Sometimes despite your best efforts to save money while still enjoying the little things in life you hit a wall or have to backpedal.

This train of thought was brought on by the necessity of me having to replace a French Press. For those of you who aren’t quite familiar with them they are the funny looking, usually glass, beaker with a plunger mechanism that has a wire screen on the end.

You take course ground coffee or loose tea and put it in the beaker. Add near boiling water, stir, and put the lid on with the plunger retracted. Wait the requisite number of minutes then push the plunger down.

This pushes all the coffee grounds or tea leaves to the bottom and stops the brewing process you then pour grounds/leaf free beverage out to enjoy.

Much better than using a drip pot (and no need to waste money on filters) or a percolator… besides it being non-electric and hot water from a dual temperature system office water cooler is just about the right temp so you aren’t chasing an electrical outlet.

Since my employer decided last year that unless you are “office staff” they were no longer going to supply coffee for the employees… whereby morale went down the drain faster than old coffee grounds…those of us at my work location were chipping in to buy coffee, tea, and the necessary condiments.

Our Union (SEIU) is now helping subsidize the purchases as a benefit for the union members and non-members. (Off track- We have a real smart shop steward… think about it.)

Anyway before this had happened I had brought in a French Press for making my own coffee… both from the brewing process and because I could spend more on quality teas and coffees… though if you know where to shop… Indian markets for Teas and Arabic Markets for coffee you can get really good ones for equal or barely more than the mass market stuff in the supermarkets let alone the prices charged at specialty coffee houses.

Anyhow someone managed to break the beaker… and no one will admit to it so I’ve been forced to replace it myself.

Sometimes being nice… like leaving it for someone else to use… backfires.

As previous readers probably know I have a philosophy of trying to buy things that will last a very long time while at the same time being aesthetically pleasing to me so I am happy irrespective of it maybe being much costlier than like items available in the marketplace.

The press with the glass beaker while inexpensive was aesthetically pleasing and had lasted some years and should have lasted a lot more if it hadn’t become the object of someone’s carelessness.

I’m not doing without my tea and coffee so I went out looking and lo and behold… www.bodumusa.com the worlds finest maker of French Presses has a model called the “Columbia“. A double walled thermal all Stainless Steel model in several sizes from a 12 oz to over a Liter… they have a Tea Press as well but the coffee press works just as well for both.

I ordered the 12 oz model… an ouching!! $59.95 plus $12.50 shipping… and I’ve had it three weeks now.

Very happy with it… it makes just enough coffee for me… 2 cups… and it’s small enough that I can stuff it in my lunch bag… I’m NOT leaving it at the office…and if I drop it the most I have to worry about is maybe a dent. Aesthetically to me it is also quite beautiful so it agrees with my philosophy on belongings and should last decades so I’m OK now with how much I spent on it.

So after having to replace the press probably for this year my attempts to control the cost of my coffee/tea addiction have come to naught.. I’d probably be no better off than if I had just stopped at Seven Eleven everyday and bought a cup.

But as I sit here and smell the delightful aroma rising from my gorgeous little press as I make a pot of Kenyan AA I know that in the future I will end up spending less but still be able to enjoy the better grades of coffee and tea.

Here’s to overcoming the setback and to future savings.

If something like this happens to you do you remember to take the long term view?

Do you run into this sort of obstacle… where your attempts at saving maybe come to nothing in the short term?

Photo credit: stock.xchng.