#maybe its easier to enjoy without dealing with region lock first | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

angeltrapz · 4 years ago

Note

SAW ASK!!!!!! 💞 n ee wayz as far as Eric/Adam goes i wld love to hear yr thoughts on how their relationship looks @ th very beginning when Eric still v v fresh in his recovery (obvs we’ve talked a lil abt this both but expandin on stuff), n also u mentioned Eric knowing how to bake (at least some things) n id LOVE to hear more abt that!! also for a general SAW polycule question, just bc it’s a dynamic i don’t think either of us have rlly touched on, thoughts on William + Mallick?

SAW ASK!!! (tysm!! <3)

okay so Eric/Adam:

I rly like th idea u had where they meet at one of Bobby’s groups (also throwing in tht I think abt Group Therapy All The Time) bc like. neither of them want to be there, neither of them rly have much in common w any other survivors, n neither of them can stand Bobby Dagen. so tht’s still like, th foundation fr how these 2 meet to me lol. the idea of them listening 2 him talk while rolling their eyes at each other n fake gagging is So Good.

I feel like Adam is just... rly open? w Eric? bc god does he understand how fucking hard it is 2 be around ppl after smth like that - maybe not to the same extent (though they DO have tht solidarity), but like. there’s only so many times u can hear “I’m so sorry tht happened/I can only imagine what u went thru” b4 yr ready 2 just tell ppl to shut the fuck up. so like, on Eric’s side of things, not getting tht frm Adam? not hearing the whole “I’m rly sorry u almost lost yr son and were locked up fr six months”? tht’s foreign territory ENTIRELY 2 him. sorry is all anyone has to say, even other survivors. Adam not saying sorry n instead being like “well I’m glad yr still around” is kind of what makes tht decision in Eric’s head like, yes, I think I want 2 get to know this dude. He Gets It.

n Adam is just patient too. letting Eric come 2 him, making sure he knows he’s there, tht sorta thing, bc regardless of how much he likes Adam, being around ppl again is not smth he can just jump into. it’s a wound tht is still raw n open n aching n he needs to treat it w care instead of rubbing salt in. n Eric half expects tht to turn Adam away, esp when he sometimes goes a day w no communication, but it doesn’t n he’s just sorta like ??? bc Eric never rly... saw some1 making tht kind of accommodation fr him, never expected some1 to understand it. tht’s another region I feel they’re very similar in - contact, sometimes, can b very very hard, even over text. if they don’t speak all day, tht’s okay - they send each other “i’m okay” texts n th other person responds w “good” n tht’s fine. Adam provides compromises when Eric never even knew tht was a possibility. it’s good.

things progress kinda slowly but not in a bad way. they’re just kind of getting used 2 each other - both of them have been alone fr so long, having some1 in their lives tht they give a shit abt n who gives a shit abt them is smth they’re both navigating. fr Eric, it’s being around some1 consistently after his trap. fr Adam, it’s actually having a friend who doesn’t make him feel like shit + having some1 he can definitively say is there. sometimes its easier 2 sit in comfortable silence than it is to force a convo neither of thm rly have the energy fr. sometimes just being in a room together is enough. tht’s smth they both notice - tht it’s like. they find it easy 2 be around each other. which is SO foreign to both of thm so they’re just kinda feelin it out?

n again like u’ve written b4, I also feel one of th turning points is when Eric calls Adam abt his hair + Adam shaves it fr him in his bathroom. tht’s th point where they’re both like “oh, I rly care abt this person.” bc it’s three in th fucking morning, Adam didn’t even have 2 pick up his phone or even answer when he saw it was Eric. but he did, bc he cares, bc he wants to help, n Adam’s just kinda freaking out internally too bc it’s been a looong time since he’s felt tht way abt some1 - he just wants Eric 2 be okay. n it’s then tht he’s kinda like, coming 2 terms w th fact that he truly cares abt someone who he can say without a doubt cares abt him too and it’s just like. oof. ESP when Eric sleeps over bc again, it’s early as fuck, and isn’t it so much easier 2 just have him stay? isn’t it easier fr Adam to make space fr Eric in his bed n home n heart? n Eric actually doesn’t tell Adam abt this later, but tht night he sleeps over after Adam shaves his hair? it’s th best he’s slept in fucking weeks.

I feel like after tht they’re a LOT more comfortable w each other - not tht they weren’t b4; I mean in th sense tht when they’re not doing too great, they’ll reach out 2 each other rather than bottling it up n dealing w it alone. Adam comes over w CDs he likes bc he can’t talk abt it but he doesn’t want 2 be by himself n they sit in Eric’s living room together in comfortable silence. sometimes Eric sings 2 him. they both find tht it helps. Eric becomes more accustomed 2 accepting help when he knows he needs it + Adam offers - dimming th lights n staying close by to keep him frm getting another migraine, having th TV on but w the sound down low enough tht it doesn’t feel like some1′s hitting him over th head w too-loud dialogue, getting things fr him on th days tht his nerve pain flares up n he’s mostly confined 2 his bed. they’re there fr each other. this is what friendship looks like fr them, two Jigsaw survivors who understand each other better than any1 else ever could.

another huge step fr them is like, th first time Adam offers 2 help w Eric’s rashes. I feel like, even as they grow closer, tht’s still not smth he’s vocal abt/comfortable showing often, something he’s ashamed of bc he feels like it’s gross n he doesn’t want 2 like. make Adam deal w that. but like during one of their sleepovers where Adam cuts his hair fr him n Eric’s got his shirt off he just. grabs the ointment he knows Eric keeps in th cabinet above the sink n while Eric’s still sitting w his back to him, he wordlessly begins tending 2 the rash spread along Eric’s shoulders n his neck n back, n Eric just. freezes. Adam doesn’t say anything, just does it fr him, n Eric kinda. Breaks Down a lil bit. like he just starts silently sobbing bc Adam doesn’t have 2 do this. he doesn’t have to help him w one of th things Eric hates most abt his own body. he could think it’s Gross. but he doesn’t think it’s gross n he doesn’t mind touching it and he’s so gentle when applying the ointment n then when he’s done he just kind of leans against Eric’s back bc He Knows. he reaches around front n grabs one of Eric’s hands n just sits there w him while he cries it out, holding his hand 2 say I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere, n that is MAJOR fr Eric. and honestly? tht’s kind of th first time he Rly becomes aware of “oh fuck I love him.” (Adam too, ngl)

basically, the way it starts is a shared experience, smth no one else can rly say they have, an understanding based on tht shared experience. giving each other space until they begin inviting each other in. care, patience, “I’m here.” re-learning th feeling of mutual concern. somewhere along th way, it turns into love, and somehow falling into tht is just as easy.

Eric + baking:

YES I love this hc!! this is smth he picked up during his time btwn jobs during th earlier stages of recovery (but After meeting Adam/connecting w Art) bc he needed smth to do n was just sorta like, “well I guess this works huh?” n like. it was def a learning curve bc Eric can cook, relatively well/at least okay, but baking is a entirely different matter. at frst he was kinda discouraged when things didn’t turn out th way he hoped they would, but w gentle guidance on Art’s side n enthusiastic encouragement frm Adam, he stuck w it n has gotten pretty good as a result!! his fave things 2 make r peanut butter cookies (he does a little design on th top w a fork n both Adam + Art r like Oh My God That’s Adorable) + th aforementioned carrot cake cupcakes!! frosting is usually homemade n it’s usually cream cheese! he makes his own frosting fr cakes n stuff too (Constantly has 2 tell Adam to “keep yr hands off of th frosting/batter/dough! we’re not gonna have any left!!!” even tho tht Doesn’t stop him).

he makes rly good banana bread too! tht one was a lil harder 2 learn but he’s honestly pretty proud of it now. it’s so funny bc Adam typically doesn’t like stuff like tht but if Eric made it? oh it’s Amazing. (he’s like tht w Art’s cooking too kjdfhjs partially bc he is a Disaster in th kitchen, but also bc That’s His BF/Best Friend!!!)

if some1 is feeling particularly shitty he takes requests (Adam usually wants brownies + Art is partial 2 peanut butter cookies but w chocolate chips too) n it’s just a nice lil thing he can do 2 help, which is smth he Always wants to do. he also stress bakes tho so sometimes his bfs have 2 just kinda like check in n make sure he’s doing okay. but! yeah baking is smth he enjoys + is relatively good at!!

