Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

The Coffeemaker

In January I blogged about this over the top coffeemaker that came to live with us on Christmas eve. I'm back now with the next chapter.



From the very beginning this coffeemaker did not like Bob. They grumbled and fought almost daily. I know it had nothing to do with Bob because he told me he was doing everything right.  For some reason it seemed to like me and I never had a problem making coffee.

This morning I came into the kitchen to find an ugly scene. Bob had a disturbed look on his face and the kitchen cabinet looked like the coffeemaker had thrown up coffee grounds everywhere. He wasn't ready to give up the fight and continued to put the little pods of coffee in only for them to upchuck more coffee grounds. The sink probably held 10 failed coffee containers.

Once he left the kitchen I went in and said to the coffeemaker "I know you're upset, and he's scrambled your little brain. I'm going to unplug you and give you a chance to collect your thoughts, then I'll plug you in again and we'll see if together we can make a nice cup of coffee." That worked, made a perfect cup.

I said to myself "Self, it's time for this system to go. He simply cannot operate it." I left him thinking it was not his fault, sometimes it's best not to challenge things like that, and just told him I thought we ought to buy a different style coffeemaker.

Mid morning I gave him the rule for the day, 'No Grocery Shopping,' we were going only to purchase a coffee pot, coffee and filters. He agreed and we were off to complete the task.


This was his choice, probably because it was on sale for $20. He also liked that it was red. I mentioned I had not liked the one Black & Decker coffeemaker we'd had years ago but that seemed of no importance in this situation. Into the basket went the red one.

We were off then to buy coffee and filters. Filters were easy, coffee, not so much. Using the one cup system he drank dark and I drank light. Hmmmm  I threw caution to the wind and bought Folgers medium.

I don't know what the heck we've done but if he can brew a pot of coffee with this one I'll drink it regardless. Can't handle coffee grounds all over the kitchen cabinet.

Now we have this nice system that works perfectly when I use it but hisses and spits at Bob when he uses it. It's too big for the amount of cabinet space we have. No doubt daughter will want to use it when she comes next month. Now the question is where to store the monster.

What coffee system do you use? Who makes coffee at your house?

20 comments:

  1. We use the simple Mr. Coffee maker. It spits and dribbles when we remove the pot to fill a cup, but it was probably $20-ish, and it does the job relatively well. I get a large container of ground coffee at Sam's Club every few weeks. I recycle the used grounds in my garden. Ken uses the emptied ground coffee containers in his workshop to hold whatever. Everyone's happy.

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    1. Daughter is not happy about this arrangement. I'm caught in the middle. Will be interesting to see which system comes out the winner. She wants me to just make him a cup when he wants it but seems like that's admitting he can no longer do something from the way he would look at it.

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  2. Sorry, I am no help. No, I do not drink coffee. We have a coffee maker somewhere. No idea what kind it is though. The coffee is probably as old as the hills. (and still in the cabinet) DH gets his caffeine in the morning by drinking a Coke or Pepsi or buys some coffee at a convenience store on his way somewhere.

    Why not use both coffeemakers and both be happy? I know space could be a problem, it usually is, but why not be happy with your kind of brew?

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    1. I'm not much of a coffee drinker. Most likely I'll switch to a morning diet Pepsi.

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  3. Pack up the Keurg and send it home with your daughter. She should be old enough and compassionate enough understand that it doesn't mix well with Bob's ability to handle it. Why have it in the house to remind him of something he can't do? After all, he's had a lifetime to prefect making coffee the old way, why change that now?

    I have Keurg and I'm a coffee person, drink way too much and so did my husband. I have a love/hate relationship with the Keurig. They get plugged up too often or need to be burped for air locks when you least have the patience or time. I do love being able to make one cup at a time, though it's a very expensive way to make coffee.

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    1. I hear you. I'm pretty much for whatever works for him. She lives a long way from his daily life. Only here on visits. Means well but impossible to know how day to day life actually is lived out.

      Hoping some of his old brain cells will kick in and it will come back to him how we made coffee all those years in a Mr. Coffee. We'll see how it goes.

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  4. I have a black and Decker that I like. I make the coffee and the micro manager does the complaining.

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    1. Good to know you like your Black and Decker. Time will tell how all this will work out.

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  5. We have a standard coffee maker, currently a Hamilton Beech. Tom makes the coffee, grinding beans each morning that we keep in the freezer. the beans are from Costco, usually. Always decaf. We do not drink coffee for the caffeine. Tom drinks coffee in the morning. I drink it after lunch and in the evening. I use one third milk to two thirds coffee and microwave it. It doesn't matter to me if it is fresh. No coffee issues here unless Tom doesn't make it because we are off somewhere. Then I use Starbucks Via instant coffee.

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    1. I thought perhaps we should go back to a percolator but then I read the water in those is too hot and kills some of the flavor so it was better to use drip system. I'm not much of a coffee drinker. I've worked with him off and on this afternoon and he's still having trouble. Not sure how all this is going to work out.

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  6. We have a standard coffee maker. I'm not a coffee drinker, but my hubby is. He doesn't tolerate a lot of caffeine, so I make him a blend of 1/4 caffeine, 3/4 decaf. He likes Peets coffee.

    My mom has a small Keurig and loves it to brew her individual cups of coffee.

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    1. Will be interesting to see what we do on this issue. I'm not a coffee drinker either so I may well go for a diet Pepsi in the mornings.

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  7. We have two pots! His and hers! He drinks Truck Driver Coffee and I drink gourmet flavored coffee! I loved saying tonight, ' coffee's READY!

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    1. Now I can fully see the two of you doing two pots. I'll drink with you, truck stop coffee will corrode your insides I'm sure.

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  8. I love my morning coffee. I have purchased all of the major brands over the years. I have a Mr. Coffee with the timer right now. Nothing fancy. Drinking my morning coffee starts my day off with just right. I wouldn't like to have to fuss my way through getting it started. I'd say use both coffee makers if you like different strengths. If you are really flexible then get the machine that is easiest for him to work. The things we do....

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    1. Today I will work on this situation some more. In the meantime he filled the new ice maker too full of water and caused it to stop working.

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  9. I just bought a little ("5 Cup" -- really 2) Mr. Coffee. My son makes himself coffee before he heads out to work. Then I make some for myself since I sleep later and I prefer coffee that I don't have to chew.

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    1. I'll just drink diet Pepsi rather than drink coffee I have to chew. Glad to know the 5 cup is actually 2. These days most people use mugs which holds more than 8 oz.

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  10. I gave up coffee when I got my pacemaker. Even decaf has some caffeine in it. Before that I had the little Mr. Coffee that made two mugs. Worked like a charm. Good luck.

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    1. Bob is not slowing down on coffee even with his pacemaker. I'm not much of a coffee drinker. Can take it or leave it. So far I've been unable to teach him to operate the new coffeemaker so not sure where all this is headed.

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