jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Fri Sep 17, 2004, 8:46pm Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
My grandparents had a restaurant. One day, when I was five, this big chrome thing was sitting on the counter. It had a facetted body, like a Fuller dome or the in-the-newsTelstar satellite, a huge lever, and lots of pipes and guages.
I was instantly hooked.
Unfortunately, the espresso sucked, since nobody in Munich knew how to roast or blend for the machine.
It took Mark's older site, http://coffeekid.com, an SL70, Mulino, and Freshroast, then alt.coffee, to change the long years of forgettable espresso into something that was worth obsessing about.
Posted Sun Sep 19, 2004, 5:16am Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
Ever since I can remember, I've always liked coffee yoghurt. I never really drank coffee until I joined the military. Coffee was a necessity 'cause of the wacked-up hours. Cream and sugar were the norm.
When I met my girlfriend (future wife), she drank coffee and espresso. She had one of those funky stove-top pots. It was alright. We would hit coffee shops and I would get a mocha/cappuchino. She would give me crap for ruining the coffee with "stuff". Finally I wanted a machine because hitting the shops and bookstores was getting expensive. I got a Krups and it made decent milk based drinks. The first time I used it, I was trying to get it right and not wanting to waste my first shots, I would drink them. After four, I declared that I got it. She just got home from work at that time and was laughing because I was hanging from the ceiling.
After a while, the Krups was getting a little tired. I found a website called starbucked.com about some guy getting burned by a similiarly named company. That led me to the espressotop50 web-site where there were lots of sites and shiny, pricey toys. After reading recommendations about the Silvia, I took the plunge and got one. It was soo cool and heavy. Trying to learn more about it led me to coffeekid's site which led to here. The real turning point was reading about the Silvia and how to use it correctly to make good espresso. Until then, I would brew as soon as the light went out. I ordered some Perugia blend after reading a review and that stuff was amazing.
I've learned a lot here and continue to. Thanks to all!
I drink espresso so I can work longer, so I can make more money, so I can drink more espresso, so I can work longer, so I can make more money, so I can drink more espresso...
peterthepiper Senior Member Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 253 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Pro Barista
Espresso: La Marzocco FB80/Synesso... Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano... Drip: Fetco/Chemex/Clover
Posted Sun Sep 19, 2004, 11:51am Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
I started off as a kid of 15/16 (only a few years ago), drinking the occasional sweet/milk based drink. I realized that drinking a latte a day was kind of expensive and that I couldn't taste the coffee anyway. So, I started drinking drip. The drip coffee was bitter and I didn't like that. So, I decided for the same price, I could buy shots of espresso. That was my initial revelation. From there, I graduated from shop to shop, tasting better espresso along the way. One definitive moment recently was going to 2% Jazz in Victoria and being treated as a CG, not like some kid who doesn't know anything.
There's more points of course, but that's for later.
johannabanana Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Vienna, Europe Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La San Marco 1,2,+3group,... Grinder: 2 LSM, 3 Tourmix, 1 demoka... Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Melitta aroma boy,... Roaster: Precision & Mr. Gunter :-D
Posted Sat Dec 25, 2004, 5:27pm Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
Just found that ol' thread, well, didn't really have much time to visit CG rescently, too. As some of you might know I opened my own shop in the meantime. But you wouldn't believe that I haven't been drinking coffee 5 years ago.. :-D My husband loved cappuccinos. We bought a fully automatic aquaviva espresso machine for the kittchen. I started playing around with recipies, had fun making good foam...until I found a book about "home roasting coffee". As I always loved to experiment in the kittchen with food and spices, this was a new playground for me. Bought a Hearthware Precision, found CoffeeGeek, and suddenly I explored the world of coffee. Met nice people, tried latte art, found my micro roaster with whome I became friends in the meantime, upgraded to a better machine, finally bought several old gastronomy espresso machines, repaired them myself and one year ago I started searching a location for my own place. Why? Because I found out that in my "City of coffee - Vienna" we do have a Coffee-House culture - but no Coffee-Culture! So that was my new challenge! Making it better - I knew I could. So, there where several define moments in my espresso odyssey - and there will be many more I am looking forward to. But if you wanted to know the most exitend ones - well, the first one was when my first machine I reassembled made her first shot....and the next one would be the first espresso I have sold to a customer in my shop.
greetings Joey
PS.: Thanks for mentioning the MC, Steve ;-)
"Do everything right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest." (Mark Twain)
Posted Sat Dec 25, 2004, 6:16pm Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
I was in Salzburg a few months ago. I sure wish I could have made it to Vienna!!
