Do I have something wonderful to share? Yes I do!

[maxd]

OK, bit of backstory: many, MANY years ago I was a poor grunt in the film industry and on a whim decided to move into a neighbourhood that was more or less the “bohemian” part of town. The hope was that the local concert spaces and coffee shops would be a great place to meet people in the film biz and rub shoulders. That bit was a total fail! Turned out the film biz people only used that part of town as sets for grotty, run-down locations that were supposed to be where criminals and druggies spent their days hanging out between bouts of their preferred recreational activity.

However, just next door to said “bohemian” space was an Italian neighbourhood that had been there long before the bohemians showed up. And they had the best coffee shops, by far. And so it was that between hangovers, lay-over hours and fits of screenwriting fervour I discovered espresso. REAL espresso, not coffee flooded with foofy foam and watered down with tepid milky nonsense. This was Italian espresso and it only came in wee cups because that’s how real espresso was served. Strong, a good head of crema and always, ALWAYS with a little sweet thing on the side.

OK, I digress. Now, after 30+ years of pining for a “real” coffee I now share my kitchen space with this:

It’s the La Pavoni Europiccola, a fully manual machine for forcing hot water through coffee grounds and creating glory. And no, that’s not my kitchen and that’s not my little beaker of milky nonsense back there. Just a good picture of the thing to capture the essence of the marvellous little beastie. Sure it huffs and puffs and belches a bit of steam but it is wonderfully old school, it makes espresso as good as you are able to make it — including perfection if your skills are up to it — and that’s it! Oh, it does have a steam wand on the side if you need to abuse your dairy products.

So yeah, that’s my wonderful thing these days. SO happy to have it after all these years and it’s everything I hoped for.

I hope you had a wonderful thing today too.

- Max

 

[bgallick]

Very nice - enjoy.

 

[Jono777]

Despite being a coffee lover, never tried expresso nor making anything more exciting that Nescafe instant

Maybe if that day ever comes (hope not) that I finally have to PAB, we can discuss it face to face over a coffee or two

Enjoy!

 

[Webzcas]

Aha, you have a better machine than what we have.!! This is what we have

We had before this a trusty coffee machine that ground the beans. This one it is optional and comes with a standalone bean grinder. Worth every penny IMO!

 

[mulven]

I need to hand back my british passport (getting an Irish one for free movement anyways) as I've never drank tea or coffee once.

 

[maxd]

Aha, you have a better machine than what we have.!! This is what we have
...

Ah, you’re a better man than I. I had a machine like that years and years ago, a Gaggia I think it was. I gave it away because I just couldn’t get over the fact that I had basically zero control over the thing, mine was just push the button and you get what you get. Drove me mental! I swore I’d never get another espresso maker until I could get a fully manual machine. Solved that problem now.

... I've never drank tea or coffee once.

I knew a guy, a Scotsman in fact, who was the same, hated hot drinks of any sort. Drank beer like there was no tomorrow but never tea or coffee. Maybe it’s a Scots thing, some weird gene from the dusty recesses of time.

- Max

 

[mulven]

Ah, you’re a better man than I. I had a machine like that years and years ago, a Gaggia I think it was. I gave it away because I just couldn’t get over the fact that I had basically zero control over the thing, mine was just push the button and you get what you get. Drove me mental! I swore I’d never get another espresso maker until I could get a fully manual machine. Solved that problem now.


I knew a guy, a Scotsman in fact, who was the same, hated hot drinks of any sort. Drank beer like there was no tomorrow but never tea or coffee. Maybe it’s a Scots thing, some weird gene from the dusty recesses of time.

- Max

I'm just a massive hydrohomie I guess. I don't drink fizzy drinks or alcohol either. Just mostly water and some juice. I do have a hot chocolate once in a blue moon.

Orange lucozade sport slaps though.

 

[maxd]

For years I’ve been drinking coffee of all sorts: pour over, French Press, Aeropress, Turkish, cowboy — though never percolated — but espresso has always been the "real thing" for me. Tried to introduce it to the guy that got me into coffee in the first place and he couldn’t stand it, had no time for it whatsoever. 35 years later I'm as baffled as the day he told me “thanks but no thanks”. Even to this day I sometimes wonder if he wasn’t just having a bit of a giggle.

- Max

 

[dunover]

For years I’ve been drinking coffee of all sorts: pour over, French Press, Aeropress, Turkish, cowboy — though never percolated — but espresso has always been the "real thing" for me. Tried to introduce it to the guy that got me into coffee in the first place and he couldn’t stand it, had no time for it whatsoever. 35 years later I'm as baffled as the day he told me “thanks but no thanks”. Even to this day I sometimes wonder if he wasn’t just having a bit of a giggle.

- Max

Espresso is whisky neat as opposed to a latte being a pint of lager.

 

[maxd]

Well said! And I’ve always been a whisky neat kind of guy.

- Max

 

[maxd]

Actually, a whisky and a pint was always pretty nice too come to think of it. Though a latte with an espresso chaser would be a big odd: skip the latte and double up on the espresso I’d say!

- Max

 

[goatwack]

Having drunk copious amounts of instant coffee and things masquerading as coffee, I'd not pay much heed to whatever sludge was available at whatever workplace, bemused at those that would use ground coffee or things that seemed 'a bit extravagant' for no discernible difference.

Those communal, Viking Direct pots of Nescafe Instant were as good as it got, like what we'd drink at home, but planet-sized. Why bother with anything else?

Then I discovered it was pure filth and elevated my coffee game, digging coffee machines, different roasts and all things that were a cut above, and became 'that guy'. Very rarely would I drink the instants of yore, choosing to drink very few, but much higher quality ones these days....

A fine coffee machine indeed, the sort of thing that piques my interest nowadays, the artistry in the process, as opposed to clumsily filling a half-washed cup with boiled tap water and stirring commercialized goop into sweetened mud water!

I know these contraptions can be quite costly, and rightly so, and likely to last a fair while. Once there, there's no going back. The likes of lattes and 'concentrated' types of coffee like that aren't really to be caned throughout the day, and as such, so strong that water is drunk before, so as to dilute its strength etc

Yet in the more traditional sense, nothing beats an Americano as my vice of choice. Magnifique!