Petty Annoyances

Irritations of a minor nature keep appearing.  I want to go to Hershey Park for a Me Outing.  Actually a day's vacation, or at least Me Time.  Breakfast at a massive buffet en route, amusement park, water park, zoo, major regional brewery.  All in one day.  Just me.  Went to buy tickets.  Senior discount.  Parking discount.  All lost by "convenience fee" of $6 for buying online to save over gate prices.  It is more convenient though.  Went to Giant Food store near me, as the park indicated a partnership.  No go.  Went to AAA.  Real discount on seniors entry price, no discount on parking, all reset to neutral by service fee.  There is a rational me that should override the annoyance.  The "convenience fee" really is a convenience, though $6 seems much.  It will not affect my larger financial position which loses and gains more than that in some minutes by market fluctuations.  If I really want to have my fun day, and I don't have too many fun days, just spend the $6.  Save more than that by going to a beach that accepts my state pass instead of one that meters parking.

Bought a new camera.  Chinese.  Made mistake formatting.  Hit wrong button before I could enter date, time, and language.  Fortunately it defaulted to English.  It would be nice to have my work stamped by its time of creation, though.  And I will be traveling to different time zones with the camera.  So knowing how to reset this would be helpful.  Steeply discounted device, inexpensive for a reason.  Sent the company two email requests to try to get back on track.  No response.  Instructions not helpful.  Online FAQ did not appear on Google search.  There are some YouTubes.  Maybe explore those later.

Got a k-cup machine.  Made coffee, ordinary pod.  Usually a light reminding me to fill the reservoir comes on every day or so.  Refills are a priority, as the surest way to ruin the machine is to run it without water.  This time two lights came on.  I need to descale it.  I've done this before.  Tedious but not difficult.  Just was not expecting to have to do this again as I had done it not that many months ago.

Most of my outdoor garden plants did not grow to harvest.  My herb pots planted from seed underperformed.  

Have to get to Newark Airport for my trip to Europe in a few weeks.  Could drive and park, an easy but somewhat expensive default.  Tried to arrange one way auto rental.  Prices three times what they would be renting to drive around my home area.  Checked with Amtrak.  Cheap excursions at certain times, prohibitive fares for two when we really need to travel.  Drive and park still seems best option, but one more annoyance.

Fortunately none of these irritations really change what I want to do.  I can still have a good day to myself at Hershey Park next week, take photos of France with my camera even if the assigned date is wrong, drink coffee every morning, buy vegetables and herbs when I need them, and get from home to Paris at the scheduled times.  The impediments just detract from what I really aspired to be able to achieve.

Retiring My Keurig Machine

It cost $64 with a 20% discount from Target, though my k-cup machine carried a Mr. Coffee Brand, perhaps the first challenge to Keurig exclusivity.  While I remember the circumstances of its purchase, I do not remember the year, though it was in the early days of K-cups replacing other brewing methods.  It changed morning coffee rituals, mostly for the better.  I did not abandon my French press or Melitta cone but used them much less frequency.  The K-cup increased the cost per serving of morning coffee, probably diminished the quality of the final brew compared to other methods, and probably harmed Planet Earth in a big way.  But it expanded the variety of what is available.  Purchasing a couple of 12 oz containers, and even some grind in store beans from Sprouts when on sale locks me into those varieties for a very long time.  I try to keep just two open bags or cans at a time.  With the K-cup, I can buy boxes with several types.  Typically, my box of 40 will last a little under a month, though when I am a Costco member on alternate years, their boxes of 100 are the best buy, lasting several months but without the desired variety.  Just pop into the machine, pour some water from the cup I will be using, then do something else while it brews.  No need to watch the cone and refill it to maximize its coefficient of extraction.  No need to set a kitchen timer for 4 minutes for the French press.  

This Mr. Coffee device served me well.  It clogged a few time, usually easily remediable by brewing some vinegar without coffee, then flushing with a few brews of plain water.  On rare occasions the piercing pins clogged.  The Internet had some You Tubes and related guidance on fixing that.  I learned troubleshooting and my limited dexterity rose to the occasion with a safety pin as the proper tool.  Alas, this time the home remedies failed.  So after somewhere between a decade or two, when K-cup coffee has become something of a population norm, Mr. Coffee could take its place in an appliance recycling bin or landfill in favor of a more modern replacement.  

During that span, technology and patent law have changed.  Keurig still dominates the market, but other brands have entered.  And for the most part, the price of the machines has declined while most machines no longer require the user to pour a cup of water into a receptacle to be heated, though a few at the low end still do.  A search on amazon.com and walmart.com offers a plethora of models, from No Frills to expensive.  I started my search at Target, all expensive Keurig.  Boscov's had only a few models, one a chintzy off-brand, the others expensive with a lot of frills that I won't use.  Then Walmart which had what people like me would buy.  Two models interested me, but only one in stock for $55 so I took a box with the black plastic model, carried it to self-checkout which did not register, but with the rescue of their checkout attendant, I had a new Keurig maker.

