Revisiting some old posts

Apparently WordPress’s editor lets you drag and drop images on to a post, but if you do that, it silently deletes all of the post’s contents. Manually selecting “add image” is doing the trick. Third try is a charm.

I was reminded of one of my early posts, from 2008 when I saw this sign:

Free Beer / Great WiFi very much reminds me of Think Bank / Big Smart.

When looking up that post, I saw my espresso setup from 2008. I loved that machine – we had a Rancilio for the first 25 years of our marriage, and they’ve worked great. When we upgraded machines, we found new homes for our older ones, and most of them have been in daily use for > 30 years now. (wow). Well, we’ve upgraded again (and found a home for that PID controlled Rancilio) – to a Slayer Espresso, which I found used on Craigslist. Further, since 2008, I’ve started roasting coffee, and now buy green beans in 65lb bags from Genuine Origin. What a hobby! The shots are gorgeous, and more importantly, are delicious.

Slayer Espresso, view of the bottomless portafilter

My favorite coffee discovery since 2008 is how to make delicious shots out of either lighter- or darker-roasted coffee. I chronicle this discovery over on my webpage.

Perhaps a little overboard?

Sylvia PID #1

In the past few months, the seriousness of my “coffee hobby” has escalated. I bought a coffee roaster, a “Gene Cafe,”  and I installed a PID-controller, which is a computer-controlled thermostat. While I don’t think that everyone I know should follow these footsteps, I certainly am getting mighty-fine coffee out of my setup.

A couple weeks ago, Heidi and I collaborated with our friend and neighbor David Griswold, founder of Sustainable Harvest coffee company, on an auction item for our children’s school, Sunnyside Environmental. We hosted a coffee seminar: David described the origins of coffee, growing, harvesting, processing and importing. Heidi lead a cupping of coffee’s from around the world, as well as a comparison of different roasts. Finally, I described brewing techniques, culminating in making espresso drinks for everyone. It was a blast.

Sometime soon I’ll add photos of my PID controller and roaster at work…

(2016 edit: stuck in an image of what my machine more-or less looks like, since WordPress lost my original picture)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Rediscovering my love of espresso

My new machine + Cafe D’Arte rocks!

Check out this gorgeous coffee…It’s literally the case that I can’t wait to wake up each morning because my “caffeine-meter” has been reset:  I get to drink more coffee!

I understand Morabbin’s machine just arrived.  I look forward to experimenting with different beans and exchanging notes. Ahhhhh, the sweet nectar of espresso.

(2016 edit: WordPress broke the link, here’s a picture of the machine as I got it 9 years ago)

Read and post comments | Send to a friend