Office e-mails

[giza]

Here's an office-wide e-mail that I didn't expect to see this morning:

ATTN: Coffee-Drinking Office Denizens:

There are new coffee-making procedures in place in this
location as of March 15, 2005. From this point on, when making a pot of
coffee, you should sprinkle a packet of salt on top of the grounds
before inserting the grounds into the machine. This will affect a much
less bitter cup of coffee and increase the morale of employees
worldwide (by way of having to deal with a happier co-worker T). Thank you for
your prompt attention in this matter.

P.S. Seriously, sprinkle the salt in the grounds before making a pot;
its SO much better.

Names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Comments

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

At least they're saying you should use salt and not saltpeter.

[shenryyr.livejournal.com]

you should write more office-wide mails

[blaze-heartfire.livejournal.com]

*just blinks and stares at that* ... I'm not a coffee drinker but... I would so fight before doing that...

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I've heard of this trick before, but I never think to do it when I make coffee. I'd be happy to try almost anything to improve the quality of the coffee in our little office.

I've heard that a few egg shell fragments in with the grounds can accomplish the same thing. Again, not something that I've ever tried.

[netcrimes.livejournal.com]

But does it work?

[plonq.livejournal.com]

I have a packet of coffee sitting on my desk, ready for use. I'll try it in the morning and post the results in my journal.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

This idea doesn't sound entirely unreasonable--it's common to add a little salt to hot chocolate mix. Although a full packet sounds like a lot for a pot of coffee.

Having said that, I'm not sure this is something you'd actually want to do with *good* coffee. The salt adds just a little bite to the chocolate, but I suspect with coffee it's mostly just masking the staleness a lot of coffees have. (Particularly office coffees.) I might try it when I brew a pot of the generic coffee at my office, but probably not with freshly ground, freshly roasted beans. :)

[giza.livejournal.com]

The salt packets are actually pretty small.

The coffee in question is from Wawa (http://www.wawa.com/).

[camstone.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, if someone is taking medication for high blood pressure - this is a big (liability) no-no.

HORSE FEATHERS!!

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

This is a crock of crap.

Even a tiny amount of salt is noticeable in liquids, and a full packet of salt will make the entire pot absolutely disgusting. It won't make you projectile vomit like a salt-gargle, but you *definitely* won't enjoy the coffee.

What *does* help *MASK* the taste of nasty coffee is cinnamon. I speak from personal experience on the messdecks of the USS Reuben James.

Re: HORSE FEATHERS!!

[ionotter.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmm. Apparently, skorzy says it works. Perhaps it's a trick that MSC/MS1 didn't know? But I *do* know that a tiny amount of salt will certainly be detectable/tasteable...

Re: HORSE FEATHERS!!

[giza.livejournal.com]

The packets of salt at our office are rather small. Probably about 1/5th of the volume of a normal sized sugar packet.

I brewed a pot of the stuff myself earlier this afternoon. I didn't notice any real change in the taste, but co-worker T absolutely loved it. FYI, I drink my coffee black.

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

Usually, to make a pot of coffee taste better you just have to use a decent quality coffee and not use too little of it. Folks tend to equate fewer grounds with being less strong, but that also tends to result in a more bitter taste.

I'd still be leery about adding salt. The person suggesting this doesn't hold stock in a company that makes hypertension meds, do they? :)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Our coffee comes in sealed packets. So measuring it isn't an issue.

As for blood pressure, mine is 120/80 (taken a few weeks ago by Dr. K), so it's not MY problem. :-)