I didn’t really start drinking coffee until I was in the Army. I always liked the aroma, but didn’t care for the taste. In fact, I’ve posted before about as much as I now love coffee, I still don’t care for coffee-flavored things and do not hand me an iced coffee. In general, I drink three to four mugs in the morning and then might have “social coffee” later in the day as part of a meeting. Coffee after dinner if we’re out is also the norm. With that said, this has turned out to be far busier week for both of us than anticipated. The detailed ins and outs of that aren’t important. A few days ago though the coffee maker starting having problems. Either the pump that sends the water through the basket with the grounds isn’t working or the internal line isn’t clear. In the time the entire pot would usually be made, I barely had one mug’s worth as the machine was gurgling as if all was fine. This, by the way, isn’t something you want to face without the benefit of having had that first mug.

At any rate, after determining the heating element seemed just fine, the obvious solution was the old fashioned method of heating water in the kettle and manually (slowly) pouring the water through the basket. As an aside, as much as we enjoy a French Press, we don’t have one because it is so much easier to hit the button on the coffeemaker and walk away until the coffee is ready. However, this was a semi-emergency. (We do have some packets of instant coffee for all-else fails situations). The solution worked quite well, but neither of us have had time to go and buy a new coffeemaker. If nothing changes, that will be a high priority “to-do” for tomorrow.