It is my sincerest hope that someday mankind will develop a coffee pot that does not dribble when pouring water into the water reservoir of a drip coffee maker. As a chemist and one with no little expertise in the pouring of liquids, I’m shocked at the careless and wanton disregard for such a fundamental aspect of life. Isn’t the marketplace supposed to mop up problems like this? The invisible hand of the market is busy pleasuring itself elsewhere, I suppose. Ya know, it does that quite often.

For the love of Pete and all that is good and worthwhile, won’t some industrial designer step up and see to this?

Added after posting

There is a solution to this problem, apparently. Applying a light coating of beeswax to the lip of the coffee pot allegedly solves the problem. Makes sense, I suppose. A wax coating prevents water from following the surface to the outside of the pot. The beeswax is a hydrophobic coating with low surface energy. In principle, any hydrophobic material should work.

Come to think of it, certain glass chemical bottles and jugs have a polymer ring on the sealing surface of the glass bottle or jug. I’ve noticed that after dispensing a polar liquid from a jug that the polymer fitting on the sealing surface does not wet, but the liquid will form beads. The polymer ring could be a flat sealing ring or a dribble-proof surface or both. Nice to have when pouring conc sulfuric or triflic acid.

Thanks to the Berlin Packaging Company for posting the splendid graphic to the interwebs.