esrosedotblog

I have had to cut back on the cups of coffee I drink and what time I drink them.

"Aha"! I can hear you say. "That didn't take long, did it?"

No, it did not.

I had not had any coffee for about five years. Then I decided to try it again and to do a good job at it I got a new beans grinder and bought some beans. I also drug out my old Krups maker.

All is well now except the "need" to have too many cups in a day.

I have had to, first of all, stop drinking any coffee after 9AM. The caffeine effect lasts 12 hours and I was having funny repetitive short cycle dreams early in the night. See? I quit at 9AM today and I am yawning. But I will have a coke. Diet. One third of a cup.

OK. Adjustment made.

I would like to say that I am drinking less in the AM but I am not. The period from 3AM to 9AM, 6 hours uses up six cups. I get high. It is OK so far. What the hell. I will taper though, I think. I get a bit giddy by the time I go to a Meeting or have an 8AM visitor, my standard. Maybe someone should drape a wet blanket over me so I can get settled. No one has yet.

Now, on the equipment. Also an increasing "need". Progression.

The Krups machine just sucks.

It is a clunk. It works fine but it over heats the coffee so I turn the hot plate off and we drink the coffee cool to cold or out of the micro-wave, a short burst.

It also gets very dirty fast, somehow. It is white. Maybe that is it. And a matte finish which holds the stain.

And the pots. The handles come apart. In your hands. The tops are held on by these teeny tiny tits which break as you can't really keep the top open all the way. Or maybe they are supposed to do that. I doubt it.

So to the coffee sites. So many. Surveys of best makers.

Divided opinions here but it turns out that three machines keep emerging from the scrum. One is one or another of the KitchenAid brand. Another is the company that started out making cookware, Calphalon.

The third, and the one I went with, is made by the Japanese company that made my rice cooker. Zojirushi. Specifically the Zojirushi EC-BD15BA Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker.

This little baby has no hot plate. You put in water and coffee grounds. That works the conventional way. But the coffee flows into a thermal pot which is said to hold the coffee hot all day long. Well, I only need it until 9AM.

It is on its way. It does have a shiny stainless steel finish. Which I do not like. But I am good at wiping that down. I would rather have brushed or enamel but no dice.

It will match the grinder. Black, shiny stainless with fingerprints.

Labels: appliances, food