Yes, but the real question which needs to be asked is, undoubtedly - what precisely (single estate, or blended - but from where exactly?, nature of grind, quality of roast ), is he drinking? What does that porcelain cup actually hold?
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Espresso Enthusiasts
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Yes, but the real question which needs to be asked is, undoubtedly - what precisely (single estate, or blended - but from where exactly?, nature of grind, quality of roast ), is he drinking? What does that porcelain cup actually hold?
To be honest, I've never been an Espresso fan. But since there are over 3000 posts in this thread, maybe I should try it again. (I haven't had a cup of Espresso since the 70's) What do you guys think?
Tea?
Hi. Do you remember what you did not like about the last espresso you had, oh so many years back?
My advice: a lot has changed since the 70s, probably including your hair and pants style.....go find a roastery in your neck of the woods that roasts its own coffee. Order up an espresso. It will (or at least should) come in a little toy-looking cup, with a spoon and likely a packet of sugar. Skip the sugar, take a sip (relatively quickly.....espresso is not to be savored over time like a cup of brew). What do you think? Too bitter? Try again, only this time order a Macchiato, which will be served in a slightly larger cup, and have a little dollop of steamed milk crowning the espresso. The bitterness is gone.....and you are addicted. Or not.
The thread title is Espresso, but we veer into pretty much any type of coffee. Except stale.
I have Moka Kadir as next up after I finish my current batch of Liquid Amber, and then the Espresso Workshop Edition #31...which doesn't sound light and breezy either, from the description.
Aah..that's a wonderful photo...I call it "Shrink At Home". The cup's a bit dainty, but the contents are, most assuredly, espresso. (Or possibly that was an afternoon absinthe...my memory is so bad...too much absinthe!).
BTW: Do you like my slant board? I can do leg lifts whilst enjoying some refreshment. I can do leg lifts but, of course, I don't... as that would be too much like exercise!
Wait! Think carefully about emulating this crowd of loonies!
I have Moka Kadir as next up after I finish my current batch of Liquid Amber, and then the Espresso Workshop Edition #31...which doesn't sound light and breezy either, from the description.
Aah..that's a wonderful photo...I call it "Shrink At Home". The cup's a bit dainty, but the contents are, most assuredly, espresso. (Or possibly that was an afternoon absinthe...my memory is so bad...too much absinthe!).
BTW: Do you like my slant board? I can do leg lifts whilst enjoying some refreshment. I can do leg lifts but, of course, I don't... as that would be too much like exercise!
Wait! Think carefully about emulating this crowd of loonies!
I know you guys/gals are loonies! I takes one to know one...lol! I just want to belong, even if if means I'm crazy like the rest of you!
Aah..that's a wonderful photo...I call it "Shrink At Home". The cup's a bit dainty, but the contents are, most assuredly, espresso. (Or possibly that was an afternoon absinthe...my memory is so bad...too much absinthe!).
BTW: Do you like my slant board? I can do leg lifts whilst enjoying some refreshment. I can do leg lifts but, of course, I don't... as that would be too much like exercise!
And after a few espressos (or absinthes)...
I blush in modesty at that brilliant performance!
I am a multi-taltened monster...from throwing little girls into a lake to to a masterful and elegant song and dance man...and barista-in-training.
Can any of you other monsters make such claims!?
I believe most anyone who likes the taste of coffee will like a fresh, properly made espresso. Unfortunately, most espressos made in the US are crap, primarily because the coffee is stale and/or operator error. It's not hard to do one right, it's just not a mass market activity.
Find a good one and try it.
Are you into fountain pens by chance? If you aren't sure, just look at your hands.
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Can any of you other monsters make such claims!?
Well, I could make the claim......
Interesting, just looked it up. I used to follow the workshops fairly regularly, but sort of lost interest over time. I think the last one I purchased was 28. I will be interested in your experience with 31.
True that. And aptly observed, given the large amounts of ink I spilled this morning to clean and ink only three pens.
I think - as Kurwenal has already explained - that how espresso (and indeed, coffee, for that matter) is prepared, presented and consumed has changed quite a lot since the 70s.
Me, I take a sugar in an espresso, and my personal preference is smooth rather than bitter ..but each to their own, as you will find on this wonderful thread.
In the 70s, (some) people even thought that instant coffee somehow resembled real coffee .
I blush in modesty at that brilliant performance!
I am a multi-taltened monster...from throwing little girls into a lake to to a masterful and elegant song and dance man...and barista-in-training.
Can any of you other monsters make such claims!?
No, probably not. For one thing, multi-tasking is not my forte
But, a wonderful video; I must say that I quite enjoyed watching it....
