The secret to a good cup of coffee :)
 

My Krups coffee maker is a bugger to clean thoroughly and this afternoon I decided it was time to freshen it up a bit. I usually scrub the container with baking soda and water, rinse good and do the complicated spring load lid system also that way and also use an old toothbrush.

After cleaning the reservoir with a damp cloth I looked for a bottle of white vinegar to put in the reservoir and run thru the process a few times to clean the innards. :) Lo and behold no White Vinegar in the house. Ah, but there was a bottle of Apple Cider vinegar!

After cycling through 3 times and having my sinuses cleaned out from the rather strong aroma (I did dilute the vinegar with water, honest) I then ran one pot of clean water through the coffeemaker.

Satisfied it was clean, I made a pot of fresh coffee for my after dinner drink.

Woowheee, the best cup of coffee I have had in a long time, I guess the secret is being clean and having a tad of Apple Cider vinegar left over in the pot......

Now in all seriousness, although that was a great cup I just drank, are there any suggestions on ways to clean a coffeemaker? Or, have I done it basically the right way..... (I am a guy after all)

Jyes

i use white vinegar. i run the pot and the basket through the dishwasher daily.

and always grind....i never buy already ground coffee. it's my treat to myself.
( and those i share with )

I am weird. I cut up a lemon and an orange and clean my coffee pot with them (the pot and filter). I also take everything apart and clean the small parts, too.

I don't know why, but it makes it shine!

Also, if you are a coffee fanatic such as I, you should check out:

http://www.newhallcoffee.com/

[Look under Natural Flavors]

This Cinnamon and Vanilla - "Snickerdoodle" - is a huge treat for me. If you live in California, it is sold in stores here. A lot of other places, you may have to get it online. The smell of the Cinnamon and Vanilla when it is brewing is to die for.

Mmmmm!

Star Bucks!
 

The only coffee I love is Star Bucks...made by them!
When ever I go into town I seek one out...always get a slice of pumpkin loaf.
I never thought I'd spend that much money on a cup of coffee...thought people were stupid for doing so till one day.....the rest is history. Oh well.
I love looking at the people serving it too....gosh the nose rings, red and purple hair....always so freindly! Sure wish the nurses and doctors were so serving! Things would be much different wouldnt they!
Blessings, Cheryl
PS....Boiling water is the key to popping the burst/flavors out of the beans.
And Star Bucks was offering a free half pound coffee samples...go for it!

we have a stainless electro perculator and Dipit is the only thing I've found that will clean it with no elbow grease required.

http://www.reckittprofessional.com/f...ucts/dipit.jpg

we're heavy coffee drinkers. So much so that a coffee maker only lasts us about a year. If we are lucky!

tried drip for awhile, but it's not the same as perc'd ;)

I have the Starbucks Barista machine, and the only thing I can figure to use it for (without making me toss my stomach) is iced drinks. Can't drink coffee, so I let guests and others "play" with it. No help am I, huh :o.

I believe the drip type coffee makers of which my Krups is one, are the hardest to clean. I still have not figured out how to clean the sight gage, the vinegar water did do some good in the area, but nothing short of wiping the inside with something would work in my opinion and it looks impossible to do that on a Krups.

I prefer this Krups drip type, since I am the only coffee drinker in the house and I am never sure if I am only going to drink one cup or two in the morning, so it nice that if I decide to drink a cup later in the day, the coffee is still fresh, since the Krups does not drip into a container sitting on a heating pad, it drips into a thermos type container, keeping the coffee hot for over half a day at minimum, thus no "burning" of the coffee from letting a pot sit on a heated coil for hours....

LOL, I remember my Mom and Dad were big coffee drinkers, and maybe because of growing up during the depression might have influenced their monetary ways, I was turned off to coffee by them since Mom would perc a pot of coffee early in the morning, then later in the day, maybe 8 hours or more later, she would pour the coffee into a small pan and reheat on the stove, OMG, it smelled terrible and sometimes looked like tar in my opinion.

To top it off, my Dad, who would eat breakfast at 5am would heat up on the stove coffee from the previous day! Yuck!

So, it took me several years as an adult to even think of trying coffee, I think I finally broke down and started drinking it as a way of warming up in the morning when I worked at McChord AFB, Wash, it seems the 33-40 degree temperatures with drizzle, fog and rain almost 80% of the time during winter, brought a big chill to my body and that cup of coffee at first break did warm me up.

I ended up not being a severe coffee addict, but my last twenty years of work, I had to have a cup in the morning as I was driving to work (5-5:30AM workcall) but I would hardly ever drink coffee at work, nor at lunch. I only started drinking coffee after dinner about 5 years ago when my DIL and son would come over, and my DIL is a coffee addict, so I always made sure I made a fresh pot for her and now I am hooked for at least one cup after dinner, but, that is my dessert 99% of the time, so that is a plus.

