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Espresso Enthusiasts
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I await with terror and trepidation the inevitable viewing by Scepticlalcsribe...she's just going to take us immature boys, and our silly burr measuring contest, apart with a literate, eloquent, and deeply sarcastic post!
I await with terror and trepidation the inevitable viewing by Scepticlalcsribe...she's just going to take us immature boys, and our silly burr measuring contest, apart with a literate, eloquent, and deeply sarcastic post!
Well, at least we know who to blame!
It is said that you are only truly young for a short time, but if you play your cards right...you can be immature your whole life.
I live by those words...
My post was perfectly innocent! That happens when one conversates with 'grown ups'.
Seriously though: Just read an article about espresso machines and the problem of (too much) lead. Anyone aware of this problem, and how did you tackle it?
Where is the lead in the machine? Is it somewhere touched by the hot water?
My machine has a copper boiler with brass end plates, and an E61 brew group made of copper coated with nautical grade chrome. So I can't see where there is lead in machines like mine.
There are, of course, many different kinds of machines...so I wonder what kind of espresso makers have lead in places touched by water.
I'd be interested in reading the article if you can supply a link.
(I'm wacko enough without having to deal with brain damage from lead toxicity!
)
Where is the lead in the machine? Is it somewhere touched by the hot water?
My machine has a copper boiler with brass end plates, and an E61 brew group made of copper coated with nautical grade chrome. So I can't see where there is lead in machines like mine.
There are, of course, many different kinds of machines...so I wonder what kind of espresso makers have lead in places touched by water.
I'd be interested in reading the article if you can supply a link.
(I'm wacko enough without having to deal with brain damage from lead toxicity!
But are you wacko enough to read it in German?
Well, to be fair they tested only three portafilla machines (two of them being dangerous though - especially for pregnant women). Five tested pad-machines (bah!
) were fine. They just messured the amount of lead found in the espresso, so it may be the pump, tank or pipes or all of them. Brands weren't published due the small amount of tests (cheap excuse imho) but further investigations are going to be made. Well, that's what they said. It just reminded me upon my cousin who was anxious some years ago to get a machine with copper tank.
My post was perfectly innocent! That happens when one conversates with 'grown ups'.
Seriously though: Just read an article about espresso machines and the problem of (too much) lead. Anyone aware of this problem, and how did you tackle it?
All I can think is that its either lead in the solder used on the machines, they've used a brass alloy that contains lead somewhere in the machine or if the machines were brand new, some residue from the factory.
If they don't publish details then their experiments are pretty much worthless and should probably just be ignored.
ignore them...not sure if I can agree on this one. results were pretty bad (up to 100% more toxic than allowed in 2/3 machines) and it appears that they occured after descalation (is that a word?). Advice was that after doing so one shouldn't use the machine immediately for espresso but running couple of hot-water shots through the system. Poorly worded I know, but also common knowledge I'd think.
As usual in this cases no brands are given out, so that the
Just what every coffee addict needs...can't get to the maker due to our male Bengal ( Jax) adopting it as a perch!
He's yawning....clearly requesting a cup!
Its still terrible science and almost completely useless as theres so much variation in espresso machine design and the materials they are made from.
If the advice from them is to flush the system properly after descaling then they are right about that and its just common sense as you said.
Unless there is more information I will stand by my opinion of ignoring them and just using your machine as normal.
Well, the good news is: my grinder arrived! Oh, what a gorgeous beauty indeed!
Have to get up extra early tomorrow morning..just to have good look at it before leaving for work.
Made even a pic for you guys with my phone but the updated OS denies me access to iPhoto..grrr!
Have to get up extra early tomorrow morning..just to have good look at it before leaving for work.
Made even a pic for you guys with my phone but the updated OS denies me access to iPhoto..grrr!
Well, the good news is: my grinder arrived! Oh, what a gorgeous beauty indeed!
Have to get up extra early tomorrow morning..just to have good look at it before leaving for work.
Made even a pic for you guys with my phone but the updated OS denies me access to iPhoto..grrr!