William/Mallick dynamic:

yr right I haven’t thought abt this dynamic much but I Am Now!!!

I feel like at his core, William is def a caretaker. Mallick, 2 me, is someone who is just wholly unfamiliar w being cared for. so like, at the Very Least, they’re both dating Adam + Lawrence, right? they spend a lot of time around each other. plenty enough time fr William 2 pick up on this. it just kinda. makes his heart hurt, bc he sees the unease in Mallick’s eyes every time one of thm performs even th smallest acts of kindness fr him - not bc he doesn’t appreciate it/doesn’t want it, but because it’s more that he feels like he doesn’t deserve it. n William Sees That and is just like. I Need U To Know You’re Loved.

they’re comfortable w each other, of course they are! they’re friends, good friends, who happen 2 be dating th same people! who go to bed together at night n wake up w each other in th morning. it’s love, they know tht, but Mallick still always looks so surprised when William makes waffles fr him fr breakfast. William cares.

n Mallick can kinda feel it, and he’s not resistant 2 it, but he’s definitely on edge abt it a little. but William also just has this air abt him that Mallick finds it hard to stay keyed up in, so it doesn’t rly take long fr Mallick to at least be at peace w William’s attention. but the moment he starts to really fathom it is during one of those days he can’t get himself 2 relax n is just shaking out on the couch, knees drawn up to his chest n his arm wrapped around thm, just kinda staring down at th carpet n just Not having the energy to get himself out of his own head. Lawrence + Adam r at work n Eric is taking a quick nap so it’s just Mallick n William.

so Mallick is sitting there spiraling n his breaths r coming out a little fast n William just sits down beside him, a mug of warm tea tht he sets down on th coffee table fr a moment, n he just rests a hand on Mallick’s shoulder. doesn’t say anything, just sort of like. offers tht bridge, opens tht avenue. n Mallick is like This Close to just breaking entirely, but what rly does it is when William just swipes his thumb over his shoulder n squeezes. n Mallick rly DOES break down, almost ugly-sobbing and wheezing, n somehow he ends up w his face in William’s neck, pretty much curled into his side, n tht’s when it truly hits him how much William cares abt him too. tht there are Several People who hold tht kind of room fr him in their hearts n lives. William didn’t even have 2 say anything fr Mallick to understand that, to know it as truth. n tht’s like, one of th events tht actually leads Mallick to building up tht self-esteem, knowing that.

n after tht happens, Mallick is a little less reluctant abt accepting William’s (+ everyone else’s!) help, at least some of the time. like Mallick will catch himself digging his fingers a lil too harshly into th stump of his arm (I’m w u on 10 Pints resulting in at least a partial amputation - like what was tht little scar in 3D???) n then he’ll feel William’s hand cover his n gently curl around his palm 2 be like “I’m not gonna say anything, but I see you, it’s okay,” n his grip relaxes. Eric will notice he’s working himself up too much n he’ll reach out n take one of his hands while he’s pacing + laces their fingers together so tht Mallick has to pause a moment n then he’s able to breathe. Lawrence stumbles across him in th midst of a panic attack n Mallick finds himself breathing easier when Lawrence takes one of his hands, places it over his chest + his heart, n breathes w him. Adam holds him when he jolts awake frm a nightmare. lil things like tht.

one of their fave things to help them both de-stress is they’ll lay in bed n William will read out loud to Mallick, who has his head on his chest n is listening but doesn’t have to put too much energy into keeping up, bc it’s mostly abt being close + having smth to fill the silence tht neither of them feel particularly comfortable in anymore. sometimes Mallick falls asleep n it honestly makes William rly happy bc not only is Mallick relaxed enough to actually close his eyes, he also trusts William enough to fall asleep around him, trusts him during a time he’s at his most vulnerable. it’s not uncommon fr Lawrence to get home frm work to find th two of them curled up against th pillows, sometimes both asleep or just Mallick while William continues reading silently and brushes his fingers thru Mallick’s hair. Adam def has a pic of them like tht somewhere, hung up on th cork board Art had bought specifically fr those kinds of photos. it’s smth easy tht doesn’t really require much energy + has the added bonus of just being close to n held by someone u love n who loves u.

and they help each other. sometimes William has a rly hard time looking at himself, the days where his guilt sits heavy in his chest n doesn’t seem 2 want to anywhere, n Mallick will just sit w him outside on th porch swing and just Be There bc it’s like. “I’m here, I want to b here, Jigsaw was wrong, you are not a terrible person, u did what u could w what u had and I love you,” in a single action. I think William also struggles, like u’ve mentioned tht Eric does, w th guilt of what happened + feeling like it was his fault. so Mallick sitting w him, their shoulders brushing, fr William it’s like, if he was truly as awful a person as John seemed 2 think he was, wld Mallick be this close? wld Mallick willingly lay down beside him some nights n kiss him good morning? wld he kiss him again on th cheek after he makes a fresh pot of coffee + pancakes? n William knows tht Mallick wouldn’t keep himself so close if John was right, so it’s like. proof of tht. n tht means a lot to William. sometimes tht’s all he needs.

they don’t have 2 deal w their struggles alone. they’re both surrounded by ppl who love them n want to see them do well - it’s only natural they feel tht way abt each other, too.

#saw #eric #adam #william #mallick #long post #loved LOVED this ask!!! got me thinkin!!#also I think I might. write smth fr polycule + William/Mallick bc now I'm thinking abt them #ty again adam s4w beloved mutual!! <3 #asks #also update I think I'm gonna. actually start tht masterpost tomorrow lol I!!! crashed hard th other night oops #+ wanted 2 mention I did reference yr answer 2 my Mallick/Eric/Adam ask also!! what w Mallick pacing n Eric taking his hand n all!!

3 notes · View notes

theevilfoodeaterconchita · 6 years ago

Text

Dessert–Combo Platter of Varied Desserts; Scene 10

Evil Food Eater Conchita, page 250-256

They left town, and when they stood on the mountain thirty minutes later Elluka and Platonic had reached the front gate of the Conchita mansion.

Certainly, just as the minstrel had said, there was no sign of anyone outside the mansion or inside.

"Well then, how are we going to get in?" During the trip Platonic had made scattered complaints the whole way, but with the mansion before them she seemed to have finally secured her resolve, and asked her question with serious eyes.

"We're not going any which way in particular. We'll go through the front door."

"Huh?! But the gate might be locked. I could open it up for you if you want, but--"

"That won't be necessary."

Elluka snapped her fingers, and with a click the lock was undone--the gate opened all too quickly.

"…Ah. You just used some unlocking magic didn't you, Miss Elluka. That's great--if I had a spell like that I'd be able to steal as much as I wan--"

"It's impossible for you," Elluka replied immediately, cutting off Platonic's words.

"Yeah yeah. Guess I don't have a shred of magical talent."

They entered the main gate, and advanced through the gardens. According to Platonic when she'd snuck in before there had been lots of white livestock grazing around inside, but as expected none of them were there now.

"First I suppose we shall go meet with the mansion's owner. Platonic, where is Banica Conchita's room?"

"Uuh, if I remember right it's a corner room on the third floor."