I've been drinking coffee since I was about 14 or so (24 now), but it was always a very casual experience with little appreciation for the brew (because there was little to appreciate, believe me!). My town didn't even get a Starbucks until a few years ago, so my first experience with espresso and espress-based drinks was at some of the local shops. I was around 16 when I first experienced espresso, but I wasn't intrigued; looking back with what I know now it was a really bad experience. I developed an affinity for a cappa or a latte, and that became my drink of choice for many years; it was something I took time out of my day, every day, to enjoy. At that time it was more about the moment than the espresso. I enjoyed going to a coffee shop with a book and sipping on a cappa for a while. I simply hadn't been exposed to the wonderful world of specialty coffee.
So, after a few years of exhausting what the local shops had to offer I became somewhat disgusted with the lack of quality in the cup. I didn't even know the likes of Intelligentsia/Hines/Stumptown/etc. existed, but I knew there *had* to be more. Half the time my milk was scalded, the espresso was sour, or something else. After sipping one last cappa made with scalded milk I decided that I could do better, so I sought online resources. One of the first that I found was CG, and I was immediately intrigued. I *had* to have that which so many CGers spoke of so enthusiastically and romantically. Fast forward a year or so later, a few toy machines, and I'm so very glad I was exposed to this world that I had no idea existed until that first Google search.
johannabanana Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Vienna, Europe Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La San Marco 1,2,+3group,... Grinder: 2 LSM, 3 Tourmix, 1 demoka... Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Melitta aroma boy,... Roaster: Precision & Mr. Gunter :-D
Posted Sun Dec 26, 2004, 5:53am Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
Salzburg - how nice! Next time make sure you stop by Vienna, it's just 3 hours by car from there. Some make it in 2,5...depending on the car ;-D BTW, I met a CG member in my shop!!! (Hi Roland!) He "outed" himself and I was happy to find a fellow geek to talk coffee. joey
"Do everything right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest." (Mark Twain)
malachi Senior Member Joined: 5 May 2002 Posts: 1,735 Location: se portland, or Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Mistrals, Linea, Briccoletta Grinder: Roburs, Super Jollys,... Vac Pot: Hario, Bodum, Cona Drip: never Roaster: Probat 60kg, 15kg, 5kg,...
Posted Sun Dec 26, 2004, 10:18am Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
for me, there have been a series of defining moments and memories - and i know that this list will continue to grow over time (one of the things i love best about coffee).
1 - as a boy, after months of begging, being allowed to go with my father and my uncle and their (all male) friends down to the caffe bar for "the usual" and some impassioned "discussion" (the real reason for the trip). i think it was this experience that made me feel such a strong emotional bond with coffee bars and the social community they represent and could, thus, be responsible for my career.
2 - later, as a young man, having an espresso in the airport in Pisa and realizing that it was better than any coffee i had tasted in the US and understanding that this was why i didn't drink coffee at home. and comprehending that it was not just the coffee that was so good - it was (again) the social structure around that coffee (the balance of seriousness and ordinariness).
3 - being served a short cappuccino by David Schomer that transported me back to memories of Italy and suddenly realizing that the coffee, at the very least, could be duplicated here in the US after all. perhaps it will never be possible to duplicate the social structure and the social mechanisms that enable coffee in Italy to be what it is. but people are trying to create something that is, at the least, an adaptation that allows those who want a quality coffee experience to get that.
4 - sitting at Toronado with Duane Sorenson, talking about coffee, and realizing that not only was i not too obsessed with coffee - not only was i not too passionate about espresso - i might actually be taking it all too lightly! and suddenly seeing that it could be possible to create the combination of quality coffee and quality experience right now in the US.
Posted Wed Dec 29, 2004, 6:43pm Subject: Re: Definitive moments in your espresso-odyssey!!
For me the defining moment was a definite high point on a long road. I've always been a 'foodie', and had fond memories of the coffee I'd had in Uruguay and then Italy in the early sixties. My attempts at re-creating those remembered drinks led me to ordering fresh roasted beans for my Capresso equipment. Much better, but something still eluded me. Then at a shop in Chicago, I realized that it was espresso that I was chasing. This led to a steam toy (an improvement over drip, but...), then a NIB Briel off Ebay. Much better, but still... I did weeks of research, found CG, and exchanged emails with Chris. His patient responses led me to a better grinder and the Zaffiro. The first shot that I drank (those failing the CG time/volume guidelines were tossed) was an epiphany. I swear I heard a murmur of Italian voices in the background. True espresso enlightenment was now in sight, courtesy of CG and Chris' Coffee. Now I've PIDed the machine, decrotched one of my PFs, and I'm a happily caffeinated man.
"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." A. Brilliant
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