Just about foolproof (where I am the fool)
By Never teh BrideIt’s shaping up to be one of those days. You know, one of those days where you forget to put the filter carriage into the coffee maker and coffee goes absolutely everywhere before the darn thing belches out a never ending wave of coffee grounds? No kidding, this just happened to me about fifteen minutes ago, and I’ve been sopping up wet grounds ever since.
Coffee makers are nice–if not somewhat temperamental when confronted with those of us who wander into the kitchen half asleep. Espresso makers, on the other hand, are utterly grand…especially the simple stove top sort. I can’t live without mine, which I suppose makes it one of those things deserving of their countertop footprint. In fact, when my family gave me a fancy plug-in espresso maker with a milk foamer and timer, I gave it to the Goodwill without ever having used it.
Though I have offered up a variety of different sorts of espresso makers above (click for info, as always) I’d steer anyone looking for last-minute gift ideas to the model in the upper left hand corner. Of course, you could always do what I did and source a well-loved second hand espresso pot straight from Italy.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:31 am
I like our cow-themed Mukka Express but it’s far from foolproof. Get any coffee in the gaskets and cofee sprays all over your stove. Bleah.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:57 am
My mom used a stove top percolator like this one: http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/jump.jsp?itemID=6197&itemType=PRODUCT&searchid=inceptor
The only thing she had to ever do was replace the little glass dome thingy in the top. Made great coffee. Simple. As long as she did not wander off to do something major like clean the bath, she did not have any problems with it. We got her a coffee maker. Disaster.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:17 am
mkb: The Mukka’s instruction sheet looks complicated…
Toby Wollin: Sometimes the old stuff is indeed the best stuff. Why mess with success?
December 21st, 2007 at 5:29 pm
French Press, easy, one or 6 cups, foolproof……Add coffee, boiling water, excellent!!!
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Stick with the moka pot- I have it in 2cup, 4-cup and 8-cup sizes, depending on household size. It makes the best espresso, quick clean-up virtually unbreakable. When it comes to coffee, listen to the italians- there isn’t a household in italy without one of these babies
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Never teh — you might want to mention to Manolo or “whoever it is who makes the technical changes to the main site” that it might be a good idea to put a link to this spot on his listing so that visitors don’t have to scroll down, down, down to the article on his home page to get a link here.
Just a thought.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:13 pm
No link from Manolo for the Men….
December 24th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I’ll pass ‘em along!