Sunday May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day from - your Morning Java Reviewer!

Morning Java:

Since yesterday I started my blogging experience reviewing coffee and tea I thought a review of my lovely Hamilton Beach all metal eclectric coffee maker would be in order this fine Friday morning! Oh how I love Fridays! My fine coffee maker is yet another lovely gift from my precious children who are truly the best! And Fridays are yet another lovely gift from my heavenly Father who is truly the Greatest!

This coffee maker is one of the better I have ever owned. For years I was stuck in the Mr. Coffee model mode then graduated to a lovely Krups stainless steel which worked really great right up until the day my precious daughter decided I needed the new Hamilton Beach “All Metal” eclectric model. Being of frugal Scottish heritage I wondered if this wasn’t a bit extravagant after all my Krups coffee maker still brewed great coffee and the thermal carafe kept it very hot for a long time, I reasoned, but it seems sometimes my Scottish roots are a bit too frugal for my precious daughter.

You see the Achilles heel of the, otherwise, wonderful Krups stainless steel coffee maker I previously owned was the plastic lid on the thermal carafe. That lid split after a rather short amount of time so I was stuck with this great marvel of coffee making machinery with a stainless steel thermal carafe which kept the coffee hot for hours that was sporting a broken plastic lid after just a short amount of time owning the coffee maker. When you consider that I had taken good care of my coffee maker this really was unacceptable! I wasn’t using the lid to bounce off the walls or stomp on or any other use that would be classified as out of the ordinary for coffee maker lids. My observant daughter when home on a brief sabbatical from her, otherwise, busy life had noticed the split lid and decided that was not going to work, particularly, since I have an inordinate coffee consumption habit, a pot (a twelve cup pot) before going to work each morning, now that is truly an inordinate consumption habit one of my few real vices learned years ago working for an attorney who also had an inordinate coffee consumption habit.

So you see such a gargantuan coffee consumption habit requires a decent coffee maker. If I could merge the Krups design with the Hamilton Beach stability which is one of the many things I love about the eclectric coupled with its lid design on the carafe, which is great, I think I would have the “near perfect coffee maker”.

Both coffee makers have a two cylinder type of design where you put the ground coffee in the basket in the front cylinder and the water goes in the large cylinder on the back side of the coffee maker the difference on the Krups being the cylinders were separate and had their own individual lids preventing the water and coffee grounds from mixing prematurely. It was a great design definitely preferable to the Hamilton Beach model I currently own. With my current eclectric coffee maker if you are not careful you can easily mix the unbrewed grounds with the water before the brewing process begins which can really make for undrinkable water mixed with wet grounds you end up with wet grounds and no rich strong brew to savor.

You see the big difference between the two coffee makers is the Hamilton Beach model I currently own shares one common lid over the water and coffee grounds cylinders instead of two separate lids one for the coffee grounds cylinder and one for the water container cylinder which was the design of the Krups I previously owned. The problem with the one lid design is it makes it too easy to mix the water and grounds prematurely. I have learned to insert the grounds very carefully which is no easy trick for me at 4:00 AM can be even more tricky when you consider the fact that I have not even downed my first cup of coffee let alone my normal pot at this point of the morning. It is really hard to focus on pouring grounds carefully in that little basket cylinder in that early morning blurry eyed state. Oh, couldn’t Hamilton Beach have had a little more mercy on the poor tired consuming public who in the wee hours of the early morning just want a rich tasty brew of steaming hot coffee to jump start their day?

Please do not misunderstand I love the stability of the Hamilton Beach and the way the carafe keeps the coffee hot so long with it’s preferable thermal carafe design but would like to see the two separate lids design included in the lovely Hamilton Beach eclectric coffee maker as well.

Now that I have reviewed the living thunder out of these two coffee makers I leave you with this I hope you have a very Happy Friday and I look forward to posting a new and hopefully insightful blog on Monday. If you would like a review of one of your products please feel free to contact me at jlw5647@gmail.com and I will be happy to get back with you immediately! Thank you and have a safe weekend!

Your Morning Java Reviewer…

Morning Java

Good morning!  It is time for some morning Java or if you prefer Tea.  My preference here would be Constant Comment leaded (caffeine) in the morning and unleaded (caffeine free) by mid afternoon.  I love the hint of sweet spice.  Constant Comment has taken what would otherwise be just plain tea and added a just a little hint of sweet spice making it an oasis to ones taste buds and complete satisfaction to ones appetite with just a hint of sweet spice.  What an idea to achieve so much satisfaction with so little spice and even less effort.  

Satisfaction that is what I  hope to achieve by writing my little daily letters to my readers.  Of course, nowadays my little daily letters are referred to as blogs so I start my blogging career by writing about the things I know best and this morning what I know best is coffee and tea which segues me into this mornings recommendation which is sweetly spiced Constant Comment Tea perfect iced during the hot Dallas summers and great hot anytime.  

I must admit though I have a penchant for morning java.  I start my mornings with simple coffee but by this afternoon I will be drinking my favorite Constant Comment Tea!  This mornings coffee is Eight O'Clock French roast whole beans that I grind myself with my Starbuck's Barista coffee grinder which I just love, a gift from my precious daughter whom I also love,:).  All stainless steel very durable and holds just the perfect amount of whole beans for a ten cup Hamilton Beach Eclectric pot of great steaming hot coffee.   

I like my french roast coffee with a smidgeon of Horizons whole milk included in each steaming hot cup, hmmmmmm love that Horizons whole milk with my Eight O'clock French roast coffee!  What a great way to start one's morning.  I am sure there is a sage lesson in my cup of french roast coffee but I think I will leave that for another morning or quite possibly another sage.  

I wonder if anyone is seeing a theme in the start of my morning?  There are two things in this life one can count on; number the sun will rise each day and two; I will be brewing a pot of great steaming hot coffee to match my Heavenly Father's sunrises.  My theme is summed up this way try to keep it simple.  Learn to enjoy the simple things in this life the complicated ones will come to you to sort out later, a lesson I learned by observing my late dear old Dad!