Severing ties

Now that I think of it I should ammend that -- I think they offered delivery only if I was spending more than £100. I was on the bus that day (so couldn't have carried it home alone) and was shopping only for a £50 microwave, and even though I looked around for other things to add to the bill, I didn't like their range of coffee machines either!    I had been looking in another store in the same mall and they did offer free delivery with no minimum purchase amount, but were out of stock of the model I wanted.

This was Brent Cross -- maybe the Oxford Street John Lewis has a wider range of products. I ended up getting free delivery from Argos on a microwave I ordered online; it was more reasonably priced than similar models I'd seen and I'm really happy with it. I know Argos can be a bit chav-central to shop at but with certain items they seem to give better bang for the buck.

I got my digital camera and an alarm clock there. The alarm clock cost £1.99.

I got my digital camera and an alarm clock there. The alarm clock cost £1.99.

I guess there are all kinds of price ranges; I'm not trying to say that John Lewis is expensive for all items. I'm sure it isn't. It's just that they had only about four microwave models on the shelf, all of those were a higher price than I knew I could get similar features for at other stores. Then I looked at their coffee machines and found they didn't seem to have many to chooose from, and again the prices were elevated from what I'd seen elsewhere. Then I went to the dinnerware department hoping to buy a nice, affordable, attractive set as I was used to finding in, say, Target back in the US. They had nothing under $90, as far as I could see. I was looking for maybe £40 tops for a boxed 16 piece set of everyday cups and plates. 

Perhaps JL DOES have what I was looking for, but that day all my wishlist came up lacking in my eyes, and I found better, nicer, and cheaper at other places. I just really don't like the Brent Cross JL.

I looked at the coffee makers on JL's website and looks like the have a lot of pricy high-falutin' coffee machines.  Nothing much comparable to Mr. C.  The cafetiere is OK once in a while but I've read that the paper filters in the drip type machines filter out a lot of the coffee bean oil, which is supposedly not so good for you.  I guess I could live with it though but not so convenient.   

I have a filter machine for the oil reason.  It came with a metal filter, but I took that out and just use paper ones.  It is a MicroMark and I've had it for two years.  Aside from my husband breaking the cup it came with when we removed it from the packaging it works fine. 

But mine is a single cup machine so I am not sure about the bigger ones.

I use a Swiss gold filter just like this which cost about £8. I like my coffee and believe me I would not use something that produced something I don't like.

They are part of a range that Illy sell in the USA I think.

Is that the kind that has the coffee built in and you use a new plastic filter each day?

Those seem like such a huge waste to me in terms of resources. 

Is that the kind that has the coffee built in and you use a new plastic filter each day?

I know the type you mean. No, it does not have the coffee built in, and the only thing that gets thrown away is the coffee grounds. It is in two parts. You take it apart and spoon ground coffee into the section with the gold bottom that you can see in the picture. That then sits on top of the cup, and the other part which is shaped like a top hat goes back inside. This part has lots of little holes in the bottom and you pour the hot water from the kettle into it. The little holes make the water trickle through at the right rate. The filter in the picture has an extra little round lid that I never use.

You have to give both parts a good wash in hot water every few weeks because the fine holes and the perforated gold foil get clogged with coffee residue.

I prewarm the cup by putting some hot water into it first which I then throw away and I make the coffee somewhat stronger than I need and then top up with more freshly boiled water after the filter has stopped dripping.

I also have one of these but they are way overpriced in England; I got mine in Italy for about one fifth what they charge here. Also the rubber rings which need replacing every year or so.

We have this one, which we got as a wedding Christmas gift 5 years ago:

We have this one, which we got as a wedding Christmas gift 5 years ago:

Love the name: "Aroma Passion"