Even after entering the mansion there wasn't a soul around. As there was no sign of anyone appearing to deal with Elluka and Platonic, the two of them moved on without hesitation.

"--Maybe everyone's already fled." Platonic said to Elluka, keeping her voice low.

"Fled? The Beelzenian army surrounds all the checkpoints leading to other regions. They couldn't get out that simply."

"It's easier than you'd think to get around the checkpoints. I've done it plenty of times before."

"…Well, at any rate, let's search the whole mansion. We'll consider the possibility that they've escaped after that."

The two climbed the stairs, and arrived at the second floor.

At that point, Platonic noticed a noise that she'd heard from a nearby room.

"…Sounds like there's someone here."

"Let's go in."

Elluka opened the door without hesitation, and went inside. Platonic timidly followed after her.

There was no one inside the room, but this time they heard much more clearly than before what sounded like something moving.

It was coming from the fireplace. The two of them peeked inside, and lying down there was a white pig wearing a necklace of roses.

"…Was it hiding here? Seems like it's hardly breathing now."

"Platonic, poke it."

"N-no way! I was bitten by this thing before!"

"Touch it, I command you."

Platonic resignedly reached out and hesitantly poked the dying pig on the stomach with her index finger.

In that moment, the pig's body crumbled in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only bones.

"Well, good gracious! Platonic, you've remorselessly slaughtered an innocent little pig! How cruel!" Elluka cried in an affected tone.

"You little…That wasn't me! Why in the world--"

"--The pig was already dead. Just like the Pale Man in the cell. It had been revived by force using some strange power. In other words, this pig returning to the soil like this--"

"….That means that the source of the strange power has vanished?"

Elluka sighed regretfully.

"Let's go to the third floor. Conchita's corpse is likely to be in her room, or else somewhere else in the mansion. It'd be great if we found the wineglass with her…but my hope is slim."

On the third floor was Banica Conchita's room.

The sight that they both saw when they entered it was far different than they'd imagined.

There was a single figure inside.

But it wasn't Conchita, nor was it the twins that were her servants.

The two of them dropped their eyes to a desk in the center of the room.

Lying there was the wineglass, stained in blood--

And a small baby lying sleeping on a plate.

--In the end, Elluka and Platonic were unable to find Banica.

She had unexpectedly vanished from the mansion without a trace.

Upon receiving a report on that from Elluka, Empress Juno declared to outside countries that Banica had gone missing. Naturally, leaving out the parts regarding the existence of the dead soldiers and that she'd been plotting a rebellion.

Having received that report, Empress Juno judged that Banica had fled to foreign territory.

The Conchita territory once more fell under rulership of the imperial family, and eventually it was officially annexed into the Beelzenias region. Incidentally, the border town of Gasto was brought into Rucolebeni, which gained the large-scale townscape that it has today.

The baby that had been in the Conchita estate was at first made into Juno's adoptive child.

However, there was opposition from those around her, and so eventually things calmed down by having the baby raised as the child of Juno's servant.

Among historians there are those that posit a theory that proposes that child's descendant was Germaine Avadonia, the hero of the Lucifenian Revolution, but it isn't very well endorsed.

As for what happened to the wineglass--I can't rightly say.

There is the theory that Elluka took it with her after that, and it's also said that Platonic outwitted Elluka and secretly stole it away.

In regards to historical developments, the country of Marlon won its war, and the country of Lioness perished.

There's no one who knows what happened to AB-CIR.

A war began between the Beelzenian Empire and the country of Asmodean, and, stretching on so long without a resolution, it impoverished both countries.

Taking advantage of that, the Lucifenian territory of the Beelzenian Empire began to work towards its independence, and so Duke d'Autriche, taking on the name of Lucifenia the First, founded the Kingdom of Lucifenia.

In this way begins the history of the Beelzenian Empire's decline--

And it is here that the story of Banica Conchita, and your meal for the day, has come to an end.

Did you enjoy yourself?

As for compensation you may pay your bill at the front desk.

Please note, we don't allow credit--

…Do you still have some business here?

...Huh!?

Our business permit?

I don’t know what you’re talking about.

...What’s this piece of paper?

...“USE Dark Star Bureau”!?

I--I don't know what you mean.

We haven't done anything illeg--

Wh—who are these people!?

I'm being arrested!?

Stop it, stop it this instant!

Don't lay waste to this restaurant!

The glass?

The mirror?

I don’t know! And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you!

Agh! Stop it, don't you take that out of here!

The owner?

I’ve never met him!

The—The chef’s gone!?

That bastard freaking ran off without me!

--Unhand me, you insolent thug!

No matter how many times you ask, I can't tell you what I don’t know!

I’m just the Waiter!

<<prev------directory------next>>

47 notes · View notes

takeeachdayonebookatatime · 5 years ago

Text

· AS MUCH AS I EVER COULD

By · Brandy Woods Snow

· Author Bio:

Brandy Woods Snow is a Young Adult author, journalist, wife, mama of three, Christian, and proud Southerner. Born and raised in the area of Greenville, South Carolina, she still resides in the rolling foothills of the Upstate region, though she plans to one day retire to the state’s famous Grand Strand. Brandy has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Writing from Clemson University. While creative writing pursuits have always held her heart, she’s built a career as a journalist and editor. Brandy has more than 19 years’ experience and a strong platform that includes articles and columns published in Delta Sky Magazine, Greenville Business Magazine, Columbia Business Monthly and Home Design & Décor Magazine (Charlotte and Raleigh). Currently, she also works as the Marketing Manager and an Acquisitions Editor for Filles Vertes Publishing.

Her first novel MEANT TO BE BROKEN was published by Filles Vertes Publishing in May 2018, and she has a short story featured in FVP’s LOVE ON MAIN anthology, forthcoming in February 2020. When Brandy’s not writing, reading, spending time with her husband or driving carpool for her three kids, she enjoys kayaking, family hikes, yelling “Go Tigers!” as loud as she can, playing the piano and taking “naked” Jeep Wrangler cruises on twisty, country roads.

Here is an

· Excerpt: for the book hope you enjoy it

CHAPTER 1

A summer away at Memaw’s can’t rectify everything that fell apart in a single minute, but that won’t stop my dad from forcing it on me.

My fingers wrench tighter around the handle grip of Dad’s Ford Explorer as he hugs the center line, tires thumping over golden reflectors in waves and shooting vibrations through my seat. I glance over my shoulder to make sure the door lock is crammed to its neck into the tan vinyl interior. Not that it’d make a difference if he were to flip this thing head-over-end into the muddy goop of tidal flats along either side of the road. If a body’s going to exit a car in a hurry, it sure as hell won’t wait for an unlocked door.

These kinds of thoughts never shoved their way into my brain before the accident. Now they circulate like a washing machine stuck on the spin cycle.

I sigh and yank my phone off the dashboard. 4:15 PM. Only ten more minutes to get my summer of hell underway.

A notification blinks on the home screen. One new email from Trent Casey and all I can see of it is “CJ, things have changed so much this last year that I think…” Inbox preview cruelty at its finest. A little sneak peek of my on-again, off-again boyfriend kicking me to the curb because I’ve been too screwed up to screw him the past year. Not that I’d screwed him before, or anyone else for that matter.

I toss the phone in the cup holder and stare over at my dad in the driver’s seat, his eyes fixed and hooded as if in a trance. He hasn’t spoken in over a hundred miles, but I’ve strategically coughed from time to time to make sure there’s at least a reaction to the noise, and he’s not comatose or something. Plus, it’s easier than actually talking, and it warrants no response from him. Win-win.

Dad flips on the blinker, its dink-doonk, dink-doonk, dink-doonk signaling a right turn. Into where I have no idea, and unless Memaw has taken up living in a dilapidated open-air shack, he’s seriously misguided. He pulls into one of the ten open parking slots, demarcated by rows of conch shells instead of actual painted-on lines. How beachy of them.

