My coffee machine is broken. This is our concern.
It’s not some fancy-schmancy pressure-driven Gaggia or whatnot, so I suppose I should be pleased that this will not result in phenomenal expenditure to get it repaired or replaced, but it does mean that I am without my daily dose of freshly-ground coffee to pep me up in the mornings.
A mug of instant coffee lurks on my desk, snarling and cackling at me like some warty old witch or some filthy creature. Remember the “rodents of unusual size” from the [Princess Bride][]? Yeah, like one of those.
[princess bride]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_%28film%29
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a mug of instant coffee. I used to like it quite a lot. Funny, that.
**UPDATE:** *Hey, do you want to see my “I am foolish” face? The coffee machine just needed descaling.*
Other News
In other news, the roads are insane this morning. A combination of some highly disruptive local roadworks, and heavy rainfall, has resulted in utter chaos. Many drivers are avoiding the roadworks by driving down a narrow country lane which I have been using for a few weeks. This lane is mostly wide enough for only one car, with passing places. As you are no doubt aware, the trick to negotiating such roads is to keep your distance from the car in front, such that there is always at least one passing place between you and them, which you can drop into if the need arises.
However, these town-dwelling dorks haven’t all figured this out yet, so this morning a jam of epic proportions ensued. Fortunately I was sufficiently far back to turn round and seek an alternative route.
8 replies on “Caffiend”
Instant coffee? You’ve gone straight from heaven to hell there. Why not take the honourable middle ground… A decent pre-ground coffee, a cone and some filter papers are your friend here.
It may be not as fancy, but it will get you through the darkest hours with only the merest of night terrors.
I have been known on occasion to setle for a cup of instant, but as I have one of those “fancy-schmancy pressure-driven Gaggia or whatnot” thingies in the kitchen, the look on my face when I discover I must drink soluble muck to get my daily caffeine intake is quite a thing to see.
I do amicably settle for a decent filtered or caffetiere’d brew now and again, and it’s a perfectly acceptable alternative to the real thing.
Does anyone remember that instant, soluble tea that appeared a few years ago, only to disappear just as quick? Anyone ever wonder why instant coffee hasn’t gone the same way? (Hmmm. I wonder is there a patent registered for coffee bags…)
Ha – I never used to keep that much space on the single country lanes between Minting and Woodhall Spa!!! Makes it more fun he he he
I have seen coffee bags around and about. The problem with coffee is that it loses its freshness so quickly. A pack of coffee bags, even if perfectly sealed in an inert atmosphere, would need finishing within about a month before they became undrinkable.
Just for the record, my advice has repeatedly been to take the cafetiere out of the cupboard where it has been gathering dust since the arrival of the non-fancy-etc coffee machine, and take it to work. Grind beans in the morning, and you have a supply of coffee all day! What more could you want? (Apart from an ice pack).
Careful. I de-scaled the kettle at work and it never worked again.
It turned out that the only thing conducting electricity was the thin layer of metal on the outside of the element, which flaked and fell off without the scale to hold it in place.
Ugh. You have my sympathies, Damian.
The instructions for the coffee maker said to descale it with vinegar. It didn’t expressly forbid use of descalers. The descaler seems to be predominantly ethanoic acid anyway – I wouldn’t be surprised if that is all that it is.
It seems to have worked, anyway. Coffee machine is making coffee again, and we’re all happy.
[…] third choice involves a very narrow country lane, but I figured that I might as well give it a whirl, because the alternative was a very, very long […]