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I kind of miss my Mininova, but this new lever thing is really working out... just not when friends want coffee, too.
I need to figure out the best way to haul my Mininova up here for next semester.
Paired with the LSM grinder, I will put the *$ across the street out of business.

Here's my effort. More a grotto than a shrine.

jgriff wrote:I know this is a little OT, but now that I've had Anita for almost a year I really don't understand all the fuss over the No-Burn stuff. I would appreciate having the better valves on mine, and having them pivot around in any direction would be nice, but the no-burn feature has never seemed that important to me. Hot wand=don't touch, except for the little rubber on it. Do other people get burned that much, or is it that much easier to clean?

Yeah, I have to say that I don't really get it either. I'm sure that they must be easier to clean than steam tips that have a lot of flat surfaces, like the Synesso steam tip. I know that I have a steam tip floating around that has a whole bunch of ridges on it so that you can get some grip when you're screwing it on and off. That thing holds milk like no other. I have heard that it is an Isomac tip, but I'm not sure. The no-burn wand requires one or two wipes with a damp cloth to clean, as do most of the decent steam wands that I have used.

A friend of mine had a machine with a no-burn wand and he ended up having to remove the plastic inner tube because his steam was spurting ... I think that the tube might have melted or something. He said that it was then a super-burn wand because the outside of the wand was quite thin.

The one thing that does kind of make sense to me is that the holes seem to aim a bit straighter forward than some of the standard prosumer machine steam tip, which seems to make them a bit more intuitive to use. That has absolutely zero to do with the "no-burn" factor, but I still think that it's a pretty cool feature. Seems to me that the "no burn" thing is just something cool that can be marketed, in the same way that marketing spiels make a big deal of bigger numbers (how many $150 machines have you seen that advertise an 18 bar pump).

Just my $0.02,

Luca

espressme wrote:Cheers to all, I like to see folks that have a nice place to enjoy their machines! I sometimes envy you the space!
Just an average day in the life of my counter, Cremina across the room by the sink. Faces change as I try new things / machines to enjoy.
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Richard / Espressme

Married home baristas take note: pictures like Richard's are invaluable for persuading your spouse how reasonable your own purchases are. My benchmark used to be Andy Schecter's Frankensilvia counter, but, I think it's #2 now.

When we bought our condo, it already had an (ugly) wet bar. We were thinking of tearing it out, when I realized we could have it rebuilt into a dedicated espresso bar. Ken Fox and Jim Schulman saw this project when it started (over a year ago - we also did the kitchen). Now it's done. In the first pic, the poster is a David Lance Goines of a Faemina. Mr. Espresso in Oakland (a wholesale roaster) commissions these posters every year or so from Goines, who also does the Chez Panisse artwork. Thanks to Roger Barrett for letting me know about it. [Tech note: the flash lighting sucks. The lower cabinet is actually the same color as the upper wall cabinet.]



Here's the work area. The Isomac Zaffiro was modded by Michael Teahan with an internal PID, fan, and an independent pump switch that lets me refilll or empty the boiler without turning on the heat. Next to it, one of Paul Pratt's Bumper knockboxes, Ken Nye's Espressocraft tamping stand and a Reg Barber tamper. On the right, a Mazzer Mini with short hopper to fit under the cabinets. On the far right a Waring commercial timer to control the grinder and a nifty Nexxtech "whack the top" egg timer I use to time shots. (Was that enough brand names?)



Finally, a detail of the Zaffiro showing the (visible) Teahan modifications.

Great submissions everyone! Marshall, I love your espresso bar. I wish we had something like that in our house.

Birdy, when did you get your GS3? I think you win the "coolest gear" contest.

Here's my own humble espresso bar.

I'm on the wait list for the US version. Luckily, I've been able to spend a lot of time in the mountains and plan on spending most of the winter up playing in the snow.

birdymkr wrote:Subject: Here's my GS3 dream machine

Is this a new U.S. spec 110v NSF machine? How is the quality control?

I still need to replace the countertop, but this is my setup for now.