An excellent way to start the day, agreed.I'm having a mug of some red honey processed coffee from Colombia.....a nice way to start the day
An excellent way to start the day, agreed.I'm having a mug of some red honey processed coffee from Colombia.....a nice way to start the day
Terrific story - thanks for sharing - and gorgeous set-up.I started making my own espresso drinks during the pandemic.
I first had a Nespresso pod machine. I used it every morning, but the cappuccinos weren't as good as the ones I could get in a cafe.
So I bought a used Breville machine, which didn't work at all until I bought a Sette 270 grinder. I found local roasters and my coffee got much better, but the milk steaming wasn't great. It was good, but not great.
I went to a local shop, Clive Coffee. They had a big assortment of espresso machines, and I bought the Bezzera Duo. It's in a segment of fairly expensive dual-boiler E61 machines, such as ECM Synchronika, Lelit Bianca, Profitec, and several others. The Bezzera included wood trim and it has a touch screen which lets me program temperatures and wake time, so the machine is pre-heated and ready. It is a plumbable machine, so I don't need to add water or remove the drip tray. Because it has two boilers, the water is always ready for both brewing espresso and steaming milk.
I didn't have room in my kitchen, so I bought a kitchen cabinet at Lowe's for about $125 and a butcher block countertop for another $100. I put these in my breakfast nook and plumbed it. Later, my wife switched to decaf, so I bought a second grinder, the Sette 270w, which weighs the espresso as it grinds it.
Now I have a full-fledged espresso bar in my kitchen, and we love making cappuccinos every morning. My wife and I travel frequently, and we always seek out the best specialty coffee bars wherever we go. Occasionally, we'll find someone who makes better cappuccino than I do, but my drinks are consistently better than Peet's and Starbucks. My favorite coffees are Verve Street Level and George Howell Espresso Blend A.
View attachment 2390763
View attachment 2390764
Yes.Well, isn't coffee supposed to have originated from Ethiopia? The legend says a goat herder found his herd hopped up after munching on some coffee berries - he tried some and got pretty stimulated himself. When some Christian monks heard about it they thought this a perfect way to stay awake for evening prayers. I suppose they then tried different preparation methods for a drink, Arab traders found out, Ottomans adopted it and spread it to the Middle East and then Balkans and then to the rest of Europe and the world.
So the goat of coffee is an actual 🐐
Coffee grown worldwide can trace its heritage back centuries to the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau. There, legend says the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of these beloved beans.
The story goes that that Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night.
Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery, who made a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert through the long hours of evening prayer. The abbot shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread.
As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would bring these beans across the globe.
Fascinating.
Oh, yum.
They sound wonderful.
Do let me (us) know how the respective Ethiopian and Colombian coffees actually taste.
Sipping a late afternoon (relaxed Sunday) coffee, this time from Thailand, served with organic milk.
A nice, smooth, sweet, and easy-drinking coffee.
Actually, the coffee from Thailand was part of yesterday's delivery of coffee, thus, it was (is) pretty fresh.I'm jealous. I just finished a crappy espresso. It was some old coffee I found in the freezer; I ran out of the fresh stuff. I'm waiting on a delivery.
I only make espresso from beans roasted between 5 and 21 days ago. Older than that, and it’s pour over. Espresso is very particular.I'm jealous. I just finished a crappy espresso. It was some old coffee I found in the freezer; I ran out of the fresh stuff. I'm waiting on a delivery.
I only make espresso from beans roasted between 5 and 21 days ago. Older than that, and it’s pour over. Espresso is very particular.