I imagine the DHL person was a bit surprised to see this when the door opened...
If only I were that smooth!
I imagine the DHL person was a bit surprised to see this when the door opened...
Awesome! Looks absolutely beautiful! Hopefully when you stop shaking (from excitement I'm sure) you can take more stable photos - but not before making an espresso or three!
More like this then?
Very nice machine, I love the wooden touches
Well, my new baby arrived, and after some assembly (it comes in two boxes), I pulled my first shot.
(which is done automatically on electric machines)
Beautiful. Warmest congratulations, friend. I hope it brings you many years of joy.
On a lot of semi-auto's you can adjust the pre-infusion time, but I think most owners never do that. On some older machines, you have to get into the back and literally adjust a little valve or knob, physically. On some newer machines, especially those with PID-controllers, you can adjust the time electronically. For example, on my Rocket, the pre-infusion time comes set at 6 seconds, and I have never had a reason to futz with it, which you can do from the control pad (the same way you adjust infusion pressure, brewing temp, etc.).
Is this one of those machines where you pull up to pre-infuse and then down to pull the shot? I always thought that process looked really cool.
To do the pre-infusion, you pull the lever all the way down (just below 90º), and it locks during pre-infusion. I counted off 6 seconds, and the you lift the lever to unlock it, release the lever, and the extraction starts.
Ah, very interesting. Can't wait for you to post a video of you pulling a shot......(hint hint).
I have seen some machines where you can pull the lever half-way down, which will engage the line pressure (assuming the machine is plumbed) but not the pump, and you can sort of nurse along the pre-infusion using the line pressure, basically for as long as you want I guess. But, obviously, that's not this, and I will be interested to hear your reports on how a longer or shorter pre-infusion time impacts the taste. I know that has been a subject of spirited debate on some of the coffee forums.
Again, congrats.
240 gms
More fun than any man should have playing with his lever!
I hope you've roasted up several large batches of beans! I suspect you'll be flying through shots as you perfect your technique...
From your lips....
Perfection, actually mediocrity, is not in sight yet...or for a long time. But practice makes perfect, and I will be doing another roast so I have about 1 ½ pounds available.
Perfection is a process never to be completed, but therein lies the challenge.
Well, if that's the case, I'll just aim for mediocrity!
I figure I can be, with much effort, completely mediocre.
I've been doing some reading, and there seems to be some question whether the Bialetti makes "real" espresso...whatever that might be. The argument goes that although the moka pot does produce coffee by forcing water through the grinds under pressure, and does produce some crema...it only produces 1.5 - 2.0 BARS, while the International Super Expresso Guys , or whatever the organization is called (it's in the second quote below), says it ain't really espresso unless the pressure is a minimum of 9 BARS.
A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.Along with my hand grinder, it is a bit like going back in time, to virtually purely mechanical devices. The grinder makes only the sound of the beans being crushed by the burrs, a natural, not electrified, sound. And the machine makes no sound at all as the coffee is being dispensed into the cup. No motors whining, no pumps making noise...its a little strange, but delightful.
... by the time the newer electric pump models came out, espresso had become its own drink category, and people had developed a taste for the "little cup." The only change to espresso created by electric pump machines is the introduction of the double espressodouble the water and double the coffee for a drink with the identical concentration and taste.
A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.
The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.
The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...
I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!
http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html
Well, if that's the case, I'll just aim for mediocrity!
Sounds like a full time job.
I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!
Really cool bit of history! Thanks a lot for sharing, and I had been wondering of the etymology of 'espresso.' What an excellent story behind the word.
A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.
The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.
The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...
I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!
http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html
I predict, with all seriousness, that you will report pulling a God Shot, not later than February 26. Really.
A stunningly beautiful machine, congratulations!!! And speaking of going back in time, your new purchase, as well as the foregoing discussion of moka pots, reminded me of some interesting bits of coffee history I ran across recently.
The lovely little moka pot is in fact the direct technological descendent of the steam-powered café-espress machines introduced at the dawn of the 20th century to produce made-to-order coffee quickly. There is some debate about the etymology, but it appears that the term espresso was used to convey both senses of "pressed-out" and "made quickly, expressly for you" coffee. These machines operated at relatively low pressure (about 1 bar). In the 1940s, Gaggia introduced the first lever-operated machine capable of producing 9 bars pressure (of which your new baby is a direct technological descendent). The resulting beverage was first touted as caffé crema, apparently as a marketing ploy to overcome customers' initial skittishness about the "scum" (crema) floating on the surface of their cup, but eventually supplanted the former version to become the "true" espresso we know today.
The lever-operated machines, constrained as they were by the strength of a typical person, could only produce a shot of 1 oz or so at the requisite 9 bar pressure. In 1961, however, when Faema introduced the first electric pump powered machine (featuring the now-ubiquitous E61 brew group), that constraint was removed, and espresso coffee could have become a much larger beverage. However, ...
I thus find it find it somehow very charming that the wonderful and strange "little cups" we enjoy today are linked so inextricably to both historical technology development as well as to the very limitations of our own bodies!
http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-short-history.html
My guess is more like February 29!
It will happen. Be confident. Since I bought my first machine (in, *cough*, 1983, when I was two years old, I swear.......), I have pulled seven God Shots. According to my journal, four of those came within sixty days of buying a new machine, on the new machine.
It is a karmic law of espresso: the universe will grant the gods and muses leave to allow you an early God Shot, and you will then spend the next five years as Sisyphus trying to replicate it.....but that taste, that aroma, that experience will be enough, with all of the other shots.
I predict it will be on Liquid Amber.
Or, you will pull ten God Shots in a row......either is ok.
If you ever get the chance, hit up the coffee museum in Milan. In addition to many wonderful machines, it has what is claimed to be the original of one of the two competing original espresso patents.