Scepticalscribe, do you like a cubano (putting raw sugar in the portafilter on top of the coffee before pulling the shot)? A bit sweet for me, but I have had one every Christmas morning for the past 30 years. I'm not sure why.
Ah, fountain pens
I love fountain pens, and have written with one ever since I was a teenager (my handwriting was atrocious at that time, and writing with a fountain pen helped make it a lot more legible).
I gradually moved up market - and, as my hands are quite small, found the bloated macho monsters increasingly hard - and tiring - to write with; thus, for the past few years, a small (well, a few small) Mont Blancs are my writing instruments of choice and preference. They really are well balanced, write beautifully, don't wreck or tire my wrist, don't leak, the nibs behave themselves, and - usually - they write and write and write until they break. In horribly demanding settings ..
Well, the resin casing cover on my favourite pen cracked, and then broke some weeks ago, to my indescribable disgust, horror, and subsequently, grief. I had to wait to be able to take leave before I could do anything about it - the pen was lovingly placed and cosseted in a secreted corner of my briefcase, transported vast distances, and is undergoing remedial surgery as I write .
Yes, I must say that I like this quote ..
What make, might I ask? I got fed up with buying and using (expensive) pens that simply didn't like writing (but looked great), and leaked, and messed and, and, and found Mont Blanc (which, I will readily admit I had long thought a triumph of marketing over substance; no, the damned pens write properly; my battered and broken one has actually worked hard - and been worked hard - for the past few years ...
I confess that I almost mainline espresso in the morning, especially in my (current) work environment. Strong, (doubles for preference) and yes, with a decent spoon of sugar ..that hit, a bit of alertness - I am not a morning person by any stretch of any imagination - and some energy (breakfast seems to be a foregone luxury, too, ..)
At home, I sit and sip much more pleasant at times
Now, I will take sugar in nothing else other than my espressos ..
You have my heartfelt sympathy. As your post recognizes, pens are very personal. I hope the repair is satisfactory.
Pelikan. I have different brands, including Mont Blanc, but, for about the last five years or so, I have rarely picked up in my hand or purchased anything other than a Pelikan. (I also exclusively use Iroshizuku ink...there are so many good inks, I had to pick one brand or risk my sanity.) I don't have any real objection to Mont Blanc, although the incessant marketing and near ubiquity (many malls in the US now have MB shops) is not my cup of tea.
I love my Pelikans. Beautiful, superior quality. And the nibs are to die for. No doubt you have many great options over in the old countries.....but if you ever need a nib, I highly recommend this site, which custom grinds the nibs to fit your writing style. Not sure if they do MB, but their custom italic cursive nib Medium size on a Pelikan M800 is my daily writer.
Today, I cleaned and inked three pens, an M800 Blue 'o Blue, an M1005, and my Concerto. The Blue 'o Blue got kon peki ink, the M1005 yama budo, and the Concerto got fuyu gaki.
As you can see from this list, I like large pens.
From what you wrote, I am almost certain we share an affinity for fine paper as well. I am currently using these incredible notebooks.
Ask The Boys to put one teaspoon of raw (brown) sugar into the portafilter on top of the coffee, just before they seat the portafilter into the group head. See what you think.
Ah, an excellent post, and my warm thanks for it.
Yes, I have seen Pelikan pens, but they are far too large for my hands; like you, I had loathed the marketing surrounding MB pens, then - to my surprise - I found that the small neat models sit perfectly in my hand.
However, you are absolutely correct and I agree with you entirely re quality of paper. This is another matter of pressing importance.
Moleskine - which I used to use - has suffered a dreadful deterioration in quality (they sold themselves a few years ago to some other company, with the inevitable decline in quality that ensued..) Moreover, with the increased use of paper for printing, (and less used for hand written purposes) I have noticed a striking deterioration in the quality of every day paper which is available.
These days, thanks to our mutual friend, Shrink, (take yet another bow, Mr Shrink), I use quote a few of the Colonel Littleton products, including their superlative quality paper and leather bound note-books. But I will most certainly have a look at the site which you recommended, as - given that I write a lot with fountain pens - quality of paper does matter, and I love well made beautiful objects.
Should your travels ever take you to the former communist - or Warsaw Pact, or USSR - world
And, The Boys: Well, The Boys are enduring their way through what is a rather tough month for them; moreover, brown sugar is an impossible to obtain luxury, (thank you for reminding me: I must stash some in my suitcase) there; however, I can remedy that deficiency - let us see what can be done in this regard ..
Mmmm, a Cubano sounds good about now.
OK, you talked me into it. The 7 pm cup will be a Cubano!
I agree, Moleskin is abysmal, and very fountain pen unfriendly.