Dad lets the engine idle, sliding his phone from the pocket of his polo and pecking out a text message without so much as a word or glance in my direction. I unlatch my seatbelt and open the door, easing out onto the hot, gritty sand, which creeps into my sandals and scratches at the skin.

“Where are we?” When he doesn’t respond, I step beside the open door, banging my hand on the window. “Dad, where are we?”

“Edisto Island, of course,” he mumbles, never looking up from his phone, his fingers still moving furiously over the screen.

I point to the rectangular banner draped atop the entrance with what looks like a hand-stenciled Welcome to Edisto Beach, SC! in blue paint. “No shit. I mean, what is this place?”

“Watch your mouth, CJ. I’m still your father.” He finally looks up long enough to glare across his steering wheel at the banner, squinting as if it’s written in some foreign language before looking back at me. He waves his hand around. “We’re obviously at the market.”

The entrance isn’t a single open-close door but one of those garage-style deals that pulls down from the ceiling. Oyster shell wind chimes tinkle in the breeze. I take a deep breath, the briny air expanding in my lungs and coating my skin, and somehow start imagining myself as one of those slugs we used to find on the back porch at home and pour salt over. Almost immediately, their slimy little bodies would foam up and implode, turning into a dried-up crispie we’d flick off in the grass the next day. Maybe that’ll happen to me, and I can simply shrivel up and disappear.

Dad gets out and lifts the back hatch, and I walk to meet him, giving an extra foot shake on each step to loosen the stowaway sand from my sandals.

“But why are we here?”

“This is where Memaw’s picking you up.” He hauls out my two large suitcases and sets them under the overhang. “She’s running late, but she’ll be here within the next twenty minutes.”

“And you’re just gonna leave me here?” I thumb over my shoulder.

He stares at me as if I’ve just asked for an explanation on the meaning of life, standing like a statue except for the front flip of his thinning auburn hair that tousles with the breeze. That hair, along with his chocolate brown eyes and freckles, are the only things we even share anymore. Everything else is gone. Evaporated.

“Don’t be dramatic, CJ. I have a long drive home.” He slams the hatch, walks to his still-open driver door and slides in behind the wheel. The passenger window rolls down part-way. “I’ll see you at the end of summer. Bye.” The words scarcely exit his lips before the window’s rolled up and he’s peeling out of the parking lot on two wheels as if he’s off to a five-alarm fire.

Wow. Truly heartfelt. I think he might miss me. I lock my jaw, forcing my quivering stomach back in its rightful place. Part of me loathes him for just dumping me here. The other part understands, though. He hates me for what happened and wants me gone too.

I can’t blame him for that.

· The cover was designed by : Jena R. Collins/JRC DesignsThe authors social media pages are · Facebook: @BWSnowWrites; Twitter: @brandy_snow; Instagram: @snowbrandy; Website: www.brandywsnow.com

Awards, Recognitions, and Reviews:

1. Second Place, YA Contemporary – NEORWA’s Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest

2. Second Place YA Contemporary – Music City RWA’s Melody of Love Contest

3. “A swoonworthy summer read with a hopeful lesson about how to move forward without fear.” – Kirkus Reviews

Click here to add this book to your Goodreads shelf: http://bit.ly/AMAIEC

Here are the links to buy AS MUCH AS I EVER COULD FVPub.com: https://bit.ly/AMAIEC-FVP· Amazon: https://bit.ly/AMAIEC-BWS· Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/AMAIEC-BN· IndieBound: https://bit.ly/AMAIEC-IB

· Filles Vertes Publishing (Facebook: @FVpublishing; Twitter: @FillesVertesPub; Instagram: @fillesvertespub; website: www.fillesvertespublishing.com)

0 notes

nielsencooking-blog · 7 years ago

Text

The Best Automatic-Drip Coffee Makers

New Post has been published on http://nielsencooking.com/the-best-automatic-drip-coffee-makers/

The Best Automatic-Drip Coffee Makers

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "nielsenwood.com-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cooking"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "Kitchen"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "51fe4d035c7af8dc5928e6f5e5b79c4e"; amzn_assoc_default_browse_node = "284507"; amzn_assoc_rows = "4"; amzn_assoc_design = "text_links";

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

We’re all for the skill and dedication it takes to brew a rich, flavorful cup of pour-over coffee. But on a Tuesday morning, when time is short and a caffeine headache is just a few hours away, it would be nice to know you can pull the carafe from an automatic coffee maker and actually enjoy the stuff you’re going to pour into a cup. All too often, outsourcing coffee-making to a machine means trading convenience for taste.

Our goal was to find well-designed, automatic-drip coffee makers that deliver great tasting coffee. We tested 15 models, ranging from about $20 to $310, and put them through rounds of tastings and other evaluations to find the ones that performed the best.

Our Favorites, at a Glance

The Best Simple Coffee Maker: Bonavita 8-Cup Carafe Coffee Brewer

The Bonavita is one of the faster models we tested, and it earned high scores in nearly all of our tastings. A single switch governs all of its operations, making the brewing process incredibly simple. The only design knock is the brew basket: It sits directly on top of the open stainless-steel carafe, which means you have to fully remove it and deal with the wet grounds before you can enjoy a cup of coffee (on the flip side, maybe that discourages the bad habit of leaving the stale, spent grounds in the machine for hours on end).

The Best for Control Freaks: Breville Precision Brewer

While you can get it brewing with just the push of a button, the Breville offers layer upon layer of fine-tuned control for the coffee geek who wants to tweak brew variables. Finishing near the top of our taste tests, this spendy machine allows you to control brew water temperature, time, and the blooming phase. It also can make cold brew, and it’s compatible with popular pour-over devices like the Hario V60 and Kalita Wave.

The Best Budget Coffee Maker: Braun Brew Sense Drip Coffee Maker

While we tested machines that are five times pricier than the Braun, its performance in taste tests, its ease of use, and its wallet-friendly price pushed it to the head of the pack.

The Criteria: What We Look for in a Great Coffee Maker

[top]

The most important aspect of a coffee maker is how well it brews coffee. So, what makes for a good cup of coffee? Well, that’s very subjective. Some drinkers like dark roasts, while others lean toward fruity, lighter coffees. A lot of coffee drinkers enjoy a morning cup strong enough to crack the glaze off their eyes, while others brew theirs as weak as tea. Then there is texture: are you more of a gritty French press–style coffee drinker, or do you want a clear brew with every last trace of the grounds filtered out? While even professionals can’t fully agree on what “good coffee” is, they at least have some criteria that can help us toward a definition. A good cup of coffee is, in essence, one that has successfully extracted the solubles you want out of the bean, while leaving behind most of the ones you don’t. Factoring into the success of that extraction is brew time and temperature, the blooming phase, water turbulence, grind size, the beans themselves, and more. It’s a complex process with a dizzying array of variables.

Given all of those variables, it’s difficult for any evaluation to account for each, though we tried by doing the following: we conducted blind taste tests with multiple tasters, both pros and daily coffee drinkers; we tested coffee beans of varying styles, origins, and quality; we measured some empirical markers like total dissolved solids (more on this below); and we examined water temperature, brew time, and other factors that can be helpful in at least indirectly assessing brew quality.

No matter what, using an automatic coffee machine forces you to relinquish some level of control. With simple machines, you press one switch and hope it delivers a good cup of coffee. With the more advanced coffee makers, you can specify some brewing parameters, but you still have to trust the machine is executing them correctly. You really never have a say in some coffee-brewing aspects like showerhead design, how evenly the grounds are wet, or the turbulence of the water in the coffee bed. And there is no way to make in-the-moment adjustments like pouring water faster or slower to influence the speed of the brew process.