Tomorrow morning we'll all close our eyes and imagine it!
Congratulations...enjoy your new grinder and the wonderful coffee it will help you produce...
Well, the good news is: my grinder arrived! Oh, what a gorgeous beauty indeed!
Have to get up extra early tomorrow morning..just to have good look at it before leaving for work.
Made even a pic for you guys with my phone but the updated OS denies me access to iPhoto..grrr!
Congratulations on the new grinder! I look forward to hearing all about it!
Hm….
I've been away from here for a few days, been very, very busy, and our internet, bizarrely went down for 18 hours two days ago.
The dismal news first: We have been without coffee beans, (and hence espresso) for five days now. A consignment is awaited…..eagerly. Unfortunately, it seems that it may have to be flown into us……
Earlier today, I attended a meeting elsewhere, (an elsewhere where their well-stocked coffee shop actually served espresso in lovely little cups and saucers, and their coffee bar-tender was able to make freshly squeezed juices).
With an impressive degree of focus, I walked the short distance from one building to another, monitoring the uneven paving and strewn building materials between them rather carefully, as I proceeded into the meeting doing my best impression to impersonate the Mad Hatter, for I was balancing an exquisite espresso cup (and accompanying saucer) in one hand along with a glass of freshly squeezed fruit juice in the other. My briefcase awaited me on my seat, for I had arrived early with the avowed intention of arming myself with espresso and fruit juice. When I announced our tragic lack of espresso beans (for five whole days), my colleagues smiled benevolently and indulgently while everyone agreed that this constituted a case of extreme hardship and utter deprivation.
Re the riveting 'my burr is bigger than yours' discussion and posts, (really, guys, what can I say? You do know what I will say, don't you?) and the invitation extended to me to repond with some philosophical insights…….where does one start?
Reading this, I had a frisson of (again) bizarre deja vu, thus, all I can offer (for now) is a little story. That very day, as it happens, ironically perhaps, I had attended a meeting with my boss where one of those 'mine is bigger than yours, mine is much, much bigger than yours' moments occurred. Of course, but of course, but, of course, the initiator of this exchange was male (female competition takes a different form). It could not be otherwise. And of course, my boss was cheerfully oblivious (he is a nice guy, who likes espresso), for the exchange was not directed at him, but at me, and he didn't even notice it until I mentioned it to him, later on.
What was funny was that the initiator was our interlocutor, a well built powerful individual. Powerful personally, and powerful professionally, and powerfully built physically…..As it happens, I was the recipient, and the topic, (yes, this is where it becomes too hilarious for words) was not burrs, but pens. Mont Blanc fountain pens to be precise.
I was making rapid notes with my small, neat, black, Meisterstuck fountain pen, which is used (as is my MBA) daily; both are worked hard. Tea had been served (by a silent member of our host's staff) and my boss and our host were exchanging enthusiastic and voluble pleasantries. Around half way through the meeting - his sharp eyes missed little - our host and interlocutor produced a bloated squat object, encrusted with jewels. This was another, it so happens, Mont Blanc fountain pen (but not a model I am in any way familiar with) which he waved negligently around making circles in the air (while making certain that I had noticed it) to reinforce the point he was making, (the literal one and the metaphorical one) whereupon he then proceeded to scrawl a few offhand scribbles on a pad, (he never writes usually, I am reliably informed) while his uniformed minion, partially obscured by a wooden screen, offstage as it were, wrote furiously all the while.
Guys, guys, guys. When will you ever learn? It is not the size of the burr, or pen, or whatever, that counts, it's what you actually do with it…..
I've been away from here for a few days, been very, very busy, and our internet, bizarrely went down for 18 hours two days ago.
The dismal news first: We have been without coffee beans, (and hence espresso) for five days now. A consignment is awaited…..eagerly. Unfortunately, it seems that it may have to be flown into us……
Earlier today, I attended a meeting elsewhere, (an elsewhere where their well-stocked coffee shop actually served espresso in lovely little cups and saucers, and their coffee bar-tender was able to make freshly squeezed juices).
With an impressive degree of focus, I walked the short distance from one building to another, monitoring the uneven paving and strewn building materials between them rather carefully, as I proceeded into the meeting doing my best impression to impersonate the Mad Hatter, for I was balancing an exquisite espresso cup (and accompanying saucer) in one hand along with a glass of freshly squeezed fruit juice in the other. My briefcase awaited me on my seat, for I had arrived early with the avowed intention of arming myself with espresso and fruit juice. When I announced our tragic lack of espresso beans (for five whole days), my colleagues smiled benevolently and indulgently while everyone agreed that this constituted a case of extreme hardship and utter deprivation.
Re the riveting 'my burr is bigger than yours' discussion and posts, (really, guys, what can I say? You do know what I will say, don't you?) and the invitation extended to me to repond with some philosophical insights…….where does one start?
Reading this, I had a frisson of (again) bizarre deja vu, thus, all I can offer (for now) is a little story. That very day, as it happens, ironically perhaps, I had attended a meeting with my boss where one of those 'mine is bigger than yours, mine is much, much bigger than yours' moments occurred. Of course, but of course, but, of course, the initiator of this exchange was male (female competition takes a different form). It could not be otherwise. And of course, my boss was cheerfully oblivious (he is a nice guy, who likes espresso), for the exchange was not directed at him, but at me, and he didn't even notice it until I mentioned it to him, later on.
What was funny was that the initiator was our interlocutor, a well built powerful individual. Powerful personally, and powerful professionally, and powerfully built physically…..As it happens, I was the recipient, and the topic, (yes, this is where it becomes too hilarious for words) was not burrs, but pens. Mont Blanc fountain pens to be precise.
I was making rapid notes with my small, neat, black, Meisterstuck fountain pen, which is used (as is my MBA) daily; both are worked hard. Tea had been served (by a silent member of our host's staff) and my boss and our host were exchanging enthusiastic and voluble pleasantries. Around half way through the meeting - his sharp eyes missed little - our host and interlocutor produced a bloated squat object, encrusted with jewels. This was another, it so happens, Mont Blanc fountain pen (but not a model I am in any way familiar with) which he waved negligently around making circles in the air (while making certain that I had noticed it) to reinforce the point
Guys, guys, guys. When will you ever learn? It is not the size of the burr, or pen, or whatever, that counts, it's what you actually do with it…..
My deepest condolences regarding your bean scarcity! It is a familiar, if not yet critically urgent, concern for me as I just ground the last of my beans at work...and it is only a bit after 10am. But that isn't truly comparable, as there are a few places a short walk away with fine coffee and beans for sale if the withdrawal is too severe. And of course we're only talking a delay of gratification until I get home tonight. Okay, there really is no comparison...
As for the squat, bloated, crusty pen...not very subtle. But I suppose that is precisely the point. Thanks for the story: it made me grin.
As usual...a lovely and enjoyable narrative.
I hope the coffee bean airdrop occurs in the not too distant future.
As to the size of one's pen (that might have been put differently, but...)...I have a Mont Blanc Meisterstück fountain pen, which I don't use at work because I find writing with a fountain pen requires too much of my attention. But I do have a Mont Blanc Meisterstück Le Grande rollerball which I use while working, and get frequent comments on the size of my pen. I'm always tempted to make some Freudian oriented comment, but being a behaviorist I just say something vague about overcompensation and leave it at that.
As for my large burrs...same vague comment about overcompensation...and the boast that I know how to use it.
Beautiful and eloquent story as usual. You have a way with words that I can only dream of!
I sure hope you get a resupply of coffee sooner rather than later. If we have to, I'm sure several of us can pitch in and send you a supply ourselves!
----
Speaking of which, I think that Sweet Maria's Liquid Amber is supposed to arrive today.
Apologies to SS if my shipment of beans arriving today offends, that certainly isn't my intention.
Oooh, yummmmmmm! I keep missing the buying window. Ugh.
Is there a special 'roasted beans are now available' email that I've failed to notice that is separate from the regular newsletter?