Funeral for a Friend

I'm just heart broken, I have been using this 3cup French Press for a couple of years now.  I have made many hundreds if not thousands of cups of coffee with it.  And last night while washing it I whacked it on the faucet and shattered it.  It's silly to be so fond of a dumb $10 Meijer item but trying to replace it seems to be problematic.


Just the other day I found and purchased a 3cup coffee maker on eBay because the dumb things are sort of rare - and thus expensive.  So it came in and it looked decent enough but I chose to just keep my old one and sell the new one as part of my business.  Low and behold not a week later I destroy this one but luckily I had the new one on hand so I broke it out and used it.  Yikes!  It is terrible.  The glass beaker is about 5mm larger in diameter and so it the screen.  This caused the screen to buckle in a spot rather than seal and thus I have grounds in my coffee.  I actually got it work with the parts from my old friend so I guess a part of it is still with me.


On the bright side.  It was good that I actually used the new one and learned that it is poorly engineered.  I was planning to buy 10 more and sell them at my demonstrations but now - no way!  I don't want to get into the customer service and returns business.

This coffee press makes a single regular sized cup of coffee. It was $9.99 on sale at Meijer. It works and cleans pretty well but because I have nothing to compare it to my assessment might be skewed.

I have been using it to make a cup of Maxwell House when I don't have a pot of my own roast brewed. For the most part the flavor has not been enjoyable and quite bitter. But I have discovered that this is because of user error. I have been making the coffee in the press with water from the tap. I know the importance of using filtered water when making coffee but for some reason I have been too lazy to get water from the fridge when using the press.

Yesterday I made a cup of Maxwell House using the press and I used filtered water. What a difference in the flavor. While I find Maxwell House to be a boring/common coffee it is a stable blend and the basis from which I compare all coffees. Using the filtered water the flavor is not bitter and pretty much without quality flaw. The flavor is still common and unimpressive but it is not bad. The press is a nice way to make a quick cup of coffee but filtered water is still a necessity.