Caution: This is a "what not to do" with food tip!
Most of the time, I can assure you that I have a positive connection to food and would never diss' any of it. This article is no exception, but I just had to warn you all about something I just discovered.
I am staying with some friends, helping out with an MS patient for my "keep". I don't have to buy much in the way of food, which I am grateful for. That includes the morning coffee.
However, I am sick right now and I finally figured out why.
The host told me how me makes the coffee in the morning and I just had my last cup.
Say today is day one, he pours in the water from the tap, adds the amount of coffee for the water, then brews it. Tomorrow, he would take the coffee left over, plus what he didn't drink from his thermos, and add enough fresh water to make it a pot, then scoop some more coffee onto the used grounds from yesterday. The third day, he would do the same.
No wonder I am sick.
If you know this is happening, I advise two things. First off, invest in your own coffee maker and enjoy a fresh, clean, and perfect cup in the morning. If that's not an option, invest in the coffee bags that are like big tea bags. They are very good, only cost $.19 each, and you don't even need a coffee maker.
Either way, protect your poor tummy like I will from now on.
Hope this helps,
Sandi/Poor But Proud
By Sandi/Poor But Proud from Sweet Home, OR
Did anybody else that drinks the coffee get sick? If not, maybe you just picked up a bug of some kind.
We don't pour the left over coffee over the used grounds-we reheat in the microwave. But we do put new grounds on top of the old ones. We do this for one or two days and have been doing it for years now and never got sick, nor anyone else from outside of the house has gotten sick.
Coincidentally, I was googling just now to determine if re-using yesterday's grounds would lead to food borne illness. I don't think mold would wreak havoc, but wondered if bacterial pathogens would be a problem. I have been reusing my Melita filter (one cup) grounds for two or sometimes 3 days, adding fresh grounds, to extend my coffee.
I did have gastroenteritis from some unknown cause and am trying to analyze what made me ill. If lots of people are reusing grounds and only a few become ill, then it would seem not to be coffee reuse. However, I'm not taking any chances and will only deposit my used grounds in the compost from now on. Food borne illness is a terrible experience. I'd still like to know if pathogens grown in a coffee ground medium.
There is no need to save on coffee filters when you can buy 40 for
$1.25. At the dollar store.
