Posted Sat Oct 20, 2012, 9:41pm Subject: Espresso 101 Charrette: Sunday, November 4th @ Cafe Demitasse (Little Tokyo, LA)
After a few months hiatus I have finally had the energy to put together another Coffee Charrette. This one's a little different. At the request of Bobby (owner of Demitasse), this one is going to be an Espresso 101 class-of-sorts. This is a "give back to the local coffee community" sort of event, very similar to a lot of exchanges that go on on these boards, except in person. I'm working with Bobby to figure out what is Espresso 101 and what is Home Espresso 101. There will a vintage Livietta (mine) and a prosumer HX machine graciously provided by Astra, and of course grinders for each. There will be several Demitasse baristas there to provide practical tips and guidance. There will be some instruction and presentation at the beginning (and handouts for late comers) and then from there on out we will be pulling shots, experimenting, and hopefully helping out people relatively new to making espresso with some supportive hands-on-a-portafilter experience. The emphasis will be heavy on actually pulling shots. Lots of shots. Demitasse will be providing the beans and the baristas. I'll be arranging the gear and accessories. All you have to do is show up, hopefully having had a bit to eat and some extra water.
If you know anyone in the LA just starting out making espresso at home and looking for some support, this is the Charrette for them.
If you really like explaining the importance of consistance dose weights and why an HX needs to be flushed, please drop by and help some less experienced shot pullers out.
If you want to let loose and do all sorts of blind tasting and triangulating and whatever else you can think of doing with a huge hopper full of beans that you didn't pay for, we want you to come and share in the spro-love.
Update: Forgot the time. It starts at 10:00am and will go to noon or later (no one is going to get sent home, but there is a limit to the amount of espresso that one can consume in a morning)
Posted Fri Nov 2, 2012, 4:14pm Subject: Re: Espresso 101 Charrette: Sunday, November 4th
I am very happy to say that I have just returned home with an Astra Pro on loan from Richard at Atra Manufacturing. I recently sold my Atra G.A.P. and am a strong admirer of Astras machines. This "little" guy is stainless inside and out including the boiler, has a thermosiphon e61 style group, commercial Siria p-stat, and a Fluid-O-Tech 1106 vibe pump. I'm excited to have Astra's involvement and support. If you are interested in taking part in a grudge match between two $1700 prosumer HXs (bolt on group vs thermosiphon), come on down to Demitasse this Sunday!
Posted Fri Nov 2, 2012, 8:19pm Subject: Re: Espresso 101 Charrette: Sunday, November 4th
I forgot to ask...I will confirm it tomorrow (after bed time is not coffee grinding time), the disperson screen is a slightly different design, but the block looks similar to the one on my non-self-tamping G.A.P. I'm afraid I have an update that Pasquini does not have a Livia 90 to loan us. I will probably clean up one of the Liviettas and bring that instead. I has hoping to have a current machine for people to check out...but thats OK. Bobby has a PID-less Silvia that he has offered to bring, but I don't know if I want to introduce temp surfing to the mix.
Posted Fri Nov 2, 2012, 8:49pm Subject: Re: Espresso 101 Charrette: Sunday, November 4th
OK, sorry about not posting the time, I hand't confirmed it with Bobby when I started this thread. The workshop starts at 10:00am and I'm guessing that things will be wrapping up around noon.
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