Established in 1976, family owned and operated, Connecticut-based Medelco, Inc. began business with the invention of a talking scale; the company name is derived from its original product line of medical equipment. In 1981 the company assumed the patent rights for the universal coffee carafe and subsequently refocused its mission to creating high quality, affordably priced products designed to make the lives of kitchen consumers easier; most products are made or assembled and packaged in Connecticut. The product line consists of coffee, tea and hot beverage related items such as glass stovetop percolators, cordless glass electric kettles, stovetop whistling glass tea kettles and reusable single serve coffee filters which are compatible with all single-serve coffee-filter systems or Keurig K-Cup technology. The reusable single serve coffee filters encourage re-use rather than disposal of paper and plastic coffee pods.