In search of a mess-proof coffee carafe

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I’ve been wondering of late if it is just me or if others share in my frustration with automatic coffee maker carafes.

Being an avid coffee drinker, I like the convenience of the automatic drip coffee maker. Even I can make coffee, though I must admit that Mrs. Griz usually has it made long before I get up! And, other than a few complaintsabout my coffee being either a little too strong or too weak, my coffee comes out fine. I can even get everything all ready the night before so that all I have to do in the morning to have coffee is flip a switch - unless, of course, I forgot to plug the thing in or add one of the necessary two ingredients.

So, what’s my complaint? It’s with those glass coffee pots some people call carafes. Is it just me, or do those things let coffee run down the sides and off the bottom for everyone who pours from them?

Why, just the other day, I spilled water all over the coffee maker when I tried to use the carafe to fill the water reservoir and then I dripped coffee all over the counter top and stove when I tried to pour a cup of the brew! You'd think the folks who manufacture coffee makers could come up with a carafe design which is a little more mess-proof when you pour!

And, have you ever bumped one of those glass carafes against the sideof the sink or the faucet while rinsing it out? You'll get an even worse result if you bump it just a little too hard against your cup when pouring.

If you do this at work in the morning, everybody else in the office gets upset at you until you finally go out to buy a replacement carafe. I have used sauce pans, Pyrex measuring cups and all sorts of other things in such emergency situations.

Then, when you do go to the store to buy a new carafe, the real shock comes. The carafes alone cost as much or more than the whole coffee maker and carafe together!

Once, I thought I would be smart and buy an aluminum carafe to permanently solve this breakage and cost problem. However, those carafe making companies weren’t going to let me get off that easy. They designed the aluminum carafe so that, when trying to pour from it, more coffee ran down the side and onto the floor than into my cup! I tried every way I could think of to pour from it - slow, fast, tipped to the right, tipped to the left - nothing helped. The only sure-fire way to keep it from dripping was to be prepared for the mess and pour over the sink or a trash can. But when my confidence was up and I neglected to take such precautions, the thing leaked all over the counter, the floor and sometimes me.

Can’t anybody - perhaps some independent company without ties to the glass carafe companies and coffee maker companies - build an unbreakable and leak-proof, pourable coffee carafe?

If coffee in your cup is the best thing about waking up, I don’t want a carafe that breaks, drips and spills it all over the floor!

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be reached by e-mail at rmoll@nwaonline .com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 07/13/2011