong blends, so don't need the added kick of bits of coffee dust floating around in the liquid. :) For a really rich, but clean pot of coffee, the Bodum wins hands down.
I think the Oster will work out in the long run, though. I just need to tweak it a tiny bit more. I think a slightly finer grind, and maybe a tad more grounds will do the trick.
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