Cheap descaler
I don’t party like I used to, come the weekend. Here, with a Friday night to spend as I wished, I opted for a last minute run to the store to buy tissues and vinegar, followed by my annual purchase of tax return software and a book return at the public library. I now know my online PIN, so I can reserve books from the safety of my home.
Back to the vinegar. We were all out, and this area has a lot of limestone surrounding the ground water. Enough hints? My coffee machine was long overdue for a session of descaling, wherein I fill the house with warmed fumes of acetic acid and pretend that there’s a local pulp mill to blame. The rest of the family isn’t fooled. Seriously, although the coffee machine (espresso, if you please) has held a place of honour for about eight years now, the maintenance cycle has lengthened. Blame it on a lack of those expensive name brand cleaning products that seemed necessary (in the beginning).
I happened across an article that claimed vinegar would do “just fine”, and at the no-name price point, I was willing. Nothing to it. Pour in the 5% solution, run a few cups of “that’s terrible coffee” and the task is done. Then (and this is important), run a lot of drinking water through. Don’t skimp, or your morning coffee will be reminiscent of that fish ‘n chips place from last summer. Not good. I’ve also heard that you can curdle your milk instead of steaming it, but that’s too complicated for me to test.
And that brings Friday evening to a quiet close.
