Feb 11 2003
Cafetière crisis
Ever since I first got addicted to caffeine at the age of 17, I have used the same kind of coffee pot. Known in England as the cafetière and in the US as a French press, it combines both form and function, something that is such a rarity.
Usually, you just get form (say, a Frank Lloyd Wright house, all of which were very difficult to live in and all of which leak), or you just get function (say, a gas station or strip mall). This truth is one of the more frustrating for those of us who tend to the shallow and want things to be pretty and work, too. So when you find something that does both, you pretty much stick to it.
I seem to think that the first one I bought lasted me for years, but for the past six months, I have gone through about four of them. Knowing my severe lack of math skills, I won’t venture to guess what the average is per month, but it seems excessive. They seem to develop holes in the glass bottom which renders them completely useless, or the plunger part separates into its component pieces (including a very springy spring with a mind of its own), or variations on those themes.
I don’t know why this is, either. After more than 20 years of practice, you’d think I’d know what I was doing. Maybe the coffee pot objects to getting up at 4:30 in the morning even more than I do. Maybe it’s digging the coffee grounds out with a knife before washing it, so John suggested using a rubber spatula to try and reduce the hole incidents. Or possibly, just possibly, they don’t make ’em like they used to. I bought a new coffee pot yesterday and am trying the spatula, so here’s hoping I don’t buy another one this year.
One Response to “Cafetière crisis”
Found this at the Bodum site, what can be better then step by step instructions!
http://www.bodum.com/products/use/french/english.htm