Braun coffee machine in the background, Braun coffee grinder in the foreground. Both from the 70ies and still going strong

What is Braun and makes for an honest good filtered coffee? Right.

I salvaged the battered coffee grinder in the foreground from my parents' a while ago. This little machine is linked to some childhood memories of easter sunday and me making coffee for my still asleep (or so I thought) parents. To my surprise my parents still had the grinder after 40 years, sitting somewhere in a drawer.
I brought it to my place, cleaned it and powered it on with great caution, and rightly so: Some of the internal plastic parts had deteriorated, too, and what once meant to be a safeguard so that the grinder only works when the lid is closed and the button is pushed, had transformed to a 'permanent on' switch. Yikes.

Took some time and tinkering to open up this slick design, and then I was able to fix the switch assembly (all hail to hot glue!) and for three days now I enjoy the morning routine of grinding beans, and then cleaning up the mess again while the coffee runs in the other old machine, seen in the background, which also has nearly 40 years on its back.

While I'm not sure about the energy efficiency of those old devices, I'm convinced that using them as long as possible and not throwing them away if something is repairable, is the more sustainable approach.

And they look damn cool, don't you think?