Clean Out The Crud

We are a coffee drinking family.

Each morning after he's had his fill, Hubby Tony makes sure there's enough for me left in the insulated carafe of our Mr. Coffee.  I have one cup with my breakfast and another mid-afternoon. It's nice that the coffee is still nice and hot when I drink it, but the design of the carafe (with a top opening so small I can't fit my hand inside) makes it hard to clean.  The best I can do is stick a washcloth in there and twirl it around before I rinse it out, and run the deep cleaning program when the "Clean" button tells me to.

Last month when Son Donald was home the coffee consumption increased proportionally.  Both he and his dad drink a lot of coffee.  The carafe was rarely empty, and I don't think it was thoroughly cleaned for weeks.  When our cups started having brown flakes of crud in them I  took a good look inside the carafe, and discovered there was a layer of brown caked onto the sides.

EWW!

I used a bottle brush on the sides, but couldn't get to all the surfaces.  It was enough to knock off some of the deposits, and we didn't have any more flakes in the coffee, but I figured it was time to do something more drastic.

I Googled "clean thermal coffee carafe" and clicked through on the first hit, a post called How To Clean a Stainless Coffee Pot.  It sounded like an easy job to get the carafe back to new condition, so I decided to give it a try. Following the directions, I threw a pod of dishwasher detergent into the pot, then filled it with boiling water and let it sit while we ate dinner. The next time I looked, the top of the water looked scummy.  When I emptied it out, it was so brown it could have been actual coffee! 

Don't drink this.

All of the caked-on residue had melted away, and the inside of the carafe gleamed. 

The next morning my morning cup of coffee tasted amazing, with a mild flavor and fruity notes that had been missing just the day before.

Five years ago today: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome