Clean Coffee Maker

BabyNes steams formula automatically for parents

Most parents have spent at least one night frantically searching for a clean bottle, mixing and heating formula, and then waiting for the liquid meal to cool to the proper temperature - all while trying to soothe a hungry infant.

Nestle, the company that's built its Nespresso home espresso makers into a $3.9 billion business, thinks it has a way to help: a little Nespresso just for junior.

The Swiss company's new BabyNes machine heats capsules of Nestle formula, eliminating the clumps that can form when mixing powdered formula, and then dispenses a precise amount into a waiting bottle. It can be operated with one hand, leaving the other free to deal with a fretting child.

Such convenience doesn't come cheap. The BabyNes - which went on sale to Swiss shoppers in May and will roll out globally starting in 2012 - costs $300. The capsules of Nestle formula that go into the machine cost triple the price of its pre-sealed espresso. Using BabyNes daily tacks an extra $650 onto the annual cost of a new mouth to feed, compared with traditional powdered formula, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Susanne Seibel, an analyst at Barclays Capital, figures BabyNes is a product for families without budget constraints and won't immediately go mainstream. That may explain why Nestle - the world's largest food company - is starting in Switzerland, where 1 in 10 households is worth more than $1 million, according to Boston Consulting Group.

"There is no price sensitivity when it comes to babies," Seibel says. "People tend to go slightly overboard."

BabyNes joins the ranks of high-end baby products ranging from $979 all-terrain Bugaboo strollers to a $29.95 device that warms up wet wipes before they touch baby's bottom. Top-selling infant gear on Amazon.com includes a $139 color video monitor and the $14.54 NoseFrida Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator.

Annual sales of BabyNes machines may reach $600 million within two years, estimates Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Zurich. The hassle-free system also may help prolong the time parents use infant formula before starting children on solid food, he says.

Eager to repeat Nespresso's annual sales growth rates of as much as 40 percent, Nestle is rolling out machines that make tea, soluble coffee, and even smoothies. By getting consumers hooked on the machines and selling proprietary capsules online, the Swiss company locks customers into its brands and eliminates middlemen.

How To Clean Your Coffee Maker Thoroughly | The Coffee Lovers Corner

Your coffee maker could be killing you. Well it is if your morning cup of coffee is a matter of life and death and you have a filthy coffee maker. When was the last time you thoroughly cleaned your coffee maker? Washing the pot is important but getting the internal components of a coffee maker clean is a task that shouldn’t be skipped. Did you even know that you were supposed to clean it? A clean coffee maker can be the difference between a good cup of coffee and a nasty cup of sludge. A clean coffee maker really makes a big difference in how your coffee tastes. Left over coffee oils can accumulate inside your coffee maker. Also mineral deposits can form especially in areas with hard water. These deposits are called “scale”. There are two kinds of scale, lime scale and mineral scale and you don’t want either one. Scale can affect the heating unit and the water flow of your coffee maker and reduce it’s efficiency. How quickly scale forms depends on the quality of your drinking water. If you use bottled water to make your coffee, scale probably won’t form as fast but you still have to worry about accumulated coffee oils. Better to play it safe and clean your coffee maker regularly. Cleaning your coffee maker is not a hard task to accomplish and in fact it’s as easy as making coffee. All you have to do is pour a pot of half vinegar and half water into the coffee maker’s water reservoir. It goes without saying that white vinegar should be used. Steer clear of the red wine or apple cider vinegar varieties. Then just turn on the regular brew cycle. You’re kitchen will probably have a nice salad smell while it’s brewing which you may even like. If you’re not a salad fan though, just remember that it’s a small price to pay for a good cup of coffee.

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