Every coffee machine should make a decently good cup of joe with a button touch (or two), and be intuitive enough for family and friends to use without having to ask for help. Ideally, we’re only turning to the manual if we want to learn about more complex features for those machines that offer them. A good coffee machine should be easy to clean, too: A funky buildup of dried-up coffee or crusty grounds isn’t going to help your next brew taste better.

All coffee makers do the same thing—pull water from a reservoir, heat it, and then distribute the water over the grounds in the brew basket through a showerhead. When the properly heated water passes through beans ground to the correct size, you should extract the desirable flavor and aroma compounds from the roasted coffee, while leaving unwanted flavors behind.

To help brew more flavorful coffee, some manufacturers build a “bloom cycle” (sometimes called pre-infusion) into these machines. During the bloom phase, the brewer sprays a small amount of hot water onto the coffee to release the carbon dioxide locked inside the grounds. With the gas gone, the rest of the brew water, which follows about 30 to 60 seconds after the bloom, has an easier time extracting flavor. While this feature is usually found in higher-priced machines (and three out of four of our winners), some of the less expensive, non-blooming models we tested made a good cup of coffee without it. There are machines that, while they don’t claim to have a bloom phase, deliver a similar action by dispensing the brew water over the grounds in pulses, waiting several seconds between each batch of hot water.

During our research we turned to the coffee pros at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), an industry organization with a program that certifies residential coffee machines. Coffee Science Manager Emma Sage, who runs the SCAA’s Certified Home Brewer program, described for us the nine areas (opens a PDF) of a manufacturer’s coffee machine they evaluate. While they look at, and develop standards for, things like brew time and temperature, and certify machines that meet certain design parameters, they don’t run taste tests. Currently, about 18 models carry the certification and the prices for an SCAA-approved coffee machine run from about $130 to nearly $350. Since we were curious about whether spending top dollar gets you a better cup of coffee, we included many of these certified models in our tests, along with popular coffee makers according to Amazon. We cross-referenced reviews on, America’s Test Kitchen (subscription required), The Wirecutter, and Good Housekeeping. We also worked with Christopher Malarick, a trainer and educator from Joe Coffee, and Matt Banbury, the New York regional manager at Counter Culture Coffee. These coffee experts, along with Serious Eats staffers (all daily coffee drinkers), were on hand for rounds of blind tastings and other testing.

A Note About Cup Capacity and Coffee Ratios

While researching coffee machines, we came across models that describe their capacity in cups or ounces. The US government considers a cup to be eight ounces (PDF), but coffee maker manufacturers don’t always follow this. Depending on the manufacturer, a “cup” can range from four to six ounces, which makes it difficult if you’re shopping by max capacity.

All the manufactures include a recipe for brewing coffee, with each calling for different amounts and ratios. But we wanted to make the same amount of coffee in each machine during each test to control as many variables as possible. For consistency and accuracy, we used a scale, instead of volume measurements that many people rely on at home. We settled on a 16:1 (by weight) water-to-coffee ratio for our tests, and weighed both on our favorite kitchen scale.

The Testing

[top]

Taste Tests

[top]

We had coffee experts, and Serious Eats staffers, participate in several rounds of blind taste tests.

Coffee taste is the most important thing to test. If a coffee maker produces a cup people like, it’s doing something right, regardless of how well the machine maintains certain “ideal” brewing parameters. However, we still took empirical measurements of various brew characteristics to see if there was any correlation between them and the top performing machines.

We ran the machines through seven rounds of blind taste tests. We spent our first day with Joe Coffee’s Christopher Malarick to help set up our initial tests and determine a good, consistent grind size that worked well across the range of machines (we used a commercial-style Bunn grinder on all the whole beans). He was also on hand for our first round of taste tests, helping us measure total dissolved solids (TDS) in all of the coffee we tested.

Then we spent our second day conducting tastings with Counter Culture Coffee’s Matt Banbury, making grind adjustments based on the initial TDS readings, hoping to bring the machines even more into an ideal TDS range. On both days, Serious Eats staffers, all coffee drinkers with varying degrees of coffee experience and know-how, joined in on the blind taste tests. We continued subsequent rounds of taste-testing with several other kinds of coffee using Serious Eats staff, and any other coffee drinkers we could grab, to rate each cup.

Throughout the tastings we kept the brew ratio consistent: 16 grams of tap water to 1 gram of coffee. What we changed, from round to round, was the kind of coffee. To cover a range of popular coffees brewed at home, we tested whole-bean Starbucks Sumatra dark roast; Peet’s house blend dark-roasted Latin American beans; a Mexico El Chango dark roast from Variety Cafe; Counter Culture Coffee’s Iridescent, a blend of Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Latin American coffee; and Joe Coffee’s Guatemala Hunapu microlot. We also used pre-ground, medium-roast Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, made with beans from Central and South America. We put paper filters—some required the cone-shaped version; others the commercial, basket-style filters—in each brewer. The panel evaluated samples, scoring each cup on a scale of one to five, with one being weakest and five being strongest, for acidity, body, and sweetness. Tasters also jotted down any additional qualitative notes they had for each cup.

After two rounds of blind tastings, the experts identified five machines as their favorites, each selecting a mix of less expensive brands, like the Braun, Black & Decker, and Mr. Coffee, and higher-end coffee makers, including Bonavita and Oxo. The experts’ picks didn’t overlap as they both selected entirely different machines. The other tasters agreed consistently on three of the five selections—they felt that the Black & Decker and Mr. Coffee made unbalanced coffee, with fainter aroma, and sharper taste. We continued our taste-testing, but later eliminated the Mr. Coffee, which took too long to evenly spray the grounds, and the Black & Decker, which had a design that spills water into the brew basket when the lid is open and the power is on.

One expert picked the Bonavita as one of his favorites (along with the short-lived picks of Mr. Coffee and Black & Decker), while the other selected the Braun and Oxo. All three machines did well throughout the rest of the taste tests, with the Bonavita and Braun eventually winning, and the Oxo making it to the penultimate round. Tasting with a variety of beans means the tasters were likely going to have different reactions to the coffee each time. But, switching the coffee was also effective in showing which machines performed well in the eyes (and mouths) of the greatest number of tasters.

Coffee made in the Breville, which initially was considered average by the experts and other tasters, started earning higher scores when we used lighter roasted beans. The coffee made in the Ninja was deemed by the experts to be over-extracted from the start (very possibly due to long brew time and high temperature), and other tasters agreed, but it also returned favorable notes for aroma and, as the field narrowed, the machine was identified as one of the favorites.

After subsequent tastings, weighing in the evaluations of the non-pro tasters, and some disqualifications, five machines distinguished themselves: the Bonavita, Braun, Oxo, Breville, and Ninja. With more tastings we decided two of the models, the Oxo and the Ninja, didn’t separate themselves enough from the pack.

Measuring Brewing Times

[top]

According to the SCAA, the recommended brew time for a good cup of coffee is at least four minutes, but no more than eight. But, Matt Banbury tends to aim for a total brew time between 2:45 and 4:30, and says, generally, darker roasted coffees need a shorter brew time. We started the test by running water (827 grams of it, which is about 3 1/2 cups) through the machines without coffee or filters, to get a baseline measurement of brew times. The machines won’t brew any faster than these times, and once you add coffee, they will definitely brew slower, given that grounds and the filter will impede the flow of water.

Brew time is more than just the inconvenience of waiting for a pot of coffee, it should also influence the taste. But, we couldn’t make a correlation between time and taste. The Technivorm was the fastest, finishing the cycle in under four minutes, but the coffee it makes didn’t win over many tasters. The Breville was the second fastest and it makes very good coffee. On the other hand, the Black & Decker was one of the slowest models, taking nearly nine minutes to move all the water, and made coffee about half the tasters enjoyed. All of our winners fell into the four- to seven-minute range.

