WANTED TO BUY: A Melitta Cone or similar

[VGinGuat]

Hola - forgot to pack my beloved cone.
Does anyone have one they wish to sell?
Thanks! email: only7web@gmail.com

[Felipe]

If anyone knows where to buy one in Xela, please post the info here. Maybe that new cafe on the Parque Central that I am boycotting will sell one to me. I was just thinking about how you don't have to spend thousands of quetzales on an espresso machine to serve decent fresh coffee. All you really need are a cup, a funnel, a paper filter, some fresh ground coffee, some agua pura, and a way to heat it up.

[VGinGuat]

Si! Someone who lives here in Xela could make a good income selling Melitta cones and filters. Think of all the people (esp. students) who would like to make their own coffee. Some industrious organization might consider selling cones, filters, and fair trade coffee, with a grinder available!

[xelawho?]

you don't have to spend thousands of quetzales on an espresso machine to serve decent fresh coffee. All you really need are a cup, a funnel, a paper filter, some fresh ground coffee, some agua pura, and a way to heat it up.

agreed... and not. Coffee is my one true vice (well, one of my truer ones) and I never understood how a place can call itself a coffee shop and not serve espresso coffee. I have tried pretty much every other type of coffee maker and nothing measures up in my opinion, certainly not the drip filter variety.

In Cemaco they sell coffee makers like this, that you use on the stove top:


for a few hundred quetzales and they make a good, rich coffee. I have one at home that I use when the electricity cuts out.

Otherwise I use a little electric espresso maker that I picked up in Hiper for around Q400 - it's quite good for domestic use (you have to wait 15 minutes before making another batch of coffee, which makes it problematic for cafes) and even steams milk, in case you should want a capuccino.

[Felipe]

I have been surprised by the variety of prices for "french press" coffee makers. This is a fairly simple apparatus that keeps you from having to buy coffee filters, but may leave some of the smallest bits of coffee grounds in your cup. To use it, you mix ground coffee and hot water and then press down a plunger that keeps the grounds in the bottom of the container while you pour the coffee into your cup. It does not require electricity, so, like the model described by Lucas, you can use it when the power is out as long as you have another source of heat.

As with everything else in the known universe, there is a Wiki article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press.

Here are the results of my price research in Xela:

& Cafe - Located next door to McDonalds on the Parque Central. Only has plastic models. Price is Q200 to Q360, depending on size.

Cemaco - Near the Pradera mall. A glass and stainless steel model for Q100. It looks just like the one pictured in the Wiki article. Works just as well as the plastic model, looks nicer in your kitchen or a commercial cafe (where I use it), but may not be as good for travel as the glass is very thin and fragile.

Almacen El Aguila - On 6a. Calle between 10 and 11 Avenida (half a block downhill from Parque Central). Has a model almost identical to the one at Cemaco for Q40!. Now I know where to go for a replacement if we break the one we bought at Cemaco.