Peet's on Shattuck & Kitteridge in Berkeley has one of those Astra steamers, along with a 3-group Linea . . .

So I'm just off the plane from Taiwan and in a sleepy state and I do my little Craigslist prowl looking for that ephemeral $500 Probatino or $1000 Synesso Cyncra.

I think that I've seen it all because this last trip I noticed that they use an old Brasilia machine at the hotel health club pool to, get this.....keep the loaner lycra swim caps warm and dry. It's a ratty old machine, no grinder or portafilters in sight and covered with a towel. The pool attendant religiously hands each foreigner a loaner swim cap since none of us bring them. The Taiwanese have some crazy phobia about hair and their pools but it's their island, they can make funny rules if they want. He peels back that towel and hands you a nice, warm and dry cap each time from the cup (cap?) warming tray.

But I digress, so I glance at this listing below and I can't quite figure out what they are talking about for about a minute. Refrigerated? Espresso? Gallon? $25? 3-group? What is this??

Had to read it three times to understand.

Here's the text:

Refrigerated Espresso Shots (quality) - $25 (Tacoma)
Reply to: XXXXXXXXXX@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-04-05, 9:03AM PDT

We own coffee shops and pull 2 shots at a time, therefore our quality espresso shots go to waste if we don't make a drink with 2, 4 or 6 shots. These are quality espresso shots, pulled from a La Marzocco 3 group machine. We use locally roasted coffee. I use these shots at my own home for Americanos and Iced Lattes and they are wonderful. $25 will buy you 128 ounces which will make a lot of beverages! Feel free to ask any questions.

* Location: Tacoma
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

There's a lot of material in that listing, take your time with it. Is group quantity an important piece of information? Wouldn't a gallon seem like it would make a lot of beverages when you usually get the stuff in tiny little glasses? Do people really drink drinks with 6 shots? Even if you like 6 shots, you've got to be able to figure that a gallon is a lot? If they do this with the quality shots, they must keep the not so good shots too? Can I get gallon of those for $15?

So there you have it. No need to learn how to pull singles - just pull a double and bank the balance.

Finally, some truth in this world!

Bravo! Great pic.

It gives Corporate Coffee a whole new meaning!

So I've got my regular second Friday of the month gig tonight at a little coffee house in North Hollywood. The espresso there has never been mind-boggling, but they get their beans from The Supreme Bean, which is right down the street, and they're certainly fresh. I order a 'large espresso' anyway, saying 'Ceramic, no paper.' A short while later, I get handed a brimful mug of what looks and tastes like dirty dishwater. I look over and notice it's a new girl working the espresso machine. I watch in horror as she takes the E61 portafilter, moves two Melitta scoops of coffee that she's obviously ground in advance to save herself a little time from a container that's been sitting around for who knows how long into the filter basket, then she taps it a few times with the pointy end of the coffee scoop (I guess that's tamping?) locks the filter into the Astoria Argenta and pushes the button. I look at my mug. i look at my wife. I look back at the mug and push it to the back of the bar and go get a bottle of water from the cooler.

I order a 'large espresso' anyway ...

Nobody to blame but yourself.

timo888 wrote:Nobody to blame but yourself.

You mean if I'd ordered something else, she would have made it properly? Tell you what. You can try that, but until I see differently, I'm sticking to water when I'm there.

I'd ask if I could pull it, empty their hopper, fill the PF with fresh ground (although, it sounds as if you have absolutely no hope of fresh roasted!) and find their tamper. I'm sure that there is one around somewhere. If nothing else, use the bitty plasticky-thingie on the grinder!
And teach 'em how to make it as you go.

If any of the above won't fly, find another place to go. Seriously.

Psyd wrote:
If any of the above won't fly, find another place to go. Seriously.

My band plays there the second Friday of every month, so, unless I want to give up the gig, I can't really go elsewhere. If we hadn't been setting up gear for the gig, I'd have seen if she was open to a little education. I'll talk to the owner (who's a friend of mine, but wasn't there last night), and mention that the new girl could use some training. It was just such a comedy of errors that it needed mention here.

This place is just a few blocks from The Supreme Bean roasters, which is where they get their coffee. I've bought greens from The Supreme Bean from time to time, and Marshall Fuss speaks highly of both their espresso and their coffee acumen, so the beans are not the problem.

GVDub wrote:My band plays there the second Friday of every month...

...so the beans are not the problem.

Eek! Blame it on the sound guy. Make it his fault. We're usually the blame-sink anyways, what's one more complaint!?!

Eh, if the beans are good, almost anything else is surmountable! ; >

Psyd wrote:Eek! Blame it on the sound guy. Make it his fault. We're usually the blame-sink anyways, what's one more complaint!?!

Eh, if the beans are good, almost anything else is surmountable! ; >

It's a three-piece acid jazz/psychedelia improv group. The sound consists of running XLR outs from the bass and guitar amps (both Line 6 modeling amps) so there's enough of the band in the foldbacks that the drummer can hear us. Plus the usual sound guy is the owner (although he wasn't there that night, but I still can't blame the sound guy. I never do, since I've put in my time behind the board and have large amounts of empathy for what the sound guy goes through).

I'm going to talk to the owner this week. We'll get it straightened out.

The does everything phone. Totally crazy and funny. Make sure to check the coffee brewing!

http://www.pomegranatephone.com/

Geoffrey

Bah, not even an inkling of crema -- and no elven support in the global voice translator!

GB wrote:The does everything phone. Totally crazy and funny. Make sure to check the coffee brewing!

http://www.pomegranatephone.com/

Geoffrey

Brilliant.

I showed the video to my wife, and -- although suspicious when we got to the translator, she didn't come right out and say anything until the coffee maker . . .

It's genius, no doubt, but it still doesn't make me want to go to Nova Scotia.

Just purchased "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook." An emergency substitution for 1 large egg is either: 1 jumbo egg, 1 extra large egg or 1 medium egg.

Lucky thing they mention that. I can imagine someone thinking, "I don't have the right size egg, I better put everything away and make something else."

And people accuse some H-Bers of being over the top?!?!

Jacob wrote:Latte art?

NSFW!

Milk "It does a body good"