Measuring Brewing Temperatures

[top]

To track how hot the water is when it meets the grounds we placed a pair of thermocouples near the surface of the grounds, and tracked the temperatures every five seconds during the brew cycle.

When the water temperature is on point, it should help pull coffee’s good flavors and aromas out of the beans and into your cup—a process called extraction. But water temperature alone isn’t enough to guarantee a flavorful extraction. Other variables include brew time, blooming phase, and water turbulence. And then there is the coffee itself: grind size, the quality of the beans, and nature of the roast, etc. Most pros agree that not all water temps are ideal for coffee brewing, but there isn’t a consensus about what the “best” temps are. Experts tend to be wary of any temperatures that are too low or too high, though exactly what the cut-off is is up for debate. Experts generally advise avoiding water that gets too close to boiling. On the flip side, water that isn’t hot enough can under-extract the beans.

There is a temperature range that is considered ideal, but experts don’t agree on what those temps are. The SCAA’s optimal range of water temperature, which they define as the temp of the water when it makes contact with the grounds, is between 197.6°F (92°C) and 204.8°F (96°C). The SCAA’s guidelines also recommend that those temperatures be maintained for the duration of the brew cycle.

We buried a pair of Thermoworks thermocouple wires in the brew baskets, positioning them near the top of the grounds, to record how hot the water is during brewing. We placed one in the center of the basket, with a second sensor closer to the edge. They fed their measurements to a Thermoworks ThermaQ Blue tracker that recorded readings every five seconds. We brewed each batch of coffee with 720 grams of water (about 3 cups) and 45 grams of coffee, trying to run the largest amount that would fit in all the machines.

Some machines didn’t make it to 197.6°F at all, let alone hold it for an extended period of time. So those must be bad coffee makers, right? Not so fast. The Braun maxed out at around 190°F (87.8°C) and held it for about 35 seconds, yet it still made coffee most tasters enjoyed. The Breville stayed in the zone for 60 seconds and the Bonavita for 110 seconds. While the Ninja spent about 150 seconds within the optimal temperature zone, it also ran the hottest, reaching 212°F (100°C), and spent nearly twice as long above 204.8°F, which may help explain why it made strong tasting, sometimes over-extracted coffee. On the other hand, the Technivorm spent most of the brew cycle in the ideal temperature range, yet the coffee it made was never identified by any of the tasters as their favorite cup.

In the end, a machine’s ability to hit or maintain a specific water temperature was not a strong indicator of whether it made good coffee.

Measuring the Total Dissolved Solids

[top]

Brewing coffee is all about taking what we want from the coffee bean and transferring it to the water. While it might oversimplify the complex nature of coffee extraction, measuring the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) is a quick way to check if you’ve pulled more or less than the right amount of material from the coffee beans. Coffee experts use a refractometer to calculate the brew’s TDS, which we interpret as strength while drinking.

Many coffee professionals, and the SCAA, aim for a TDS between 1.15% and 1.35%. But there is good coffee outside of this range too. “We find that our coffees, and a lot of similarly light-medium roasted, high-quality coffees, taste great between 1.20% to 1.40%,” says Christopher Malarick. “The better the coffee, the higher up we can go, in theory, because the coffee has more to offer.”

During our testing we used TDS percentages to dial in a grind size that we could then use in all the machines, hopefully producing a TDS number within the acceptable range for every pot. In our first round of tests, the TDS percentages ranged from 1.30% to 1.71%. For subsequent rounds, we adjusted the commercial Bunn grinder to a coarser setting, trying to lower the TDS percentage. That worked to a degree, but as we changed to different beans, the TDS continued to jump around, sometimes going higher, sometimes going lower, demonstrating that, depending on the bean and the brewer, there is no one “perfect” grind size that will work with all these coffee makers. This goes to show that coffee is a moving target and fine-tuned adjustments are necessary to get the best cup, no matter what machine or brewing method you use.

This also highlights one limitation in our testing: To fairly and scientifically compare all of these machines, we needed to control as many variables as possible, settling on uniform grind sizes, ratios, and other factors in each test. But technically, we could have adjusted those variables to dial each machine into its own optimized range for any given bean. In the end, we decided to go with a more real-world scenario, trying to replicate what most people do at home, which rarely involves analyzing TDS or obsessively adjusting the grind with a high-quality burr grinder.

In theory, a person could take one of our losing machines and get a better cup out of it by modifying all the other brew variables, pulling the machine closer to its highest potential. But we also know that most folks at home don’t have the expertise or willingness to do this, which is why we feel that the machines that performed the best with a range of beans all ground to a pretty typical “drip” coarseness were, by definition, the best for most folks at home. But even our winners could be configured more precisely, or thrown out of whack, as bean choice, grind size, and the other variables change.

Checking The Brew Basket

[top]

A coffee maker should wet the brew basket consistently, and quickly. We took photos of the brewers every 30 seconds and disqualified poorly performing machines that took too long to spray the grounds.

To brew a good pot of coffee, the machine has to wet the grounds consistently, because you can’t extract flavor from beans if the showerhead doesn’t soak them. Ideally, the brew basket is evenly wet within the first minute of brewing. Coffee that doesn’t get wet until long into the brew cycle will only get partially extracted (or not at all, in the case of grounds left dry). We examined the brew baskets of the machines every 30 seconds to see how well each sprayed the grounds. We disqualified any machine that failed to wet all the coffee in an acceptable amount of time, unless the machine was performing well in the taste tests.

Surprisingly, the pricey Technivorm struggled with this test. It left a significant amount of coffee dry for much of the brew cycle, and by the end, there were still portions of the brew bed that never got wet. The Braun, despite making tasty coffee, needed 3:30 to completely wet the grounds.

Ease of Use and Features

[top]

We disqualified lids that featured this design: the absence of a water shut-off means the showerhead pumps water when the power is on and the lid is up, which ruined a few of our tests, and could wreck your brew too.

We took notes on how easy the machines are to use and clean. If you’ve loaded an automatic coffee maker in the past, these models will feel familiar. Many have flip-up lids that cover the water reservoir and/or the brew basket, meaning you’ll have to pull the brewer out from under upper cabinets to use them. While emptying the machines, we noticed a few design elements that make it hard for the pumps to clear all the water. The Breville has a pocket that holds about a tablespoon of water below the level of the pump. Left in the machine after a long weekend, that water could get funky and that probably isn’t going to help your coffee taste better.

What bugged us the most? Many of the less expensive machines share the same design flaw: they don’t have a water shut-off when the lid is open. Typically, these brewers fix the showerhead to the underside of the flip-up lid, so when the top is down, the sprayer is above the brew basket. Without a sensor to confirm the lid is closed, the water flows even if the lid is opened mid-brew or if the power button is pressed accidently while the lid is up (and the water tank is full). Some of these machines have a better design that redirects this water right back down into the reservoir when it happens, but others allow the water to spew from the showerhead. There isn’t really a danger of getting burned, but there is enough velocity to reach the brew basket, which is extremely annoying and can ruin a batch of coffee if you’re midway through setting it up. We disqualified machines with this flaw because, as we tested, it ruined a bunch of brew cycles.

How We Chose Our Winners

[top]

After sampling dozens and dozens of cups of coffee, we selected winners based on a combination of performance and ease of use.

The Best Simple Coffee Maker: Bonavita 8-Cup Carafe Coffee Brewer

[top]

What we liked: The SCAA-certified Bonavita has a solid reputation for making great coffee and it didn’t disappoint in our tests. The experts singled it out for making balanced cups of coffee. We tried it with and without the bloom phase, and it did well in both scenarios. The design is straightforward; there is only one switch (you hold that switch down for a few seconds to enter or exit the bloom mode). While you can’t set it to brew at a specific time, it was one of the faster machines to move water, clearing the reservoir in about five minutes, so you shouldn’t be waiting long for coffee.