Jyes

I know this sounds strange, but I use "Tang" to clean my coffee maker and my dishwasher as well. I went and bought a small container of citric acid powder like the directions stated (for a whopping $8.00 :eek: ) and then found out from our local appliance guy that using various concentrations of Tang would do exactly the same thing, at a much lower cost (32 oz. is $6.00). It does require one extra rinse when used in the coffee maker to remove any lingering sugars, but it works wonders.

I've used the vinegar, and the baking soda (not at the same time tho...BIG Mess :D ) and they do work well, but the vinegar is just makes such an eye-watering reek, I knew there had to be a better way.

/passes a cup o' joe

Enjoy!

Theresa

wow tbackpain1 - that is a great tip! I bet that's the ingredients in Dipit too. I know we have some tang around here for emergency food somewhere. Will give it a try soon, as the coffee pot is about ready.

thank you - can't wait to try it.

hubby says his secret to a good cup coffee is for him to make a yucky pot, so i end up making the coffee and he sits back and lets me serve him! :eek:

I like the Tang idea! :) But I will miss the kick the Apple Cider Vinegar gave me! :p

Maybe lemon juice would work well also, I use Lemon juice for cleaning my artifacts that have a gold gilt coating and it works great.

Hmmmmn, maybe a fruit cocktail is in order, Apple, Orange and Lemon, just think, even if the mixed fruit does not clean it, who cares, since it sure will spice up that first pot of coffee :D

Jyes

Jyes are you a treasure hunter?! I just noticed your avatar when you mentioned that.

I love treasure hunting! I have a Whites GL metal detector that I dust off every now and then. I can't handle the up/down/squat thing very long anymore, because my muscles will feel shredded afterwards, but metal detecting has to be my favorite hobby!

I use an eraser for silver and copper. Ketchup works good too.

Dorry, the Avatar is one of my finds, yes it has been one of my hobbies for over 25 years, and luckily I live in an area where colonial era artifacts are found......The Avatar is a 1787 New Jersey Colonial Copper. After America won their Independence, we were still using British/French Coppers and Spanish Reales for our transactions, afteall there was no US MINT yet, so a few states were authorized to produce their own legal tender hard cash. NJ,NY,VT,CT and MASS were the biggest producers.
Oh NJ Coppers were worth 1/15 of a Shilling back then.

The NJ coins were made in 1786, 1787 and 1788 and are very collectible. :)

BTW, I used Hydrogen Peroxide to clean copper coins and brass buttons.

Jyes

nice! I live in the south, but grew up in CT. I've never detected up there, but I remember all the old haunts and think of them often as good hunting grounds. Wish I had a detector as a kid. So much is picked over now.

I need a new detector as my 10" coil has a short and I don't want to pay $70 for a new one. I'm stuck with my 4" now. I know tesoro was coming along as a good buy for gold bugging. what detector to you use?

I used to have a garrett too for awhile, but that was short lived = too heavy and awkward, so I sold it. My whites is circa early 90's, so I know I got my money out of it.

just talking about it makes me want to go hunt the backyard! drought though, so it's a waste of time. A steady winter rain will be nice in a few months.

we used to have a 2" gold dredge that was short lived also that we used in north ga. Too rough getting down in the terrain required for virgin spots.

happy hunting! I'd love to see more of your finds.

Hi everyone.
I use white vinegar to clean my coffee pot.Always have.
Also i only use filtered water.From a brita water pitcher i keep in the fridge.
That keeps all the mineral deposits from building up in my maker.

However i have an idea for everyone to ponder..LOL
I have a simplehuman single serve coffee maker.
It is the koolest coffee pot i have ever had!!!
It uses these lil pods.It holds 40oz of water .

The thing is i dont waste coffee anymore.It brews one cup of fresh coffee for me at a time.
Also i love flavored coffee.Sometimes i have company and they just dont like my flavored stuff.
No problem.I just pop in a nonflavored pod for them.No waste no mess..I just love this thing!

It is kinda pricey though.I bought it back when i was working..
You can get cheper ones.There is the melitta one one.and the senseo..
You can read about them at singleservecoffeeforum.com

My friend bought me the melitta for christmas last year..
Then i bought the simplehuman a few months later.The coffe is real good and hot and tastes great.

Since i lost my job i cant buy the pods anymore.So i have been making my own with regular coffe filters..

If you have never heard of this..Prepare yourself.You might be reading 4 a while..LOL
I know i did when i first found out!!!


Well just thought i would pass the word onto other coffee drinkers here.
Take care and have a good day everyone!
~Kell~

yuban coffee is good and wont keep me awake

the other canned stuff i hate