Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 03, 2021

We’re all the same…but just a little different.

Everybody is some of each to each other. Which is a good thing.

‘I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together…’

No expresso machine and small aluminium/plastic coffee doses to add to the landfill. Just a huge pot of good strong coffee.

Perhaps if we found a way to emphasize our sameness then the differences would not matter so much.

Six degrees of separation….

Caulfield seems to know too much about the establishments that Mr. Spaetzle patronizes and about the kitchen appliances that Frazz owns. Do these adults tell the children everything about their personal lives? Why?

I can make coffee or espresso at home on my gas stove during power failures.

And I hate coffee so my life is soooo much simpler

The big question is “Does Frazz have an Aeropress?”

Sometimes it is just about having the tool for the situation. I have a few gadgets that are for pretty specific situations – so they hardly ever get used … hardly, but when that situation comes up they are perfect.

is this about Schrodinger’s Cat?

Perhaps Mr. Spaetzle lives in a tiny apartment, and doesn’t have room for multiple coffee machines? Perhaps he likes to support local businesses? Perhaps his wife/relative owns a coffee shop and he gets it for free? Perhaps it doesn’t make any sense since as I mentioned yesterday he DOES make coffee at home, and has been the butt of the “I left my giant mug of cofee on the roof of my car when I left for work, derpa-derp I’m such a slobby old fool” joke more than once? Or perhaps it’s just a way to get a spot of smug satisfaction by inferring that making your own organic, sustainably farmed espresso at home on one of your collection of machines is superior?

I guess we’ll never know…

 A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage: “Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola: In Tom Standage’s deft, innovative account of world history, these six beverages turn out to be much more than just ways to quench thirst.”

Jef Mallett’s Blog Posts

Frazz13 hrs · So you don’t have to ask, the inventory of ridiculousness: French press, smaller French press, Aeropress, American press (an effective and less silty if overly complicated version of a French press made by some semi-local entrepreneurs), something called a Gamila Impress (kind of a hybrid between a French press and an Aeropress and a travel mug and, when you take it apart to clean it, a vigorously shaken can of pop), Moka pot, ROK, Chemex (carafe), Chemex (direct-to-cup pour-over), and a few packets of Alpine Start instant coffee for emergencies or travel. The remaining 98 percent of the time I use my admittedly indulgent, and absolutely marvelous, Elektra Microcasa a Leva.

nota bene: I no longer own my Handpresso, probably the smallest truly legit espresso maker, pressurized — and adequately so — by hand as if the whole thing were essentially a bastardized frame-mounted bicycle pump, which it is. It made good espresso, but its virtues as a travel option were fatally negated by the fact that you still needed either a grinder or wasteful pods and a way to boil water. Plus — and here’s the significant part — when placed inside luggage that is placed inside a TSA X-ray machine, it looks less like an espresso machine than it does an explosive device, a sex toy, or exploding sex toy. Whatever it looked like, my TSA pre-check status was mysteriously revoked for the rest of that trip.

I can’t even stand the smell of coffee.