The Design.Y journals use what many consider to be the finest fountain pen paper in the world....Tomoe River. Ah, even typing those words gives me a bit of a buzz. It is not cheap, around USD $50 per ream, and the Design.Y EP journals work out to about $150 each, but, well worth the cost in my experience. There is almost no ghosting or bleed through and absolutely no feathering and the paper produces luscious sheen and shading. Other papers do this as well, of course, especially (in my experience) Clairefontaine paper, but Tomoe River is incredibly thin. It feels like you are writing in a 500 year old dictionary. Now if only I could come up with something to write that does justice to the paper.
I bought 2 cases of Tomoe River in Japan last year, just loose sheets. I would be most happy to slip some into an envelope and mail them over......
I was just about to post asking you wonderful folks what you use these pens to write about. I'm intrigued by them, but I honestly don't know what I'd do with them if I were to purchase some.
What a lovely and charming post. Why, thank you for your offer and for your suggestions. (The paper will be looked into )
I use them - mine- to write ..everything. Absolutely everything. Notes, minutes, reminders, telephone messages, briefing notes .the lot. I write with nothing else but a fountain pen (and I love the nice juxtaposition of using Apple computers and fountain pens ..at the one and the same time ..)
Writing with a good quality, well made, balanced, fountain pen is a lovely experience, but, as Kurwenal so rightly says, it is equally important to ensure that the paper you use is of a very good quality..
Mmmm, a Cubano sounds good about now.
It was good. Good suggestion.
On notebooks, I won't pretend for a second that I am writing the next great novel or play or the like. Wish that was the case, but it is not.
I have four notebooks going. The first is the same as Scepticalscribe's; basically, my life. Work, personal, meeting notes, ideas, doodles, questions I want to ask at the next doctor appointment, phone numbers, lab numbers, clutter....everything. I use OmniFocus, so this notebook is an inbox for me, and every few days I sweep next actions and the like into OmniFocus. I have this odd habit of using three different pens with different color ink to write in this notebook. So, if I have three meetings in a row, I will switch colors after each meeting. Meeting 1 notes will be in blue ink, meeting 2 will be orange, meeting 3 will be purple.
I have tried to replace this notebook with Evernote, which I use for other purposes, but I am addicted to the physical act of writing, and the feel of high quality paper.
My second notebook is for recording coffee and wine notes. Nothing else. I will write at least a few words or lines on nearly everything I taste. And I record more useful things too, such as the pull times for a particular batch I roasted, so I can watch the times change as the coffee ages. For some odd reason, this is the only notebook for which I do not use a fountain pen. Instead, I use plain old wooden pencils.
My third and fourth notebooks are journals, in a sense, written one each for my two children. I have done this for years. I record what we did on a particular day and write little notes and advice that I hope one day will be meaningful to them, probably long after I am gone. And, I hope it will be more meaningful appearing in my own handwriting. So, for example, a simple, quick note in my daughter's book might say: "Today we visited Disneyland. As you know I highly dislike crowds and lines, but that is outweighed by how much fun you have on the rides and seeing the characters. While waiting in line for the Dumbo ride, you told me that I was your prince, and it was one of the happiest moments of my life."
I had some really nice coffee today. Not perfect or the best, but just very satisfying.
That's great! I especially love your notebook and example used for your children.
Since my handwriting is atrocious, I don't do any actual writing, but keep important information in Evernote and MacJournal.
What a beautifully written, charming and lovely post.
Actually, that is a great idea, writing notebooks for your children. And I can say that it does give you an almost visceral thrill to come across a hand-written note, addressed to (or about) yourself, years later, from a parent or a grandparent. Something about a hand-written note makes it a lot more personal.
Anyway, I use my fountain pens for absolutely everything - one of them is almost always on my person, or in a briefcase.
In my teaching days, I wrote stuff (my lectures, obviously, some articles, and also including all of the research notes for a history book which I wrote and which was subsequently published) with a fountain pen. Even now, my notes for my own talks, and briefings, are done in pen - it is much easier, less hassle and more time friendly - than using a computer. If I need to subsequently - more formally - write them up, then the MBA comes into its own.
SBG, my handwriting used to be atrocious.
Actually, the reason I started using fountain pens lay in an encounter which occurred in my last two years in high school. A teacher had patiently explained to me that writing really good essays was pretty much completely redundant if nobody could read them, which would make awarding a high grade extremely difficult; that wounded my pride sufficiently for me to take the necessary steps to ensure that my writing became a bit more legible.
So, I started writing with fountain pens, with the result now that my writing is actually fairly legible these days.
Kurwenal, my friend, that writing paper you have recommended will be investigated (for which read, ordered .)
Terrific...I couldn't agree more!
And I caught the on-topic save....almost subliminally!