I'm coffee-making impaired

Have you seen the commercials encouraging employers to Think Beyond the Label? They give examples of people with silly disabilities to challenge negative ideas about employing workers with disabilities. One woman is "fashion deficient," and there are two men, one who is labeled "copy incapable" and one with "volume control syndrome." The punch line, delivered by a woman in a wheel chair, is that even she has a disability - not the wheelchair - she is "coffee-making impaired." I can relate.

People have always noted that I make a very strong pot of coffee. I don't think that is a bad thing. I like strong, bold flavors. If you don't, you shouldn't have any of my coffee. Recently, however, my coffee making skills seem to have been steadily declining.

Two weeks ago I could not get the grinder to work. I fiddled around with it for a while, finally coming to the point where I had to decide whether or not to keep messing with it and chance not getting it to work, or give up with time to buy a cup on the way to the office. As I was about to put the grinder away, I realized what the problem was. I hadn't plugged it in. Duh.

Then last week (after successfully plugging in the grinder) I dumped the grounds into the pot - without a filter. Whoops. Even after rinsing everything down, I had very gritty coffee that day.

The nail in the coffin of my morning coffee making was hammered home today. I have a mug with a drop down basket. To use it, you heat water in the teakettle, put course grounds in the screened basket and flip the handle to lower it into the water. When it is the strength you prefer, flip the handle again and it pops the basket up into lid so it stops steeping. All was going well this morning, until I flipped the lid to screw it on the mug. The basket popped open, dropping the grounds directly into the boiling water with a splash.

Three strikes and you're out, right? Today, as the scalding water splattered onto my hand, leg and foot, I was considerably more concerned that I didn't have time to make more - or to stop on my way to work - than I was about the burning of my skin. Sounds like I should probably to try to go coffee-free for a while and see how that goes. Based on my cravings all morning, it won't go well.