What we didn’t like: Our biggest pet peeve with the Bonavita is a common one: The brew basket sits directly on top of the open carafe, so before you can pour a cup, you have to remove it completely. That leaves you with a wet, grounds-filled brew basket in-hand, forcing you to either dump out the grounds and clean it right away, or set it down somewhere (where it can dribble coffee). Only then can you access the carafe. While we would prefer a more common slide-in brew basket, we do have to acknowledge a silver lining here: The current design forces you to clean the machine promptly, making it less likely you’ll leave stale, spent grounds in the machine for hours on end.

The Best For Control Freaks: Breville Precision Brewer Thermal

[top]

What we liked: While the Breville is an advanced brewer, it’s also easy to use—you can make a basic pot of coffee with a couple of button clicks. For those who want to tweak settings, you can dial in the length of the bloom time, the temperature of the brew water, and the rate that water is applied. This was one of the most consistent machines we tested, both in terms of TDS figures (where it hovered around 1.4% across a range of beans and grind sizes) and also the small differences in the temperature of the brew bed, from the center to the edge. All tasters agreed it made coffee that was clean, well rounded, and with a nice aroma. In later testing, with dark-roasted coffee, we noticed it was a little watery, which could probably be resolved with a finer grind and/or different ratio of water to coffee. Like the Bonavita, the programmable, SCAA-certified Breville creates a uniformly wet brew basket, and it was the second fastest brewer we tested. While we didn’t use it, it has a setting for making cold-brewed coffee. With an adapter, you can also slide in a stand-alone, pour-over coffee brewer, like the Hario V60 or Kalita Wave, and have the Breville function as the water heater and dispenser.

What we didn’t like: Before you can start brewing, the machine’s sensor has to recognize that the carafe is in place, which it failed to do about half the time (forcing you to jiggle the jug). The water tank has a divot in the bottom that always holds on to about a tablespoon of water from the previous brew cycle. If you’re not going to use the machine for a while you’ll have to invert the entire rig over the sink to get rid of that slug of water (or break out the turkey baster).

The Best Budget Coffee Maker: Braun Brew Sense Drip Coffee Maker

[top]

What we liked: A surprise pick during testing, the Braun (which includes a programmable timer) earned favorable remarks in nearly every round of tasting, despite poor performance in the brew bed-wetting evaluation. Both pros called the Braun’s coffee balanced and other tasters tended to like its results as well, calling the coffee smooth and drinkable (though it did taste acidic when brewed with Mexican dark-roasted beans). The dashboard is clean and the flip-up lid design is easy to work with. There is a replaceable charcoal water filter in the water tank, which we appreciate. Unlike other models that share a similar water pump and showerhead build, the Braun diverts water back into the reservoir, not the brew basket, if you accidentally start it with the lid up.

What we didn’t like: There is no way to shut the hot plate off and the LCD display is on the small side.

The Competition

[top]

A few quick notes on the other coffee makers we tested:

The Ninja Coffee Bar Brewer consistently brewed strong-tasting coffee that was flagged by our pros as over-extracted. If you need a single cup of coffee, or like to sip a travel mug during your commute, you’ll appreciate the Ninja’s specific options for those two sizes and ability to accommodate both vessels, after you dial in the grind size.

The Technivorm Moccamaster was one of the fastest machines we tested and one of the easiest to use—it only has two switches. But, while Amazon reviews are overwhelmingly positive about this SCAA-certified brewer, the coffee it made earned merely mediocre ratings from both pro and amateur tasters and it routinely failed to wet the coffee grounds evenly and sufficiently.

The Behmor is an SCAA-certified smart brewer that you control with your iOS or Android phone. This is a brainy brewer—you can set the bloom time, brew temperature, or pick programed brew cycles for popular brands of coffee—but only when you can get it to work. We had connectivity issues with our test kitchen’s WiFi, which you probably won’t have in your home’s secure network. When we were able to get it to work, it got mixed results from tasters. In theory, its level of customization would allow better brew results with lots of adjusting of brew variables, but we weren’t able to find out due to tech issues.

The design of the SCAA-certified Kitchen Aid concerned us from the start. To fill the water tank you have to pour cups of liquid through a narrow slot in the back of the machine, making the first step in the coffee brewing process an already fraught one: There will be spills. Amazon reviewers complained about the design too. Some reported water that often leaked from the tank onto the countertop. This model was also the third slowest we tested, taking more than five minutes to heat up the water before pumping. However, tasters noted the coffee was balanced with mild acidity.

The OXO On Barista made it to our final five brewers. Easy to load, the SCAA-certified Oxo starts heating and dispensing water after only 30 seconds, but in later rounds of tastings, testers noted the coffee lacked aroma and had a weak taste, which presumably could be resolved by tweaking some variables. Amazon reviews also cite weird glitches with the clock, which appears to reset itself. That might ruin your morning if you plan on waking up to hot coffee that brews on a timer.

The Bunn Heat N’ Brew delivered weak, thin coffee from a brew bed that was inconsistently wet. While it has a simple dashboard, the LCD often blinked that the SCAA-certified coffee maker was still brewing even after the dripping stopped.

The flip-up lids covering the water tank and brew basket on the Cuisinart Pour Over Coffee Brewer, which plagued a few of the machines we tested, makes it difficult to tuck the coffee maker under upper cabinets—a short power cord didn’t help things either. Tasters commented that coffee from this SCAA-certified machine was split between bitter or sweet, and balanced; others noticed an off smell with a lot of body that bordered on over-extracted.

A top seller on Amazon, the Cuisinart 14-Cup Glass Carafe with Stainless Steel Handle Programmable Coffeemaker overflowed when we added our controlled amounts of water and coffee, which were within the brewer’s max fill levels. This is one of the coffee machines that spills water into the brew basket when the lid is up and the power is on.

The Mr. Coffee scored high with one of our pros initially, but it fell short in subsequent taste tests and the brew basket never became fully saturated. Additional testing delivered coffee with a lot of acidity.

Like the Mr. Coffee, the Black & Decker scored well with a coffee pro at first, even if the notes of Serious Eats staffers ranged from “unbalanced” to “nutty and rich.” The build is basic—one switch, no fancy clocks or presets—and while the machine will brew with the lid up, the water is diverted back into the reservoir, not the brew basket. The Black & Decker was the second slowest model we tested, taking nearly nine minutes to empty the water tank.

The Hamilton Beach did well in initial tastings, but later panelists were as likely to describe the coffee as weak as they were to call it balanced. In the end, we disqualified it for its leaky lid design that does not include a water shut-off, but we appreciated the removable water tank and swing-out brew basket—both features save space under upper cabinets.

We disqualified the Krups Savoy early on for brewing and saturating the filter basket with the lid up.

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "nielsenwood.com-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cookware"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "b45319dac495d29e17b5eff312392025"; Source link

0 notes

cucinacarmela-blog · 7 years ago

Text

The Best Automatic-Drip Coffee Makers

New Post has been published on http://cucinacarmela.com/the-best-automatic-drip-coffee-makers/

The Best Automatic-Drip Coffee Makers

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "carmela-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cooking"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "Kitchen"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "51fe4d035c7af8dc5928e6f5e5b79c4e"; amzn_assoc_default_browse_node = "284507"; amzn_assoc_rows = "4"; amzn_assoc_design = "text_links";

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Our Favorites, at a Glance

The Best Simple Coffee Maker: Bonavita 8-Cup Carafe Coffee Brewer

The Best for Control Freaks: Breville Precision Brewer

The Best Budget Coffee Maker: Braun Brew Sense Drip Coffee Maker

While we tested machines that are five times pricier than the Braun, its performance in taste tests, its ease of use, and its wallet-friendly price pushed it to the head of the pack.

