Outdated, Blemished, but Reliable

The scent of freshly brewed coffee has long been a constant in the mornings of my rural home. This inviting aroma fills the house; one would think a coffee bean grinding business were in operation. Instead, the scent stems from a single Bunn coffee maker that sits in the corner of the kitchen.

The coffee maker may look long outdated. No thermal walls surround the carafe. The worn handle has no padding for sensitive fingers, no alarm beeps the minute the brewing has finished. Instead, plastic exterior walls stained with coffee house an equally stained glass carafe. This classic Bunn maker, however, has proved to continue to produce top quality coffee for years.
Every morning, that coffee pot is filled with black, no-nonsense coffee, no matter how many cups my mother has already went through. As a young child, when I wanted “coffee,” my mother would pour a small amount of coffee into a cup and then, upon my request, load it up with milk and sugar. As I aged, the amount of coffee became more and the amount of milk and sugar less.

My mother showed me how to place a coffee filter inside the funnel and what ratios of coffee to water to use; though still the pot always seemed to be full and I needn’t worry about brewing it myself. Upon mornings before school, the coffee pot became a source of motivation and optimism: “At least I can rely on my coffee!”

The coffee maker has suffered cracks to the exterior, multiple coffee and water stains, and damage to the warmer as a result of a hurried exit of the house without double-checking the maker. Still, it is as reliable as the day it made its first cup of coffee, long before I myself was enjoying its product.