Saturday, April 20, 2002


the deed is done -- i'm now the proud owner of a mazzer mini commercial espresso grinder!

yes, upgrade fever gripped my veins. today the participants of the recent coffee party journeyed through some horrible traffic to new jersey to visit our hero jim at 1st-line. with the help of some teriffic croissants from ceci-cela, we survived the trip and arrived just 1 hour late.

once there, we produced a francisfrancis! x1 espresso machine that was literally on the blink. not only did its lights pulse strangely, but we soon discovered that its owner's fears were all too true: its thermostat was set too low, so it made terrible (and cold!) espresso. we left it there for repair and then moved to playing with jim's demo machines -- his livia, his electronic mini grimac with the e61 grouphead, and his la pavoni europiccola (aka the chrome peacock).

the owner of the broken francisfrancis! was much taken by the thought of the pavoni, but a sample use soon showed the limitations of these beautiful machines. they hold very little water, meaning you can make only a few cups of coffee before you have to let the machine cool down. and when you remove the portafilter between shots, you are often liable to get splattered with hot coffee grounds!

i loved seeing the e61 circular grouphead jutting off the front of the grimac. these groupheads are interesting because they are actively heated by circulating water, unlike the machines most home espresso fans are used to, which are passively heated as the entire machine warms up. and we know a hot grouphead and a hot portafilter means better espresso!

while the grimac wasn't nearly as lovely as the livia -- few things are; pictures just don't livia justice -- i still enjoyed playing with a commercial-type machine. after we worked to improve our coffee technique on the machines for a while, pulling shots under jim's watchful eye, he made us some coffee. i drank it, and thought it was pretty good. only then did he tell us that it was decaf! his 1st cup brand of coffee was new to me; and i have to say, it didn't taste like decaf at all. i would never, never have guessed that decaf could have such a full flavor.

finally we collected more fresh-roasted malabar gold for absent friends; jim gave us some old coffee sacks as souvenirs; and we headed off to have artichoke pizza at di fara's. all in all, a very good day.

check back tomorrow for first report on the new mazzer. i'll have to dial it in -- that is, experiment to find a setting that grinds the coffee fine enough to give me a 25-second pour from my little silvia. that usually takes some time. so i'll need patience in the morning! wish me luck. . . also, this means i'll be looking to sell my italgi jr./lux. i just don't have space for three coffee grinders!

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