My wife left me a note this morning that simply said, “Coffee maker died???” I’m guessing the question marks at the end are intended for me to provide an explanation, of which I have none. Perhaps it might have been more reflective of her mood, since she was deprived of her morning cup of coffee. Something I learned a long time ago never to get in the way of, but I’m more inclined to believe it has to do with the relative newness of this coffee maker. We’ve had this one less than six months.
I honestly don’t know what it is about the short lives of coffee makers in our house. We seem to be on the path of having to purchase one every six months. It’s not that we’re making coffee for throngs of people, we’re empty nesters. I will admit that I drink my fair share of the magic elixir. I’m reminded of a boss I had who admitted he had a coffee addiction. He once told me that he when he couldn’t sleep, he would make a pot of coffee and drink it all himself. Seem to be a bit counter productive, if your objective was to get to sleep, but I found myself understanding what he was going through.
However, I still don’t understand why we go through so many coffee makers. After all they are a relatively simple machine. You put your drip coffee in a filter place the filter in a basket, fill it with water and turn it on and wait for the magic to start, and the kitchen to be filled with the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of the elixir of the gods. To have a coffee maker die in less than six months only tells me that it was shoddy workmanship. For us it doesn’t matter what model of coffee maker we purchase, they all seem to punk out after a short period of use. There was this time when our first coffee maker crapped out, I told my wife we were having the problem because we were buying cheap coffee makers. So I took upon myself to find the one coffee maker that would be right for us and I wasn’t going to let price get in my way.
I came home with a coffee maker that not only brewed coffee it would grow and grind the beans, tell the time in five countries and whistle Dixie when the coffee was done. It was my pride and joy. I fussed and preened over this machine even though I was never able to figure out how to get it to do half the things it was capable of and was thoroughly disappointed to see it replaced by a much simpler machine. When I asked my wife why, she simply said, it sprung a leak. I didn’t believe her after all I paid good money for my top of the line coffee maker. She was prepared for my protest, she handed me a pot of water, and pointed to the machine on the counter and said pour. Knowing to argue with her never boded well for me, I meekly acquiesced and began pouring water into my coffee maker, only to see it come out at the base. My machine was relegated to the basement and subsequently the junk pile. Like the ban on my having tools, my coffee maker purchasing privileges have been revoked.
What bothers me is the short life of this recent purchase. There was a time when things would last. I remember when I was growing my mother had a Pyrex coffee percolator. She and other people claimed it made great coffee. You can find them on eBay as collector items. There is a company called Modelco that makes glass percolators, and I found a place that sells them. I know my purchasing privileges have been revoked, but I think I still can advise and recommend. I think I’ll give it a try.
© Timothy A. Wilson 2009. All Rights Reserved.