It came with instructions to prime the machine, which I did.  Then set it up where its predecessor stood.  First coffee this morning.  Chose a Costco K-cup, put it in the place it goes, pushed the 8 ounce option, and in less than a minute my cup filled.  Just the right amount of water, though it also gives options for a 6 and 12 ounce brew.  Came out good.  And with the water coming from a reservoir instead of from my mug, I can use the same mug for consecutive cups, fewer for me to wash.

Now some discards.  The Mr. Coffee.  I think I'll put it in ordinary trash with a mixture of sadness and appreciation.  The new box goes in recycling.  Probably don't need to keep the instructions, or could put them in the folder I keep for instructions.   The device has a signal to tell the user when it needs to be descaled.  YouTube or the Keurig site should tell me how to do it.

But after two days of Melitta cones, I've returned to K-cups.

Right Amount of Coffee

K-cups have transformed my morning experience, well worth the expense though I'm less certain about its likely environmental downside.  With variety options sorted in a revolving rack, and with scooped coffee that can be brewed in a k-cup adapter, each morning cup can be a little different.  I've hardly been out for coffee since the pandemic.  Even WaWa which offers the most variety, has challenged its price elasticity, now limiting this to a justifiable indulgence or traveling convenience.  But K-cups are the way to go, suspended for Passover, though technically with some effort or expense, they don't have to be.

Coffee at my desk in My Space has become the norm.  While loyalty to the core principles of sleep hygiene has made me less tired when my wrist alarm makes me woke, I still seek the boost of my first cup of java from the Keurig facsimile.  And the second cup.  It's that third cup later in the morning that seems to be changing the ritual.  It goes well with my OLLI schedule, not as well with my shabbos schedule.  And unless traveling or left over from the morning, never past 1PM.  

I experience it as part taste, which is why the ease of variety has become so attractive, and partly medicinal which is why it needs some restraint from excess.  My current pattern seems sustainable, the way to go after much trial and surprisingly little error.

Almost out of K-cups

Last one on carousel.  Few more in a box elsewhere in the kitchen that I forgot about.  These have become morning staples, though not entirely indispensable.  I have ample ground coffee with two functioning inserts that fit my Mr. Coffee on sale machine.  There are two French presses, two Melitta cones with a reasonable supply of #2 filters, and enough cash on hand for a pick-up at WaWa or a leisurely sip at Brew HaHa.  Not having morning coffee was never jeopardized.  Having my morning routine of washing dishes and retrieving the newspaper while a k-cup brews could have collapsed.

It didn't.  Restoring the new supply made it to my daily task list as a priority.  Everyplace sells them but the best match of price and quantity comes from Christmas Tree Shops and Costco.  While the latter sells more established brands, including their own, and I much appreciate the large sturdy box once depleted, Christmas Tree Shops had the advantage of proximity and variety, so I went there.  While my cell phone calculator would enable me to figure out the best buy with certainty, I opted for the ability to estimate learned in junior high math, along with the reassurance that my level of prosperity does not mandate the rock bottom per-unit price.  I could also consider what experience I might like to have with the next 60-100 morning mugs.  All discounted brands not widely advertised.  Consumer choice depends on price but also on taste, prior experience, variety, size, attractiveness of the box and many other investments that sophisticated manufacturers make to allure me to their product ahead of other products.  I like variety packs, but settled instead for 60 units of basic ground coffee that they labelled donut shop blend, more image than reality.  Good price.  Had before.  Reliable.  Won't run out again for a while.

After putting the box in my cart, I headed to the back of the store to look for more of a dental item.  I didn't find it but found the box of Christmas Clearance k-cups in boxes of 18.  Wide selection, a third off, some flavored, some not, all specialty offerings but what I assume are upstart suppliers.  Got one of those too.  Made myself a cup of that as soon as I returned home.

I don't know how close I come to the model of consumer behavior.  Stimulus was need, though once I arrived at the choices it shifted to want.  Display, packaging, perceived taste, experience, value, and anticipation of making the coffee all became inputs into the decision-making apparatus of my CNS.  When the choice are too many, true at Christmas Tree Shops but not at Costco, there is a risk of dissatisfaction with any final selection.  But having returned home, restored the revolving k-cup rack next to the coffee brewer, and place the remaining k-cups in a safe place, my usual mornings can continue another few months.

Failing Keurig Machine

My device comes from Mr. Coffee, reduced from $80 to a 20% off $64 at Target quite a number of years ago. If performs mostly flawlessly, inviting me to sample a variety of flavors over the years at a price well below a local coffee shop.  In the morning I can just pop a pod, fill the reservoir, and expect something hot, wet, and caffeinated while I wash some of the previous supper's dishes or put the laundry to wash.  Trouble free, nearly maintenance free, until it clogs.

That's where I find myself.  A short cup dispensed, which isn't all bad since the coffee in the smaller volume is generally more flavorful than in its full volume.  But the pods leak and even the pods with ooky low priced coffee that you'd never by in a can still cost a good deal more than making loose coffee in a Melita cone. 

