Coffee Sludge on the French Press. Use a Q-tip

Coffee sludge: The stealthy, ever-present, clogging, schmutzig material that bitters and destroys complex, dynamic coffee flavors.  Pictured left, right below the metal coil is a coffee ring of sludge that had slowly formed over a period of weeks.  

If it is one thing I despise about coffee, it is cleaning.  I hate cleaning.  The Fiance can tell you that.  Cleaning, especially cleaning coffee equipment and properly disposing coffee grounds is a pain.  *Note to self* Coffee grounds can not go into garbage disposal!  Yet, despite my best efforts coffee grounds pepper the kitchen, hide in the crannies of my French Press, and defy my overtures to be cleaned up.  Nevertheless, cleaning is necessary to maintain a good cup of coffee, whether it be drip coffee, espresso, or concocting a perfect latte.  I tell myself that a little clean up every time avoids the long clean up later.  

Unfortunately, I did not follow this advice and now I am forced to a get a paper towel and clean out the coffee sludge on my press.  Yesterday, Barista On Duty and I tweeted a conversation, yes that is possible, on how to clean those French Press coils.  I initially used a paper towel, then a tooth pick, but nothing scraped out all the grime.  He recommended a wet Q-tip.  We shall see.

Yums, coffee sludge