Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Will It Wipe? Testing Coffee Filters



REMEMBER: DO NOT FLUSH COFFEE FILTERS.  Also, don't drink bleach.

WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS with soap and water for 20 seconds.  The suds strip the virus of its greasy outer layer and kill it.

And now for our 7th Contestant!

Coffee Filters left over from an old coffee pot at work that no one uses because there is a 1-cup type maker now which is producing enough plastic waste to bury that layer of disposable diapers in the landfill...but I digress.

Coffee Filters...I'm using this style for a 20 cup basket:
Bunn O Matic 12 Cup Regular Coffee Filters Box Of 1000 Filters ...


PREP:
Bit slick, and yet, not smooth.   I find 3 or 4 are a good number and crunch them up a bit.

SCRATCH FACTOR:  3.5/5
Surprisingly NOT scratchy!  I thought they would be because the paper is stiff-ish.  But not bad at all.  Good scrubbing power without scratching.

EASE OF USE:  3.5/5
Don't need any rubbing between hands to soften up, just scrunching and separating into individual filters for more fluffiness.

PAPER-CUT SAFETY:  4.5/5
I can't picture how someone might cut themselves on these, but I also couldn't imagine anyone thinking you could drink bleach to cure a virus...so, assuming SOMEONE could figure out a way to do it, I cut a half point here.

ABSORBENCY:  4.5/5
REALLY good!  Surprisingly good.

CLEANSING POWER:  5/5
You will be clean.

AVAILABILITY:  4/5
Since lots of offices have switched to the single cup brewers with the stupid plastic cup thingies that you have to throw out ...don't tell me they make refillable ones, no one actually uses those in a group office setting because Steve leaves it in there until it's moldy...most offices have a bunch of these stuck in back corners of supply closets and kitchenettes.  Just look around!  If you don't work at an office, I suppose you could buy them but I have no idea how the price compares to TP or other options, but last time I was at the store, there was no limit on the number of coffee filter packages you could buy.  TP, paper towels and napkins were limited to one package per customer.

Coffee Filters COMPOSITE SCORE: 25/30

So, more suggestions please.
Or perhaps someone disagrees with my assessment?

1 comment:

Laura said...

Years ago, I'd purchased an end roll of newsprint from a local newspaper publisher. I used it to clean windows and mirrors. I eventually ran out of it and tried to get more, but we all know print news is becoming more and more rare. I looked online and learned that coffee filters are a good alternative for cleaning glass. I found some for sale on one of my faceb00k garage sale groups and got a bunch of large ones - like for commercial coffee makers - for pretty cheap. I'll keep them in mind if we have a TP shortage in the house.

I haven't tried alternatives to traditional TP, so I have no comments except that coffee filters appeal more than almost all of the others you've tested because of the ink factor. (And that's also why I bought coffee filters for my glass cleaning instead of using my Sunday-only newspaper subscription.)