Another coffee pot bit the dust. OK, I really mean coffee maker. It’s just that I come from a generation when the word “pot” covered everything in he kitchen that had anything to do with making something to eat or drink. As I said, my coffee pot died.

I have been using, for ever, those discount store devices for which I have paid anywhere from $12.95 to $19.95, except for the time when I sprang for one that I just knew would last a lifetime, for which I paid the enormous sum of $24.95. It had a French sounding name, which, I felt, would be a plus. The damned thing didn’t last six months. So much for that terribly overrated French “mystique”.

While considering my next move, I glanced over at the little three cup Cajun coffee pot I have had for over 50 years and is now a “decorator” piece in my kitchen. I wondered if I should just abandon modernity and go back to pouring scoops of boiling water over the coffee until the little pot is full, then setting the pot in a pan of simmering water to keep it warm. That worked for years without ever needing to plug anything into a wall socket. I can remember standing there half awake in that peaceful pre-dawn silence, tending to that little pot with loving care, as though it were the antidote for the “evil that lurks in the hearts of men”.

I do have a large coffee maker made by Black and Decker, the people who make table saws, power drills and whisker trimmers, but it’s too big to leave on my small counter top. I only use it when there are large groups to serve. Rare.
So, considering all these factors, I made the leap and ordered a real coffee pot with a stainless insulating carafe. I can make as little as 2 cups to as much as 10 cups. I can also set it to make coffee in the morning, all by itself, in that pre-dawn quietness, just before I wake up. You can’t see it, but I am smiling.