I bought a ceramic coffee dripper
Like most people, I've been growing increasingly concerned about microplastics. I don't think I started taking the fear mongering seriously until that 2024 study said we all needed to throw out our black plastic spatulas yesterday. I remember the day I heard that news, I went in my kitchen and looked around and saw that everything was plastic. So gradually I started replacing things one-by-one: plastic tupperware with glass tupperware; the dreaded black plastic spatula with a wooden one; our cheap Amazon cutting boards with butcher block. But there was one plastic kitchen tool I hadn't even thought about: the coffee maker.
Everyone has one of these cheap, plastic automatic coffee makers in their home. You can usually get one for like $15. It releases hot, boiling water through a plastic tube that then passes through a plastic funnel straight into your coffee.
Although I tried my hardest not to give in to fear mongering (especially since it was later revealed that that 2024 study got its math wrong; the exposure to plastic was a lot lower than initially reported), I figured it wouldn't hurt to be safe.
So I started researching "plastic-free" coffee makers. None really exist (except for a very expensive one I wasn't going to buy). The only alternative I saw was to give up the automatic coffee machines and use slow drippers instead. Now, I'm an incredibly impatient person, even more so in the mornings when I'm half-awake. I once had a coworker buy me a Chemex as a Secret Santa gift. I tried using it for about a year, but I hated how long it took to brew a cup of coffee and that I had to buy specialty filters for it. As someone who isn't a coffee snob, I didn't like how fussy it all felt.
But during my research, I wasn't finding anything else. So I decided to give slow dripping one more shot, although instead of a Chemex I bought a ceramic coffee dripper. It kind of looks like a little tea cup but with three holes underneath for filtering. It takes universal #2 filters and it was reasonably cheap as well.
I first tried it out with some Thai coffee I had brought back from my trip. When brewed in the coffee machine, it had a bitter taste. It honestly tasted like hot liquid dirt. So I knew if the ceramic dripper could make the coffee taste smooth, it was a winner.
I added the filter, one scoop of coffee, and then poured the hot water on top. It brewed way faster than the Chemex. My entire mug (which was pretty large) was full in about 90 seconds. And the coffee! It was honestly coffee-shop quality. It was delicious. I didn't even need to add a splash of oat milk to it or anything.
So yeah, I'm really loving my ceramic dripper. As for the automatic coffee machine? It's in the trash.