The Coffee Pot Injury

Do you ever come across a cut or bruise and wonder, "how on earth did I get that?" This happens to me from time to time. This very morning I glanced down at the back of my hand and couldn't recall how two tiny scabs and a faint bruise came to reside there. Then it hit me. "The coffee pot!"

Perhaps you're thinking burns from the metal warming plate, the steam or the coffee itself. You'd be wrong on all counts. No, my coffee pot injury was sustained because of the water reservoir.

You see, recently our coffee has been tasting a bit off – more bitter than usual, but not in a robust, dark roast way. I couldn't quite place it. I sniffed our milk container. No issues there. We'd been drinking that brand for years. Perhaps I was just getting sick of the same old, same old. I suggested that my husband and I try a new brand, but before we had the chance I solved the mystery.

As I was filling up the reservoir one evening in preparation for a fresh pot of hot, brown bitterness the following morning, I noticed grey and pinkish slime all along the inside and bottom of the reservoir. "What the…?" It hit me. Mildew. I had been drinking mildew coffee. No wonder it tasted like crap.

I know. Ewwww!

Once you've had a moment to let that soak in and to judge me for being so vile that I had let my coffee pot go to, well, pot, let me say that I was mortified myself. It was disgusting. I was disgusting. I immediately set to cleaning the aforementioned pot of grossness – first with special coffee pot cleaner, then with a water-vinegar mixture, and multiple wipe-downs in between.

While trying to clean the various crevasses and corners and seams lurking behind tubing, I couldn't help but wonder who designs these things. Why do they make them so hard to clean? With a narrow space full of right angles and tight corners, it's a wonder more people don't drink mildew coffee. I fumed as I wiped and wiped, repeatedly scraping my hand along the top and sides of the reservoir. That's where the tiny cuts and bruising came from: the coffee pot.

I managed to convince myself that the mildew probably strengthened my immune system and I am happy to report that my coffee tastes much better now. I am pretty sure the physical wounds will heal, but the psychological scarring? That's another matter.