Mastodawn

i think anybody who invents a coffee machine where, if you misalign the drip basket by 1mm, it still closes fine but instead of making a pot of delicious coffee it floods your kitchen counter with soggy grounds, well i think that inventor ought to be

well at the very least he should come and clean my kitchen

you should at the very least design your coffee machine with the understanding that the user probably hasn't had coffee yet

kit Jul 29, 2025

@triz First coffee is an espresso. After that I might be safe enough to steam some milk.

🌸 Bisexual Flower 🐀Jul 29, 2025

someone should make a pair of coffee machines, one meant to be used for the first coffee of the day, and one meant to make far higher quality but more complex coffees afterwards

spanghero Jul 30, 2025

@Alex @triz A lifetime or two ago, I worked with someone who had an instant coffee when he first surfaced that gave him enough clarity to get proper coffee made!
Not sure I've ever been so discombobulated that instant coffee is palatable.

David J. Atkinson Jul 29, 2025

@triz Excellent point.

This very thing happened to me a few days ago.

jimkennedy Jul 29, 2025

@triz I feel like your toot should be extrapolated out to a general 'design manifesto' item, the kind of thing design firms have posters of on their walls.

Poster: image of a child's drawing of a coffee machine, with one big orange button. Tag line reads: 'A coffee machine for the uncaffinated.'

Pxl Phile Jul 31, 2025

@jimkennedy @triz as an (amateur) print designer, this really gives me an inspiration 😅😍

Kevin Russell Jul 29, 2025

Oh such an insight.

Please humans, clever is fun and useful, but wise will keep us alive.

Simon Zerafa (Status:

😊)Jul 29, 2025

This is the most profound thing I have read for some time. Thank you 🙂🖖

mrflash818 Jul 29, 2025

@triz I just make my #coffee "Turkish style" now: I put a scoop of coffee into a microwaveable mug, add water, and then microwave to near boiling. Let steep for about 6min, then *slurp!*

Jona Joachim Jul 30, 2025

@mrflash818
Slurp with the coffee grains?
@triz

mrflash818 Jul 30, 2025

@jaj @triz The #coffee grains sink to the bottom of the cup, just go slow when finishing off the cup.

babble encat Jul 29, 2025

@triz
Our coffee machine has small, medium, and large buttons with no ounces marked on them. I have to guess every time what size my cup is

aburka 🫣Jul 29, 2025

@triz I think this is (or should be) actually a profound principle of UX design

Edelruth, PBS Passport Holder Jul 29, 2025

This is the most profound statement ever.

Cavyherd Jul 30, 2025

Basic UI

Nicolas Bouilleaud Jul 30, 2025

@triz on the other hand, the most efficient way to wake up with coffee is to spill it everywhere

yetzt Jul 30, 2025

@triz the classic bootstrapping problem.

the trick is to prepare everything the night before and have some hold brew for when you forgot.

Deborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2025

@yetzt @triz 😂 "hold brew", I love it! ❄☕

Flatbush Gardener 🌈Jul 30, 2025

@deborahh @yetzt @triz
It's easier for us during the hot summer months.
We keep ice coffee in the fridge, made the day before. Ready to drink!

yetzt Jul 30, 2025

@deborahh @triz i don't know how this typo happened, goes to show how important being properly awake is. m)

Deborah Preuss, pcc 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2025

@yetzt @triz I keep a carafe of super strong cold brew in my fridge (so: "hold brew"!) and I have a shot in the AM (or add a shot to my hot CafLib). Perfect.

The Animal and the Machine Jul 30, 2025

@triz @stevegis_ssg
You are wise.

Queen of Teacups Jul 30, 2025

@triz Yesssss!!!!

DrYak Jul 30, 2025

@triz the dreaded "recursive coffee problem"!

(see also: Popeye needs the spinach to have the strengh to open a can of spinach)

(for the hardcore version: needing to not forget to buy one's ADHD meds when one has ADHD).

Glenn Fitzpatrick Jul 30, 2025

@triz Me this morning: “Good thing mine just has a big ‘BREW NOW’ button on the front!”

Also me this morning: *dumps a scoop of coffee beans in the sugar bowl instead of the coffee grinder*

Frank Barton Jul 30, 2025

@triz My wife swears by this "biblical" method of coffee procurement... there's a whole book in the bible about it...

HeBrews...

That's if you want *kosher* coffee.

Mark Whybird Jul 30, 2025

@fbarton @triz Good Job.

:hal_9000:Jul 30, 2025

@triz Coffee machine has dark frosted water tank and has no indicator except of the water itself.
And then you have to refill it in the morning.

HowToPhil Jul 30, 2025

@triz Isn't that what the timer is for?

Resuna Jul 30, 2025

I remember first discussing this problem with someone when I was at college and they completely failed to understand why it was a problem.

I just wanted a coffee machine I could set up the previous night so I only had to push a button and have it make coffee.

Their complete incomprehension that this could be a problem so befuddled me that I still remember it 45 years later.

Mehetibel Jul 30, 2025

@triz this is what I call The Coffee Paradox, requiring coffee in order to make coffee.

Chris Samuel Jul 30, 2025

@triz can relate! Good luck with the cleanup.

