Espresso for Christmas!!

Equipment, technique, or just drinking the stuff

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Espresso for Christmas!!

Postby phil » Wed Dec 10, 2003 10:22 pm

Hoorah! I'll be having espresso for Christmas!

I just heard today that my Gaggia is totally fixed and upgraded and ready to come home.

Tomorrow I have the water people coming to bring a hard water feed over to where the Gaggia lives when it's at home. Yes you heard right, hard water. This is because I was previously using water straight from my domestic softened supply. Domestic water softeners use ion exchange resins to replace the calcium ions in the water with sodium ions, so for a long time I was making coffee with very dilute brine! Then the softener broke and flooded my Gaggia with salt, which helped break it. Scott (the commercial espresso engineer who sold me the machine) was always going to come over and fit a filter for me (I asked for one originally but he "forgot") but then as many of you know Scott lost the plot over just about everything from what I hear.

The hard water feed will then be run through a decalcification unit which doesn't use an ion exchange unit, and also allows a hard water feed into the softened output so that you can adjust the resulting hardness. This is the kind of softener used for commercial outlets. The benefits of this will be :
  • No extra salt in my coffee or my espresso machine
  • I can make espresso with water that is sufficiently hard to extract the right amount of flavour. Soft water doesn't work too well for coffee.

Hey maybe I'll get my geeks credentials back after all!
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Postby Raf » Thu Dec 11, 2003 9:42 am

Good news, Phil. Enjoy your espresso!
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby DrZeus » Thu Dec 11, 2003 10:23 am

Woo hoo! You gonna roast something special for Christmas?
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Postby phil » Thu Dec 11, 2003 10:59 am

The kids maybe? No? Well I've got some JBM and some KBM but I'm saving those for press-pot or vac-pot. I've got a bit of Schomer's Espresso Vivace Dolce to use up, some Malabar Gold ditto, and then a veritable Aladdin's Cave of blending ingredients for espresso. (Note to self - must get some of Tom's new Brazilians before they're all gone).

I guess I'm a bit low on Moka and Indos in general, but low means down to my last couple of kilos of each so I guess I'll be OK.:lol:

Ahh, choices, choices....

(The water man is doing his thing downstairs as I type. We're on track! You can tell I'm excited can't you?)
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Postby Steve » Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:02 am

thats great news mate pleased ya gettin the baby back :)
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Postby DrZeus » Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:12 am

You make me sick. ;)

I have about a total of 1 kilo left (divided up into 7 origins). Still experimenting and deciding which ones I like best. My first roast of Djimmah was aweful, so I roasted it darker this time, and to my delight, it was really good. I roasted a batch of Costa Rica San Marcos de Tarrazu yesterday -- a little darker than I intended (dark Full City) -- and I'll try it today.

I'm afraid I haven't been very methodical about any of this. :) Just having too much fun, I guess, darn it.
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Postby HughF » Thu Dec 11, 2003 3:33 pm

Glad to hear about your Christmas present Phil.

Also glad to hear someone being enthusiastic about Djimmah home-roasted; I ordered 1Kg from Monmouth to substitute for Horse Harrar in the JS espresso blend and wound up with 2.5Kg as there was too small a quantity left for their roaster to handle. Seems decent for both espresso blend and roasted pre-2nd for press.

Thought I was going to to have to ditch my favourite 0.1g scales but buying a set of metric weights and re-calibrating seems to have fixed it (new batteries didn't) - before that, the last two espresso sessions were a complete disaster without it. E-61s and rotaries may be very tolerant of inaccuracy but the little Carezza certainly isn't.

Merry Christmas to all,

Hugh
Grinders : Macap MXK conical for espresso, Mahlkoenig Vario for Chemex, Macap MC6 (spare when our office was closed) for cafetiere, Zassenhaus Knee Mill for cafetiere when working away from home.
La Spaziale Vivaldi S1 espresso machine. HotTop KN8828P roaster. Chemex manual drip for most brewed coffee plus cafetieres and eSantos.
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Postby phil » Tue Dec 16, 2003 10:58 am

Woo hoo. Only two hours to go!
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Postby Raf » Tue Dec 16, 2003 11:08 am

Good luck, Phil! (Meanwhile, K and I have decided that for Xmas, we want a Mazzer! I just called the Belgian importer of the thing and they're to contact me. )
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby phil » Tue Dec 16, 2003 11:17 am

Good idea! I want one too, but I don't think Allyson's quite ready to let me take that step (the repairs, modifications, de-calcifier and changes to the plumbing add up to more than a Mazzer anyway :()
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Postby Raf » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:28 pm

Bit of a letdown: no MM in Belgium, they only sell the Jolly. There's Belgium for you: we don't have the whole range of products, we'll decide for you what you want to buy. So that leaves me with driving to espresso service west to get it (@ 365 euro) or buying it from that contact of Joey's (@ 360, incl shipping), or buying it together with Joey at 5 % discount but driving to VIenna to pick it up. Really, the choices you have to make sometimes. And since the tax man is on my case (yes, it was a great day, thank you), K wants to wait until we know what the damage is going to be.
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby Sunnyfield » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:32 pm

why not post-order from esw.nl?
La Marzocco GS/3, Elektra Nino, Feima 800N solid drum gas roaster
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Postby Raf » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:39 pm

Because then it would be more expensive than the 360 euro I get from Joey's contact.
This week I am eagerly anticipating the first god shots from my La Spaziale machine....

La Spaziale S1, Vibiemme Domobar (retd), Mazzer Mini Electronic, Behmor 1600 230V
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Postby Sunnyfield » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:52 pm

But The Hague is around the corner, Erfurt is not. You may need your warranty!? Just a thought!
La Marzocco GS/3, Elektra Nino, Feima 800N solid drum gas roaster
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Postby phil » Tue Dec 16, 2003 11:26 pm

Yes, well, lest I die of jealousy listening to you guys getting ready to buy Mazzers, I should say that :

Baby is back in the house!

And both groups are now hot enough! Yay, 2 group production line! Espresso party?
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