Posted by chris
Mon, 23 Jan 2006 21:35:04 GMT
So, I drink espresso. It’s a very very rare moment that I drink a cup of coffee. In the espresso world, there’s the notion of a “god shot”, which is the best shot of espresso you’ve ever made, and the one you aspire to reproduce or better. Well, I’ve found that my brother-in-law, Paul, makes the “god cup” (of coffee).
As said, I don’t drink coffee, I rarely like it. But, somehow, whenever he makes it, I actually like it, and like it quite a bit. Maybe not as much as my beloved espresso, and it may be in part because it’s just something different and not my usual. What I find interesting though, is that I can’t reproduce it, not really even somewhat.
Paul uses Peet’s Major Dickason’s, ground for a French Press, and a Bodum French Press (the Eileen to be exact). I’ve tried the same setup, but no dice. We live in different places, so for all I know, a big part is the water (I find a noticeable difference, all other things the same, with my tap water vs. filtered water, in my espresso machine; not surprisingly). It’s also of course possible that he steeps longer or shorter (although we’ve talked about that), etc.
All this leads to the fact that I’ve bought an AeroPress for work. I have my old Nespresso espresso machine here at work, but I pretty much don’t like it anymore, now that I’m spoiled at home with my Jura Impressa S9 :) And, the local coffee houses don’t do much for me. So, gunna try the AeroPress. See the gizmag writeup and the SingleServeCoffee.com review.
I may never reproduce Paul’s coffee, and will just look forward to having it at his house, but I will at least try to find something worthy for work.
Posted in espresso | 1 comment
Posted by chris
Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:52:23 GMT
I recently had the best espresso and the worst espresso I’ve had at Starbucks within back to back visits (at different locations though)...
Read more...
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Posted by chris
Thu, 25 Aug 2005 18:29:09 GMT
So, today I came across CoffeeGeek.com. I am a big espresso nut, although after reading this site, I’m clearly not to the freak level, even if most of my friends think so. Afterall, I use a superautomatic. I was quite interested to read their review of the machine I have, the Jura-Capressa S9, which is THE superauto to have IMHO (and which they’d agree with at least based on the review). I was of course slightly bummed to see that Capressa has a new one out, the Z5, which is now the new top of the line, and costs a friggen G more! It sure looks purty though :)
I truly love my machine, and I do know that I sacrificed quality and fiddle-ability by going superauto, but I made that decision specifically, because I really did want the convenience. I don’t feel I have the time, or the desire to do so much clean-up. That may change, especially once my 7 mos old and 3 year old get older and I’m not so tired, etc. Or not, dunno. What I have found though, is that I simply can’t drink Starbucks or most other coffee-house espresso or caps anymore. They taste like crap to me. They never ever tasted as good as the stuff I had in Italy, which is what got me started (I rarely drank espresso or coffee before going to Italy – where even the local airplane coffee tastes better than almost anything I’ve had here in the US). I can be at a Starbucks, and dying for an espresso, and I’ll opt to go home and make my own instead, it’s that big a difference (read the stuff at coffeegeek.com, or home-barista.com).
Given that I’m a superauto guy, I will add one thing to the reviews… Put a USB interface and a web server in/on it, so you can program it via your laptop that sits next to it (like the setup in our kitchen :) Ok, kinda silly, but when you’re shelling out over $2000 for one, well, come on! Just think, it could email or SMS me when the water gets low, or when I need to clean it. Ok, well, that’d just be the geek factor, since it does YELL at me on the little LCD panel that I need to do those things :)
I also am a total believer in the beans making a HUGE difference. Sure, that’s obvious, but not in the way most think. Most of these super dark, oily beans that seem to be so in fashion here in the US, well they suck! I’ve had one exception to that (Espresso Blend from the tiny Sisters Coffee in Oregon), but even that I only liked for a couple days, and then wanted it gone. So far, I only buy Italian coffee. Call me a snob, but think about that for a minute – it doesn’t even cost more than this supposed chi-chi coffee here in the US. For example, a pound of Peet’s is often $10-20 depending on variety. I can buy Mauro, Lavazza (get the food service line; try Pienaroma), Illy, for the same, sometimes less! Try it for yourself. If you like espresso I think you’ll agree.
Having said that, I’m going to try IntelligentsiA’s Black Cat espresso, since I’ve seen a lot of raves about it from the freaks (I mean that in a good way!) at these web sites. So, as I’ve told a few folks, if you’re thinking of getting your own home machine, be prepared to have to give up going to local coffee houses, unless you really have a stellar local place (I live in the burbs, so no stellar joints around here).
Posted in espresso
Posted by chris
Fri, 03 Jun 2005 05:24:27 GMT
Ah, the joy of an espresso at 10:23pm… means it’s gunna be one of those nights. Not like last night when I had two glasses of red wine and was asleep before 10pm! Eek, yes, I’m a parent and a software developer.
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Posted by chris
Tue, 10 May 2005 16:37:00 GMT
I recently got some glass espresso cups, and noticed that a shot of espresso behaves just like Guiness! Watch this video to see what I mean. (15 seconds, QuickTime (streamable), 540kb)
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Posted by chris
Mon, 21 Feb 2005 17:34:00 GMT
Here’s this morning’s (first) espresso:
This one is shot on the counter next to my espresso machine, which is a Jura Impressa S9. As my friend and manager joked, for the cost, it should’ve come with a USB/firewire connection! That’s actually a good idea. I wish it had an embedded web server where I could check all the stats (how many cups made, how soon the cleaning cycling is coming, how full water is, beans level, etc.). The machine knows all this stuff, cuz it tells you on the digital display when the time comes.
Now, here’s the 2nd shot I brought up to my office:
This one shows a recent book I got (Pragmatic Subversion), part of the new iSight I just installed (we’re using these at work to do video conferencing, very cool), and my still working, but charred Powerbook power supply. We had a surge suppressor blow, and it did this to my power supply (what you can’t see is the decent chunk of metal missing from one of the prongs!). The powersupply actually still works, and it appears to have saved my PB from any damage. I’ll be replacing it to be safe though :)
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Posted by chris
Sun, 20 Feb 2005 17:42:00 GMT
My morning espresso on 20 Feb 2005. Picked up this meme from
Russell, who saw
The Year in Coffee
Small, but strong, and oh so good!
Posted in espresso
