Month: November 2004 (Page 1 of 2)

The espresso thing has not been without it’s challenges. Nevertheless, I am winning. The first machine to arrive was the Estro Vapore. It came from a “technical” company in California. They told me it was working but I think they meant to say “it was working when we put in the storage cabinet a few years ago”. I had to disassemble quite a bit of it and give it a thorough cleaning but that is somewhat expected when buying a used kitchen appliance.

It did not come with any instructions but I was able to figure out how to make it go. So far I have made a half dozen shots of espresso and steamed some milk too. I would rate the espresso shots around a 3 or 4 out of 10, ie. pretty nasty. I decided I had better go up to the local coffee shop and have them pull me a shot off their machine so I had some idea of what I am striving for. I definitely have a ways to go!

The second machine, a Gaggia Coffee, got delayed in shipping and just arrived yesterday. It is actually the better of the two (theoretically). It too was pretty grungy. I cleaned it up then tried to run some water through it. I got about a half a cup of water pumped through it and the pump quit! Arrghghhh! Whats up with this? The pump runs but nothing comes out.

Back to the Internet and research on the coffeegeek forums. Hmmm…. it seems that some people have successfully taken their pump apart, cleaned it, and restored it to operational condition. So, today I did that too and it worked! Whoohooo! In fact it is pumping all kinds of “yuck” out of the brew head. I had to take the shower head out and let it pour straight out. To help it along I ran some lemon juice through it and then went up to the local Starbucks and bummed a cleaning tablet from them. I think I now have most all the gunk out of it and will soon try a shot.

In order to make espresso you need coffee beans. According to the experts these should be as freshly roasted as possible. Some folks even go so far as roasting their own. I’m not quite that enamored yet. I let my fingers do the walking in the yellow pages and lo and behold… we have 5 local roasters! Awesome… I love this city.

Ronda and I went over to a new City park today and hiked around some of the trails. City parks have different connotation here than they did back in Iowa. Actually, they call this an Open Space rather than a park. It’s nearly 800 acres and is similar to the Garden of The Gods area with the distinctive red rock formations. Aside from the trails they also have some brand new technical climbing areas which will undoubtably interest some people I know. It’s called Red Rock Canyon Open Space and was purchased by the city to preserve the area and keep it from being developed commercially.

So anyway… back to the storyline. My research indicated that one of these roasting places would be convienently located for a quick stop on the way home. High Rise Coffee Roasters is in downtown Old Colorado City just off the main drag. We stopped in and chatted with the owners for a bit and walked out with some freshly roasted espresso beans and a half pound of Guatemalan beans. Ronda brought home some of her Roobois tea that she likes.

Really nice folks there (thanks to Andrew for the free espresso machine cleaning tool) I’ll be happy to give them my business. Their website is a little lame though. Maybe I’ll try and help them out a little.

What you may ask do espresso and gutters have in common? Nothing really, but they both occupied my thoughts some today. I borrowed a ladder from Jerry (my neighbor) and cleaned the leaves out of the gutters today. One of those evil but necessary tasks. It wasn’t too bad actually. There were surprisingly few leaves and it was a breeze compared to the ol’ farmstead with it’s 2-story roofline.

I also raked up the remaining leaves and bagged them up. Kudo’s for Colorado Springs… no “special” bags required! Just put’em in regular trash bags and leave them for the garbage man. I have been pleased with the local attitude towards such things. Recyling is “optional”. I put the crumpled up bumper from Kristina’s Jeep out and they took it. Definitely my kind of garbage service.

Espresso… Ahh! I have always enjoyed coffee. It is my only real vice these days. I bought an inexpensive Krups unit many years ago and was vastly disappointed. It was basically useless and was quickly relegated to the basement. My interest waned for a number of years but I have gotten the bug again and decided to give it another try.

I have done my research and plan to master the art this time around. What I quickly discovered was a true espresso machine can be mighty pricey. But, one thing I have learned over the years is you are better off buying something of higher quality to start with. It will last longer, do the intended task better, and save you a lot of frustration (see comment above about Krups). I conducted the majority of my research at WholeLatteLove and CoffeeGeek.

As I am wont to do I turned to Ebay for a good second-hand machine. It took a week or so of looking and being patient but I found a couple of good deals and actually ended up buying two machines. One of them is coming with a very nice burr grinder which is essential (so I am told). I plan to put them both through their paces and keep the one I like the best. Now I just have to clean up one of my guns that is now collecting dust in the closet and sell it so I can pay for these new toys. So stay tuned for further adventures.