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thirdlost t1_jdrj01j wrote

Has it ever been… descaled?

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ME5SENGER_24 OP t1_jdrov17 wrote

Yup, plenty of times, she’s good about keeping it clean. My cousin owns a coffee shop and has tried to replace it countless times and she refuses

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qwertyconsciousness t1_jdsb7jq wrote

I can feel his anguish, but I can also resonate with your Aunt's sense of nostalgia and "If it ain't broke don't fix it!" attitude

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impy695 t1_jduiavr wrote

And what a lot of coffee snobs don't get is that, a lot of people like their specific coffee, even if it is poorly brewed. Nostalgia, comfort, and repeated "exposure" can make even awful drinks taste amazing.

I say this as someone who has spent way too much time and money on coffee. I just have a soft-spot for gas station coffee. I don't mean the stiff sheetz has with tons of options and stored in containers that won't burn it. It's the ones that use like 3 home coffee makers and all of them are solid brown on the bottom from burnt coffee. I'd go for that over my pour over every day of the week.

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PierogiKielbasa t1_jduqygm wrote

Yep, whenever I make coffee how mom used to, it ain't good, but it tastes like home. Definitely requires the copious amounts of non-dairy creamer and Sweet & Low we grew up with.

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grantbwilson t1_jdsqqfv wrote

8 cups wouldn’t cut it in my house. Every time we see a 14 cup we grab it because they’re rare.

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iEatDemocrats t1_jdtfab1 wrote

14 cup? What?

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grantbwilson t1_jdtfhxi wrote

Yes. If you ever see one, buy it immediately.

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Chicken_Hairs t1_jdtupil wrote

Interesting. I have one. There was a huge selection of them on the various sites I shopped around for it on.

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impy695 t1_jduie2d wrote

They're really not that rare, at least in America. Both online and in stores, there are tons of options.

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PoopOnYouGuy t1_jds5geg wrote

What is that?

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Dreadpipes t1_jds67hx wrote

You run vinegar through it, keeps the mineral buildup from your water from becoming a problem in the coffeemaker

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edcculus t1_jdsm03c wrote

Preferably citric acid. It descales much better than vinegar, and you don’t have to worry about any lingering vinegar smell.

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Shadow_84 t1_jdt35y3 wrote

Lactic acid works too.

Boss has some for larger Keurieg units when we have to clean them. Safer and not as strong as what we use in shop when we rebuild anything.

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Deathwatch72 t1_jds9m88 wrote

It's a side effect of using hard water, so if you live in an area that has soft water it's never something you probably had to deal with.

Hard water means that you have a lot of calcium and magnesium dissolved in the water. Boiling water leads to evaporation which leads to these minerals being deposited and forming a scale that impedes water flow and can cause damage to heal.

Really not a difficult problem to deal with as long as you remember to keep up with it, you can pretty easily clean it with white vinegar because that redissolves the calcium and magnesium scale.

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andrewbadera t1_jdsae9u wrote

Any water, really. If it's not distilled.

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monzelle612 t1_jdsb0z2 wrote

I boil all my water first then only use the captured steam after it's condensed back down in my coffee. Imagine using tap water

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Farsath t1_jdsbdro wrote

And I thought my pour-over method was high maintenance…

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andrewbadera t1_jdsbs0e wrote

Right? They invented Britas and ZeroWaters for a reason ... plus the cold water has more oxygen in it for better taste.

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jlozada24 t1_jdsux55 wrote

Those only let the water sit til chlorine evaporates

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izzgo t1_jdslba4 wrote

For just a moment I entertained the idea that you actually did this.

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FrenchFryCattaneo t1_jdsne71 wrote

People do actually do this but it's a lot more complicated because you don't need just distilled water, you then have to add the right minerals back in.

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Shadow_84 t1_jdt3dmw wrote

And distilled can eat away at the internals too, instead of leaving buildups. Water naturally want some minerals, and distilled has very low or none

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impy695 t1_jduiitk wrote

And if you're not sure what kind of water you have, they sell test strips for very little money. You'll end up with way more than you'll ever need, but they actually make good gifts (I'm not kidding)

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AtariDump t1_jdtoeuf wrote

It’s a method people use for cleaning up the minerals that deposit in a coffee maker, but that’s not important right now.

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