time for coffee

Our coffeemaker, a Hamilton-Beach BrewMaster, has been a faithful companion. No glass carafe to accidentally drop and break; you just push your cup under the dispenser and, by depressing a button with the cup, the cup fills. It is at least four years old, pre-dating my arrival in this household.

The morning after we returned from our vacation, I made my usual full pot of coffee. Oh, it was foul. Time for a cleaning. Last night I finally got around to running vinegar through the machine, and followed up with several pots of fresh water to rinse out the vinegar. I left the last batch in the carafe overnight to soak up any remaining unwanted flavors.

When I arose today, I did the usual morning quickies: let the dog out, read the electric and water meters, feed the dog & cat. Time for coffee! But there was a hitch.

After pouring last night's final batch of water from the carafe, I took a paper towel and wiped out the inside. Gasp! The rubber washer that seals the outlet valve came off! And it did not want to stay where it belongs when I tried to put it back. Cleaning the gasket and post helped not one whit. A bit of online research indicated that it cannot be reassembled and that this is a common enough problem that Hamilton-Beach will send you a replacement carafe for the cost of shipping. But I needed coffee now, not in 7-10 days.

Norman has his own coffeemaker that he uses to make sweet tea. Good news for us. I made our coffee in his machine, since he made several days' worth of tea yesterday morning. Later I'll go shopping for a replacement. For now, we drink from his machine.