People who read my posts often tell me I sound like a man with too much time on his hands. Did they say that to Sir Isaac Newton as he lolled under a tree watching the apples fall? He merely went on to invent the calculus so people could later travel into space. On the other hand he wasted a lot of time trying to turn base metals into gold.
My current experiments involve finding a way to prevent used coffee grounds from getting all over the place. Teresa likes flavored coffee so we make our coffee in separate pots. I use a French press which creates a mess of grounds. Thanks to YouTube I learned to run several ounces of water into the beaker, swirl it with a spatula, (a spoon could crack the beaker) and pour it all onto the roses.
Every breakthrough entails new problems. Teresa says all these grounds might be bad for the plants. In the spring I scrape up 90-99% of the grounds and move them to the compost bin. Teresa makes her coffee in an old percolator we bought at a yard sale twenty years ago. They made 'em good in the old days. The only thing we've had to do to it was glue the glass knob into the lid. It kept falling out. You break that baby, you're done. Update: I just discovered I could buy a replacement knob online for $2.99.
Percolators are looked down upon in the specialty coffee community. Rebrewing the coffee over and over in a percolator "shocks" the grounds and all the subtle notes of the coffee are lost. But flavored coffee has no subtle notes to lose, so rebrewing is not a concern. What does concern me is the mess. Even with a paper filter half the grounds get spattered around the basket.
I could just wash the grounds down the sink, but ten years ago our sink quit draining. I tried all the YouTube solutions and ended up paying a plumber $70.00 to open the drain. YouTube had said a clogged drain was not a question of if, but when. After paying the bill I vowed to make sure the next clog wouldn’t happen before I myself had gone down the drain. Therefore putting coffee grounds or anything else down the drain is verboten. Except water (Wasser).
My first step was to put an additional paper filter above the grounds. This helped a bit. I put a third filter on top of the basket cover. This helped a bit more. Filters are only a penny each in bulk. Then I had the idea to divide the grounds between two filters and roll up the filters into a pod.
I sealed the pods with staples. There was leakage. Rubber bands squashed the pods until they broke. I was reluctant to use tape. Could there be chemicals in the tape that might leach out during the brewing process? The Internet said that scotch tape posed no health risks (when used under reasonable conditions).
What could be more reasonable than brewing coffee? My taped pods left the basket spic and span. I was about to take my rifle outside and fire a few celebratory shots in the air when I got a text from Teresa, “Thanks for the hot water. Is the coffee soon ready?” I put my rifle away. Teresa's birthday is coming up and I hear Keurigs are on sale in town. That will free me up to move on to my next obsession. Now where did I put those base metals?
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| Mission accomplished |
Ya, I know dat youse are a guy vit but little of yer own time on yer 'ands; an' somevun keeps youse goin' almos' around da clock dere in NE Palmville --an' fer miles beyond, I might add, servin' da community. Nuthin' wrong vit dat, but it ain't like youse can yus' sit dere doin' nuthin' yus' 'because.' As da late Elmer Yohnson, son of da later Freddie Yohnson of MW Palmville, said to me yerse ago seein' as I vas new to da community an' all, an' pepple t'inkin' me strange, "Da pepple don't know youse!." Vell, seein' as youse two been livin' dere almost ferever, mebbe only da 'strange' part applies, eh?
ReplyDeleteLet 'em talk den, eh. Yer Squibs alone show da verld 'ow yer busy mind verks overtime to make up fer yer semi-apparent idleness.
Ennaways, Monique 'as dat coffee ground surplus t'ing all figgered out, eh. Ve drink our share of coffee 'ere in W Palmville, don' youse t'ink ve don', an' so she dumps da filter basket full of used coffee grounds inta an' ice cream bucket on da steps to da basement, filter an' all; vere it settles abit 'til she's gud an' ready to separate da paper from da grounds; an' dis may be days I tells youse. So she vill 'ave a wee pile of dry used filters righ' next to da bucket full of pure coffee grounds. She puts da used filters, all dry an all, into da trash, den take da grounds vit 'er outside on 'er valks, an' shud da occasion arise, dump the grounds on ant 'ills or off into da ditch. It ain't pollutin'.
There once was a husband name Joe
ReplyDeletewho took coffee pods outdoors to throw
But Teresa said I
don't want roses to die
But I like when you make pizza dough!