Solving the Dribbling Coffee Pot Problem

If you have purchased a automatic coffee maker in the past you more than likely have found that the coffee pot or carafe dribbles coffee when you try to pour from it. A casual search on the internet will show that this is a common problem. I looked at the company web sites for Mr. Coffee and Black and Decker and was amazed to find that they do not have an acceptable answer to this common problem. It is not exactly an earth shaking problem but it obviously has great customer satisfaction implications that they seem to be ignoring.

I found two things that done together will completely cure the tendency of a carafe to dribble. It is evident that the dribbling is caused by capillary action of the coffee adhering to the pot. It is a simple mater of breaking the bond between the coffee and the pot. To do this on the pot I now have (a black and decker with a black plastic lip) I did two things.

Step 1:

One. This pot has a mold seam that runs up the underside of the lip to the center of the pouring spout. The mold seam appears to disrupt the even flow of liquid from the pot so I decided to remove it. I simply took a small file and lightly filed the seam flat with the surface of the lip.

Step 2:

Two. To prevent the adhesion of the coffee to the lip I applied a very light amount of bee’s wax by rubbing a chunk of it across the edge. I am keeping the chunk handy to reapply the wax after each time I wash the carafe. You could use another source of wax such as a candle.

This completely cures the dribbling coffee pot problem.