Oh yeah, shift the blame to us Seth. ;) I'd really like to see pics of what the typical CGer's coffee niche looked like before they spiffed it up for the beauty shots. Better still, let's have a contest for the filthiest and ugliest setups? Now those pics you could safely show to the spouse. Give everyone a week to submit their pics & then have a moderator setup a poll for us to judge the biggest swine? Enjoy!
Well, I've since cleaned up my act, but in the beginning, I took serious note of this setup in the Central Valley of California, just North of the Taft oil fields. (Photo is actually the backside of the owner's postcard that he sent to me.)
Driven by a 38 h.p. steam engine, the grinder, (as I was told by the 93 year old , ex-oil worker barista), would throw grounds in "....every which direction!" His wife, a healthy 88 year old waitress, as he related, repeatedly warned him that "...........if you ever, ever bring that darn coffee contraption home, and I find it in the kitchen, you'll be found stiffer than the froth that comes out'a that 3" downpipe steam wand on your cart!!!" (At his age of 93 I was pretty sure she was refering to his entire body at room temperature!)
While I don't know what happened to Harvey the barista.......I did hear that he eventually moved his setup back home to their Bakersfield farm house. I believe he reinvested in a Gaggia Compact Super Auto?
Best, Al (....simply a mere conduit....and in response to Tex' most excellent suggestion that we share) :)
Well, while I've since cleaned up my act, but in the beginning, I took serious note of this setup in the Central Valley of California, just North of the Taft oil fields. (Photo is actually the backside of the owner's postcard that he sent to me.) Driven by a 38 h.p. steam engine, the grinder, as I was told by the 93 year old , ex-oil worker-barista, would throw grounds in "....every which direction!" His wife, a healthy 88 year old waitress, as he related, repeatedly warned him that "...........if you ever, ever bring that darn coffee contraption home, and I find it in the kitchen, you'll be found stiffer than the froth that comes out'a that 3" downpipe steam wand on your cart!!!" (At his age of 93 I was pretty sure she was refering to his entire body at room temperature!)
While I don't know what happened to Harvey the barista.......I did hear that he eventually moved his setup back home to their Bakersfield farm house. I believe he reinvested in a Gaggia Compact Super Auto?
Best, Al (....simply a mere conduit....and in response to Tex' most excellent suggestion that we share) :)
alsterling Senior Member Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 682 Location: Dana Point, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La Spaziale S1 (Had Expo) Grinder: Macap M4 & Gaggia MDF Vac Pot: Not yet... Drip: Capresso MT-500 & Melitta... Roaster: Hottop Digital
Posted Sat Apr 7, 2007, 3:45pm Subject: Re: Espresso Shrines
Tim........we've got overcast skies here in South Orange County, CA, and I'm sitting on the couch working the laptop. I read your "click here" items, and did the Mazzer. What a genius idea on removing the doser and using the soda bottle!!! I have been telling friends that it doesn't make sense to pay more or near equal for a doserless "anything", when for instance on the Macap, you can easily remove the doser and make a chute. But your approach resolves a bunch of doserless modification issues. Brilliant!
Best, Al
.........and I thought my ACME SEMI-AUTO GRINDER was a genius idea!?
Hi Tim. great setup. Is that the Mazzer you repainted? Looks awesome. Hows the Anita treating you? i bet it destroys your gaggia hahaha :) nice tampers as well :)
Posted Sat Apr 7, 2007, 6:51pm Subject: Re: Espresso Shrines
alsterling Said:
Tim........we've got overcast skies here in South Orange County, CA, and I'm sitting on the couch working the laptop. I read your "click here" items, and did the Mazzer. What a genius idea on removing the doser and using the soda bottle!!! I have been telling friends that it doesn't make sense to pay more or near equal for a doserless "anything", when for instance on the Macap, you can easily remove the doser and make a chute. But your approach resolves a bunch of doserless modification issues. Brilliant!
Best, Al
.........and I thought my ACME SEMI-AUTO GRINDER was a genius idea!?
Hi Tim. great setup. Is that the Mazzer you repainted? Looks awesome. Hows the Anita treating you? i bet it destroys your gaggia hahaha :) nice tampers as well :)
Awesome. I custom ordered 2 Reg Barb to fit my 18gram+ baskets (my favorite all around basket) that I ordered from espressoparts (i assume they are the synesso but i may be wrong) I ordered the stainless steel C -Flat base and the Euro curve base and a tall brushed aluminum handle. Reg Barb measured my basket and it is 58.5mm. so it'll be a perfect fit :) I wonder if an exact fit makes a difference...i'll find out when they arrive. I guess i no longer need tampers haha. (i have a reg barb wood short american curve as well...so ill be able to change pistons..woo hoo.
alsterling Senior Member Joined: 28 Dec 2005 Posts: 682 Location: Dana Point, CA Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La Spaziale S1 (Had Expo) Grinder: Macap M4 & Gaggia MDF Vac Pot: Not yet... Drip: Capresso MT-500 & Melitta... Roaster: Hottop Digital
Posted Sun Apr 8, 2007, 10:22am Subject: Re: Espresso Shrines
JV Said:
.............I wonder if an exact fit makes a difference...i'll find out when they arrive. I guess i no longer need tampers haha. (i have a reg barb wood short american curve as well...so ill be able to change pistons..woo hoo......alrighty i am ranting haha. cheers
JV, I recently received 2 new double baskets for my S1. When I bought the S1 last year, I also purchased an RB flat face SS with short wood handle and an extra PF. With both PF's I immediately noticed that the clearance between the tamper and the inside dimension of both baskets was much more than I had noticed with my earlier setup; an all stainless tamper and Expobar Pulsar basket. (58mm). Just recently I decided to deal with the tamper-basket misfit. (If in fact it really was a misfit?)
The reason I mentioned this is because the specific issue I had with the undersized tamper......or in this case, the oversized baskets, was that every tamp was accompanied by coffee grounds being blown up the sides of the basket; there was, in my opinion, too much clearance. I still got good extractions, but the mismatch bothered me.
When I called my machine supplier, they related that they had a different PF basket vendor when I bought my machine last year. They've since, evidently, gone to another vendor or maybe back to their earlier vendor. Point being, the variance in basket inside diameters was enough to be noted. I've now got 4 double baskets for the 2 PF's, and find that of all four baskets, only one is what I consider a good fit to my tamper. There's enough clearance to achieve a good, deep tamp, but not so much I've got grounds blowing up the sides.
Personally, I'm not convinced that a 53mm basket, as on the S1, is the optimal size. Something tells me that a larger effective area, as with the 58mm baskets, is more forgiving in the extraction setup. While it's a point of interest, the end results are evidently the same. And like so much in espresso, I've read opinion on both sides. I've also visited machine resellers who demo their new machines, and barely tamp the grounds at all? Go figure??! I'm thinking it's all personal preference; certainly a question that could foster a new post.
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