Coffee From a Sock

OK... Can't a girl buy a Melitta one cup mug topper thingie to make her coffee in the morning??? "The 'bucks" was depleting my bucks and it was about time I reverted back to my good 'ol cup with flavored coffee mate.

I have literally searched far and wide in Astoria for a single mug topper thingie which I now know is called a "Cone Manual System" invented by Melitta Bentz herself in 1908. But alas, my search has ended up fruitless....or cone-less.

So the other day, I was at my local grocery store, wandering the coffee aisle. I decided once again to search through the filters. There MUST be a "cone manual system" hidden somewhere on this shelf! For the second time, I came across this packaged butterfly net looking thing. It had a picture of a steamy cup of fresh coffee on the front of the package. It seemed about the circumference of a coffee mug. "But how the hell do I use that", I wondered? I stood in the aisle holding the net-like object and hypothesized that if I could just shove a filter in there, I could hold i above my mug and make some coffee without a grind-y mess! And considering I had no kettle, I would have to manually ladle the water into the net. It seemed like such a process, but I bought the net, and some filters, and my favorite coffee mate. I was now ready to make my coffee... somehow.

The next morning, I woke up and put some water in my one and only frying pan. I opened the net, and realized it resembled a sock. The sock hung from the net handle and I shoved a filter in the bottom. It quickly occurred to me that this new coffee brewing process was not hangover friendly. After spilling grounds everywhere while trying to scoop the coffee into the filter at the bottom of the sock, I grabbed my ladle. The now boiling water was about to become my coffee. I ladled some water and poured it into the sock. I peaked over the edge of the mug and saw it drip into the mug. "It's working!" After about 5-6 ladles of water into the sock, I had a fresh cup of coffee plus a little bit of a burn from splashing, boiling water.

I am not sure what Melitta Bentz would think about my contraption coffee maker. But I now have a means of having that cup in the AM which has become such a ritual for me. I am willing to do what it takes to have that cup of coffee...whether it is surrendering to "The 'Bucks" or brewing from a sock. -M