Coffee Maker on the Fritz

I am the first to admit I drink, probably, too much coffee. I wake up at the awful hour of before 3am and brew a pot (6 cups) of coffee. Now, to mere mortals, that is 6 cups but my cup is twice as large as yours so I only drink 3 cups before 5 am.

Then, when John wakes up, I make another pot and together we down 8 more cups of joe. (or 4, depending on your math).

But, I have literally worn out the coffee maker. It used to take less than 10 minutes to brew a pot of coffee and lately, I notice it takes enough time to work me into a rage. (and I am one of the calmest people you could ever come across....... I would never flip out over a coffee) I could be standing there listening to the tell-tale gurgle of a nearly filled carafe and think, "Yea! coffee!" and there would be, maybe, 4 ounces swilling around.

ARRGGGGHHH! Really? So , being me, I set about doing te usual things

1. Clean out the filter. Really good this time.

2. Brew a pot of vinegar to clear out sediment from the pump.

3. Repeat that.

4. brew a pot of plain water to clean out the vinegar.

5. Brew coffee.

ARRGGHHHHH!

Now, without my knowledge, John has noticed this same problem and ordered a new coffee maker. Yea!!!!!

well..... not so much a coffee MAKER as a coffee press which is not the same thing at all.

The press, an AeroPress, makes one cup at a time by adding 2 HUGE scoops of coffee grinds to the press and adding 5 oz (5 oz?) of 175 degree water you heat up in a microwave after determining how long to set the timer for YOUR specific microwave.

So It finally arrived (three weeks after he ordered it) yesterday and I read the instructions thoroughly last night. The LAST thing I want to do at 3 am is learn how to make one cup of coffee when I WANT three, or six depending on your math. And I went to bed knowing what I had to do in 7 short hours.

Ao I did it and.......

On the plus side:

1. I am drinking 5 oz of coffee in less than 3 minutes.

2. The coffee is very good. Really very good.

3. You know that creamy skim you see on a cup of coffee at a fine restaurant after an exceptional meal? Oh yeah.... it's in there.

On the minus side:

1. I am drinking ONLY 5 oz (which is nowhere near a cup! let's be honest. I don't care how small your cup is; it isn't 5 oz) (Unless you live in Holland) (That is not a rip against Holland) of coffee at a time and if I want more (and trust me.... I do) I can have it only after cleaning the grinds out and repeating the whole process, instead of just pouring another cup (or two, depending on your math)

2. The AeroPress deposits the coffee directly into your cup, so you better have a very sturdy flat-bottomed coffee cup to set this gizmo on before you try to press the coffee press. It is a very snug fit and you sure don't want to topple 175 degree water and coffee grinds all over the counter as you push down on the plunger.

3. There is no no. 3. It just looks silly with only 2 numbers.

So, we have come to a decision. Perhaps I should just cut down on coffee and perhaps the AeroPress is the very device I need to "help" me achieve this and possibly, quite possibly, this is the source of my problem re: sleep or the lack thereof!