BTLeimsidor wrote:You simply want a coffee that is strong enough to carry the milk in your macchiato, cappuccino, or caffè con latte.

I think you mean "Italians simply want..." because I sure don't. I demand good espresso in my latte as I can definitely tell the difference.

+1. Apparently, you've never had a really good cappuccino, macchiato, or latte. Good espresso makes all the difference, even in drinks with milk. Otherwise, everyone would just drink Starbucks and there wouldn't be a problem.

Yes Jason you're correct, I made a mind-shortcut saying the steam boiler on a HX can never be turned off while you keep the machine on, and, that steam boiler gets hotter then the brew boiler, and - that's actually true for Vivaldi and I don't know other machines - the brew boiler is smaller then the steam boiler, and uses less powerfull heating element. Too many shortcuts in one sentece though

takeshi wrote:I think you mean "Italians simply want..." because I sure don't. I demand good espresso in my latte as I can definitely tell the difference.

Beezer wrote:+1. Apparently, you've never had a really good cappuccino, macchiato, or latte. Good espresso makes all the difference, even in drinks with milk. Otherwise, everyone would just drink Starbucks and there wouldn't be a problem.

I was going to share my experience with my guests, who enjoy a cappuccino and can appreciate variance of the shot it was made with - but I read the location of the OP and gave up, because I live elsewhere, and from the post it looks like he's talking about his experience with the people who live there. So maybe it's true there. Also, so many people drink instant coffee... we here have the 'hopla', as one of my friends considers I have (means being particularly crazy about something )