Also aircrew seem to have similar problems looking at this report. https://live.acarsdrama.com/@acarsdrama/114942030826116260

ACARS Drama (@[email protected])

VDLM2 Message From: [N77559](https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/keyword/N77559) / UA1987 Message: OK NEW FAS ON BOARD COFFEE MAKER 105 WOULDNT STOP SPEWING WATER. I HAD TO STEP BACK TO SHOW THEM THE GALLEY EMERG H20 SHUTOFF. I TURNED IT TO SHUTOFF. PLS ASK MX- CAN WE PULL THE COFFEE MAKER 1/NUMB 105 CB AND TURN THE H20 BACK ON OR DO WE LEAVE IT AS IS. THX [Track Aircraft](https://www.flightradar24.com/N77559) Area: Virginia, USA #acars #vdlm2 #N77559 #UA1987

ACARS Drama

Michal Vyskočil Jul 30, 2025

@triz
Pieter Hintjens claimed the same about a code 🤭

Antisap' 🖤 🏴 🎶Jul 30, 2025

@triz 😂

Chaotic Catboy Jul 30, 2025

@triz coffee drinkers need to befriend a person who does not need coffee but can make it and is available first thing in the morning.

I can no longer drink coffee, but I love the smell, so brewing it for other people makes me happy

Renewable Guydraulic Menergy Jul 30, 2025

getting a glimpse at the replies and going full Chalmers like good lord what is happening in there?!

@jackdaw_ruiz aurora borealis

John Kavanagh Jul 30, 2025

@triz
1. so much task
2. coffee helps finish
3. coffee machine: (fill water tank || empty grounds || replenish beans || empty drip tray)
4. goto 1

Rhialto Aug 1, 2025

@triz or had too much coffee...

Richard Hendricks Aug 1, 2025

@triz I love how the massive NesCafe machine at work will randomly enter cleaning mode when you request a coffee and eject stale milk into your cup without warning. That's on top of the mandatory 30m cleaning each day.

As a firmware engineer, I ain't got time for that. I got my own bugs to fix. 😄

Jenni Aug 1, 2025

@triz mine wants to be cleaned regularly and will threaten you with a shutdown but at least it will do one more coffee before it makes good on its threat (after more than a week of ignoring it)

Mark Dominus Aug 1, 2025

→ @triz The other day when my phone alarm clock went off in the morning I awoke to discover that the software had updated overnight and one of the things that had changed was that the button for acknowledging the alarm was no longer a button, it was a slider.

Nathan Arthur (OLD ACCOUNT)Aug 2, 2025

@triz @tef Barista, (n): someone who has had coffee, so they don’t screw up making the coffee.

LR Jul 29, 2025

@triz oh yeah i remember that machine. we had it in the office. fun.

what model is yours?

@lritter black and decker. seems they've applied exactly as much effort to designing kitchen appliances as they ever did power drills

[TT] Grimdork Rose Jul 29, 2025

@triz @lritter it truly is the 25 dollarest coffee maker, my brother gave it to me for my birthday like five or six years ago and it's hard to justify replacing because it technically works just fine

but oh my god the filter basket issue drives me crazy every time I think about it. It's so easily avoidable from a design standpoint and it creates so much unnecessary hassle!

@triz @lritter wait are Black & Decker power tools bad? I'm not sure I've ever had one (my parents usually buy Bosch and the drill I have is a hand me down from them) but I assumed they were decent 😅

Andrew Jul 29, 2025

@triz yesss... Is this the issue where the basket valve stays shut unless pressed against the carafe? Yet the lid closes just fine even if the basket isn't fully seated? I once flooded an entire dessert table at a baby shower with a machine like that! I think it was Black & Decker too.

@Andrew oh no what a nightmare! and yes that's exactly the issue haha

FREE🇵🇸PALESTINE, Says @Sine Jul 29, 2025

@triz i am my coffee machine, just a simple stove top espresso machine, a simple milk jug, works on any cooking surface, electric, gas, wood stove, campfire, rocket stove. Always great coffee, coffee pot & jug over 30 yrs old now! Only parts renewed are the rubber seals. Very economical, very planet friendly, imho of course. Other (younger) members of my family are ALWAYS trying to convince me to ditch my antiquated ways! Horrors! Never!

Tim Hergert Jul 29, 2025

@triz this sort of design incompetence is grounds for dismissal!

@triz the only way I've solved this is by wetting the filter so it sticks to the sides.

cliffordheath Jul 30, 2025

@triz the original moka pot remains a design icon despite the flawed basket and seat which is easily damaged so people crank it tight enough to damage the seal ring, while still blowing ample bypass steam and not enough coffee. Not fixed in over 90 years, except in every me-too product

Von Xylofon Jul 30, 2025

@triz Care to share the make and model so that we know what to avoid?

Dave Mathieson Jul 30, 2025

@triz Poor design like this is mad. We have a clothes airer that can only be closed by simultaneously holding two clips at opposite sides upon which it quickly folds and traps your fingers. At no point in the design process did anyone get an idiot off the street (e.g. me) and observe while they attempted to fold it. Or maybe they did, but felt that their target customer base had too many fingers.

Catherine is not complacent Jul 30, 2025

@triz percolator and I set it up the night before.
There’s a 50/50 chance I’ll plug it in on the first try and it makes great coffee.

alyssa h milano Jul 30, 2025

@triz i've been getting into forming coffee grounds into a line on the counter and snorting it