My Kingdom For a Cup of Coffee

 When my husband and I got married nine summers ago, we received a traditional Krups coffee maker with a glass carafe. It served us well for six years, mostly because as New Yorkers we drank our coffee, as Seinfeld would say, "on the outside." Shortly after we moved from Brooklyn to the DC-Maryland border, as if to protest our change of zip code, the carafe broke, so we had it replaced. A few weeks later, the carafe broke again, and we figured it was time for a new coffee maker.

Right after our sixth anniversary, eager to find the latest and greatest coffee maker, we (read: I) did the research and settled on the sleek (carafe-less!) Cuisinart pictured. It got us through some crazy holiday weeks when we had all of my siblings and their spouses in the house, making for eight adults all clamoring for a cup (or three) of joe each morning.

Now, only three years later, it too is showing signs of age. I've already had the lever replaced, and now there's a major malfunction of some sort that spilled four cups of coffee onto my kiddie-art-and-paper-and-toy-covered counter. There were many, many tears when my five-year-old daughter realized one of her last projects from pre-K was ruined. And since my eight-year-old son doesn't read my blog, I can admit to you that I had to throw out six Pokemon cards. I haven't figured out what's wrong, but I'm thinking it's time to replace the machine again.

My husband thinks I should just learn to love the coffee-press as he has, but really, I don't have time to put that much effort into my coffee every morning (although we do have chopsticks that Coffee Geek recommends). It's easy for my husband to say, since he's not the one who has to usher three children around the kitchen and out to school or camp or playgroup. 

The new single-cup brewing systems like the Keurig, which my sister owns and loves, and the Bosch Tassimo, which I tried at a recent event and was impressed with, are all the rage now. But if I buy one, the stakes seem to be higher, because we're locked into the pod system. On the surface it seems like a conservationist's nightmare (all those vacuum sealed discs!), but there's an overall cost savings (making one or two cups quickly and easily is better than making four cups in a regular machine and throwing two out, or worse yet, driving to Starbucks to buy coffee every.single.day).

The bottom line: what's a coffee-loving gal to do? Should I try for another conventional coffee maker, or should I try one of the new single-cup machines?

Comments

[Kim Lam]

We used to have a Senseo witch is a pod system. It took up more counter space than i wanted it too. After we ran out of pods, I just gave it away. Since then, we've used the coffee press and it's not as much work as you'd think. I bought mine from Ikea.

If you're really lazy, you can make cold-brewed coffee. it's very easy. I used to keep a lot more on reserve in the fridge. Then you just pour out what you need, heat it up or add ice and your usual coffee fixings.

Here's my blog post about my cold brewed coffee. http://passionandart.blogspot.com/2008/07/ill-take-iced-mocha-injection-please.html

Hope you figure out what to do!

[Delora]

Tom has used a 1-cup drip machine from Black & Decker 1-2 times every single day for over 7 years now, and has never had a problem with it. It's an earlier generation of this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-DCM18S-Personal-Coffeemaker/dp/B00005MF9C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1277759295&sr=1-7

I got him a really nice burr grinder for Father's Day a few years ago, so he keeps beans in the hopper, and fresh grinds right before brewing. Both machines (while taking up slight more counter space) would be less than the cost of a Tassimo or Keurig.

[jodifur]

I love, love, love my Tassimo. Seriously.

[Karen G]

We're in need of a new coffee pot ourselves and while the ease & immediacy of a single cup is attractive, I do not think we'll go that route again any time soon! MIL gave us a Tassimo a few years back and unfortunately, while it was a nice gift, we just didn't love it. Hubby drinks way more than one cup before he leaves in the AM, then takes more to work. I'm a later coffee drinker....think noon or so (by the time I feed the kidlets, the cat, and get the morning to-dos done, that's about when I *finally* remember to have some! lol).

I also have a close friend who has one of those two cup single cup machines. She uses one side exclusively for her tea and one side exclusively for visiting friends' coffee. While I love that she's so sweet to try to accomodate her coffee fiend friends....the coffee always taste like tea flavored coffee (not the most overly attractive comination). With all that said....I recommend a new coffee Pot! :>:> While we haven't selected a brand or model, that's what we'll be going with shortly. :>

[coach suitcase]

These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home,but divorces increase; these are times of finer houses,but more broken homes; why?

[Juicy Couture Bags]

It signifies importance and it’s a people-pleaser. Not everyone likes chocolate, not everyone likes marzipan, not every likes carrot, but everyone does like Verden’s Beste. And for good reason.

[Juicy Couture Bags]

It signifies importance and it’s a people-pleaser. Not everyone likes chocolate, not everyone likes marzipan, not every likes carrot, but everyone does like Verden’s Beste. And for good reason.