The Criteria: What We Look for in a Great Coffee Maker

[top]

A Note About Cup Capacity and Coffee Ratios

The Testing

[top]

Taste Tests

[top]

We had coffee experts, and Serious Eats staffers, participate in several rounds of blind taste tests.

Measuring Brewing Times

[top]

Measuring Brewing Temperatures

[top]

To track how hot the water is when it meets the grounds we placed a pair of thermocouples near the surface of the grounds, and tracked the temperatures every five seconds during the brew cycle.

In the end, a machine’s ability to hit or maintain a specific water temperature was not a strong indicator of whether it made good coffee.

Measuring the Total Dissolved Solids

[top]

Checking The Brew Basket

[top]

Ease of Use and Features

[top]

How We Chose Our Winners

[top]

After sampling dozens and dozens of cups of coffee, we selected winners based on a combination of performance and ease of use.

The Best Simple Coffee Maker: Bonavita 8-Cup Carafe Coffee Brewer

[top]

The Best For Control Freaks: Breville Precision Brewer Thermal

[top]

The Best Budget Coffee Maker: Braun Brew Sense Drip Coffee Maker

[top]

What we didn’t like: There is no way to shut the hot plate off and the LCD display is on the small side.

The Competition

[top]

A few quick notes on the other coffee makers we tested:

We disqualified the Krups Savoy early on for brewing and saturating the filter basket with the lid up.

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "carmela-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cookware"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "b45319dac495d29e17b5eff312392025"; Source link

0 notes

suburban-shaman-blog1 · 8 years ago

Text

Bakery Lady

I worked with an interesting person last night. The people in charge think I need help with attention to detail, which is probably true. I’m taking their word for it, because if I was noticing myself making mistakes I would probably not be making them.

So while I would normally have worked alone last night, instead I had a partner. She was a short woman, about forty, with the utilitarian short hair and easy strength of a working mom. She wore the military-style cap our company offers. I wear the stocking cap. This is the only insight into a person’s personality you can glean from their clothes here, everything else is a uniform.

She was one of those people who immediately tells you about what a mom they are. I generally find this exhausting. She also did not take long to let me know she was a Catholic, as she’s having the kid baptized soon.

And yet, I found myself quickly and constantly drawn into easy conversation with her. This was stranger than it sounds. Most of the time I work with men around my age, and every last one of us works wearing headphones and mostly ignoring the other guy. For young men, this is usually a comfortable way to coexist. This is how a predator shows he wants to be peaceful and friendly; he does not watch you or enter your space.

I guess it’s different with women. I talked to women all day at my last job, but that was during the day and my job required me to be constantly communicating with everyone. As a night baker, you might go three or four hours without saying a word, all night if you’re alone, so the conversation is all voluntary. If nobody feels like talking, they don’t.

Maybe when you’re thrown into a locked building with a strange man twice your size, it makes sense to try to get to know him right away. Maybe it would have been unsettling for me to lumber around laughing and muttering to myself while I listened to podcasts. Sometimes it’s hard not to frame every interaction I have as ‘how this person is managing to deal with me’. I still don’t even like it when I know people can hear me breathing, it feels like I must be bothering them. I always worry that I’m making women feel unsafe, because of the way so many of my friends talk about men. I wish I was smaller a lot of the time. Even weaker. I wish my aspect made people see how not threatening I really am.

This lady at the bakery was extremely friendly and easygoing. She did her stuff, and had nothing to say about the way I did mine. We talked, first about work, than our immediate circumstances.

At some point or perhaps on a gradient, we just naturally started talking more personally. The work we do is about steady, constant, but simple effort, and takes up very little attention. Both of us feel like we are making our partners unhappy with our odd work hours. Maybe this is something all the bakers are dealing with, but this was the first time I’d really talked to someone else about it.

We talked about how we don’t spend a lot of time with friends or family either. And before long, we both revealed that it wasn’t really because we work nights. Some of the people in her family are dismissive and distant, a lot of the people in mine are psychological terrorists who like to ruin special occasions.

She talked about wanting to deliberately create joy and magic in her child’s life. I agreed that that sounded like a worthwhile effort. My immediate, cynical reaction was thinking that it’s dumb to play Tooth Fairy with kids, it sends the wrong message to let them actually believe in Santa Claus. But for once I was able to let that go, and I think it was because of how honest and earnest she had been, ever since I’d met her a couple hours ago.

Thinking about holidays with my family makes me want to be a less cynical person. Christmas surrounded by sarcasm and teasing and fighting is as blasphemous and unnatural as having Thanksgiving with a gang of reanimated corpses. My one uncle hasn’t had a holiday until his daughter has cried about something. The whole clan can’t just express love for each other, even when they feel it. They can’t just be happy for each others’ happiness. Not without a joke, or some kind of trick to make it less serious.

I miss magic. I miss the warmth I could summon with my faith, and make myself feel. There is still wonder in my life, now, but it’s different. I can experience the awe of space, of nature, of art. But when I believed in that specific brand of Jesus I could feel something that my family never gave me, and which I think I’ll never know again; I could feel comforted, safe, like I belonged where I was. Like I was loved unconditionally, that nothing I had ever done, or could possibly do, would ever change that love. Like I had been created on purpose and it was good that I existed.

I gather from second-hand accounts that some people feel like that about their parents, or going home. I can believe it. I just don’t think I can get myself there.

The lady at the bakery talked to me about our favorite movies, especially Disney cartoons. She was aware, in a way that I admired, of the messages being taught by stories, and I was pleased to be able to recommend The Iron Giant. Not Disney, better than Disney.

She told me lots of movies make her cry. I told her the only thing that’s made me sob like a child in a long time, was this one scene from the first season finale of The Leftovers. I didn’t tell her which scene, because it would be a big spoiler, but I will give you a hint: It’s the last scene you might expect a heathen like me to appreciate. Justin Theroux deserves some kind of statuette award.

It’s so refreshing, and still so strange, to connect with people this way. It happens so rarely now. I could blame the night job, but I have fallen away from most of the world ever since I stopped being required to go to school. I could just about make friends and fall in love like a normal person, because everyone in the area in my age group was lined up in rows around me every day. It’s a damn good thing I met my woman in senior year. I don’t want to know what kind of person I would be if I had been single these last ten years.

It makes me feel good when I have these odd interactions, because so often in the past when I’ve just been myself and tried to be friendly, I’ve put people off or freaked them out, or just been generally disliked. I got fired from a hotel clerk job once because the manager thought I was scary, and the whole time I worked there I was focused on sucking in my gut and trying to work up the courage to tell them I needed a bigger uniform. I was trembling with embarrassment and discomfort every time I worked, and I could not make myself bother them enough to request bigger pants, and then one day the regional manager sat me down in the office and told me I was being let go, because I intimidated and frightened the manager, who was nervous with her husband overseas, and she’d been there longer.

I hate the way I feel like a clumsy, cowardly mess while having to assume people see me as some menacing monster. I hate the way I never feel like I’m supposed to be where I am, trespassing wherever I go, like if the manager of the bakery finds out I’ve got the key he gave me, I’m going to be in big trouble. We don’t have assigned parking but I always feel like I’m taking somebody’s space.

I think I felt comfortable around the bakery lady because she needed to talk about herself as badly as I do, but didn’t need to guard her emotions the way men usually do. And of course it’s other men we have to wall off from, so it’s much easier to talk about personal things with women. Especially older, married, non-sexual-candidate women. It’s not as though I have a shot with any of the young single women I know (spoiler alert, none at all) but there’s something about being completely off-the-table that makes people relaxing to be around.

I think I experience the world in a slightly different way than most people, and that’s not without its own rewards, but once in awhile it’s very good to meet and enjoy a regular old person. Just some lady at the bakery, who was sent to help me get my details right.

At the end of the night, she shrugged and said “Everything you made looks fine to me.”

0 notes