Like everything else in the world, all problems are solvable by my web browser.  An algorithm exists for this.  I did the easy stuff first.  Made a cup without a pod, still short and dribbly as the plain water hit the cup.  The unit was descaled with vinegar not long ago so the tubing and pump were probably ok.  That left the needles.  I followed the instructions, disassembling the lower cup, gently inserting my thinnest paper clip into the larger orifice, wiggled it around and rinsed it.  Reassembled the lower pod container, not as easy as it looked, then reinserted it.  The upper needle proved harder.  What I did no know is that it has vents on either side, though a little large for my unfolded paper clip.  Still, I did the best I could, knowing that I might need to get some dental floss or an old toothbrush to really insert something into that needle space.  Then I took a measuring cup, put 8 oz water into the reservoir, let it run a cycle, and nearly 8 oz was returned.  Ready to try the next k-cup.  Not ready to shop for a new machine.

Coffee Adaptations

Coffee, beer, and wine each capture my imagination amid their multiple variations, spirits and soda far less so.  My innate frugality takes a temporary respite to try a new beer or blend of coffee which never amounts to more than I keep in my pocket.  If I had to retain only one liquid pleasure, though, it would be coffee which I can obtain in many varieties within my budget and sample multiple brew methods.

Coronavirus has put a small stumbling block before the blind adherents to the pleasures of brewed coffee.  The shops are open but the purpose of the shop for me is usually the leisure pleasure of sitting there while the mug of coffee supplements my wandering mind.  The coffee itself rarely displaces the experience of being at the table with the exception maybe of WaWa which has multiple varieties and a more economical price, intended to be consumed mostly in the car in transit to someplace else.  Just for coffee, home does as well as anyplace else.

I enjoy k-cups, though more expensive than container or self-ground coffee.  The immediate variety that can change from one cup to the next in sequence offsets the price increment.  Coronavirus has put a few dampers.  Coffee has gotten more expensive in all its forms.  My favorite k-cups came from larger packs, usually 42 at the Christmas Tree Shop or 18 at TJ Maxx where varieties available and the challenge of selecting among many options made a stop there worth the effort.  Supermarkets have mostly 12 packs with the lower prices going to commercial canned coffee inserted into k-pods.  I usually buy two at a time but it doesn't last long.  Over the years I acquired a number of k-cup adapters which I find myself using more for the canned coffee, though it's an incentive to use one of my French presses more often.

When OLLI was in session, I would make myself a multicup French press supply to be sipped from a thermal mug over the course of the day.  I could still do that but it's hardly worth the cleanup of a large French press and the mug for plebeian coffee best described as hot, wet, and caffeinated.

So most days it's a three cup ration, two k-cups of specialty coffee and one cup of commercial coffee via adapter, French press, or Melitta cone.  I'm not yet deprived.

Coffee by Percolator

Way back when, the night before major science exams, I would take out my orange electric percolator, contraband in the dorms, and brew a pot of real coffee after supper to enhance alertness.  It served its purpose.  I do not know where that percolator is now, but I have both an electric one kept in storage and a stovetop one that does not get used all that much kept in a corner of the kitchen.  Over the ensuing forty years, my fondness for coffee, both its taste and its effect, has never dwindled.  Sometimes it came from the school cafeteria, less frequently my percolator.  When visiting parents, they used mostly instant.  I could handle the freeze-dried, the powdered stuff which they tended to get my ooky.  I might still have a jar in a pantry recess, used to flavor mocha or some other similar purpose, but never as a beverage. 

My horizons expanded as a resident.  A place near my apartment specialized in coffee, introducing me to the French Press.  I bought my first coffee cone after a fellow resident introduced me to hers in the residents lounge.  Shortly thereafter, multicup drip machines captured the market followed by the emergence of Starbucks which popularized what the Coffee Connection at Harvard Square had already been doing.  And ultimately the K-cup which allows variety and ease with only a small sacrifice to taste.  That's my morning go, though I still use the cone and the French Press when not deterred by the need to clean the devices.  The French Press definitely makes the best coffee, as it did when first introduced to it.

But my origins remain the percolator, which I took out this morning for the first time in forever.  I had trouble finding the round paper filters which had fallen to the wrong closet shelf, but once in my possession, it's a go.  Opened a new package of New England Donut Shop Blend Coffee, put in four coffee measures, or actually slightly less, filled to the 4 cup mark and let it perk for seven minutes.  Then some Oreo flavored whitener and shake of pumpkin spice in a cup and poured myself liquid to the top.  While other brewing methods have predictable results, the percolator has vagaries of measurement and duration.  This pot came out a little weaker than I might have preferred.  There is a slight bitterness, which I like much as what attracts people to beer.  Maybe the next cup will be with milk or some heavy cream that I have left over.  Too much cookie influence.

But it's good to return to a special treat, one set in personal history, even if there are now better ways to brew that morning coffee.