Saturday, July 29, 2006


through a glass darkly

so i brewed up peter g's kenya in my vac pot the other day, and then washed the thing as usual. i set it out to air-dry and as i went to pack it back up in its box, i noticed how strangely dull and murky the pot seemed as the rounded glass failed to catch the light.

it didn't have that clean glass sparkle, you know? even tho' it had been thoroughly cleaned with soap-n-water.

ah! coffee build-up on the pot -- a common problem. fortunately, the vac pot has two globes.

thus i hit upon the notion of comparing the 2 coffee pot cleaners i have around: long-time bbcy pal josh dick's urnex clearly coffee and joeglo's coffee detergent so kindly sent to me by another long-time pal, terry z's espressoparts.

the joeglo's a powder; clearly coffee's a blue liquid you squirt into the pot.

in the bottom, the joeglo; clearly coffee in the top, both measured according to the directions on their packaging. i let both sit for 5 minutes while i wandered around eating chocolate or whatever it is i do at home during odd moments.

but seriously, when i returned to the kitchen, the sight was pretty horrible -- the water in both globes had turned an ugly brown color, similar to, well, light lipton tea. yup, that was the coffee residue that had been clinging to the glass.

the top globe's color was actually a tad greenish, but that's because the clearly coffee's got a blue color to it.

anyway, i rinsed each section three times with hot water, let the pot air-dry again and was rewarded in the morning with sparkly glass.

how to compare these cleaners? well, they both work quickly. the joeglo suds up a little; clearly coffee doesn't.

the clearly's blue color helps you tell when it's all rinsed out -- if you see any hint o' blue, you know you need to rinse some more.

for this purpose, i think i might prefer the clearly, because you don't have to stir it to dissolve, and blue color gives you good warning as to its continued presense in the rinse.

however, i know a lot of people like to see suds in a cleanser, and honestly, the joeglo does dissolve pretty fast. so this may "clearly" be a statement about my own personal laziness!

on cleaning power, they seem equal. i think you could choose either product with confidence; it would just depend, dear readers, on how you feel about suds, stirring, and the blue color.

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posted by fortune | 7:38 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 1 comments