Ardvaark wrote:One of the things I love about living in the heart of DC is all the people around, and being as involved in the neighborhood as I am, I know a great many of them. I always leave open invitations with our friends and neighbors to stop by for coffee any time - especially since I work from home - but few ever do. I wish they would.

I'm not sure if they think I'm just being polite, or they don't like my coffee.

Ardvaark! My pastor has said from the pulpit that here in the South everybody parts company by saying one of a few "goodbye quotes" and one very popular quote is "Ya'll going to have to come on over for supper some time! We need to get together." You never really invite someone out to dinner or over to your house with those words. They are "superficial" words, at best. They are just saying "goodbye."

But, he says, on the other hand, if you really want to invite someone over to dinner you don't wait until everybody is breaking up, you just come on out with it and say "So, you and the wife over for dinner Saturday night? How's that work?"

I use this illustration to say maybe you need to be more poignant or to the point and they won't take it as a greeting or goodbye.

WilsonHines wrote:My pastor has said from the pulpit that here in the South everybody parts company by saying one of a few "goodbye quotes" and one very popular quote is "Ya'll going to have to come on over for supper some time! We need to get together." You never really invite someone out to dinner or over to your house with those words. They are "superficial" words, at best. They are just saying "goodbye."

Words of wisdom! Thank him for solving this for me.

WilsonHines wrote:I use this illustration to say maybe you need to be more poignant or to the point and they won't take it as a greeting or goodbye.

Heh. You may be right. The art of back-door communication escapes me, usually. At the risk of sounding cliché, I say what I mean and mean what I say.

Crap. That sounded cliché.

In reference to having guest...my machine has been up for 9 days and as of Saturday I started having people calling and wanting to see the setup. Since Friday I have been through 12 lbs of espresso! That is a lot of espresso for a home setup, I think.

Yes, most all of them won't become regulars, but a couple have already told me they will be popping in regularly. Just this morning I made 11 capps and 4 espresso. Tonight I made 6 capps and 6 espresso. Yesterday was about the same and the day before was about the same. A lot of it was because it was a holiday and people had a little more time on their hands. But how cool!

starry wrote:Words of wisdom! Thank him for solving this for me.

LOL. Reminds me of that "How ya doin'?" commercial from a while back.

Anyway, I think the original question was more along the lines of whether people regard you as a home barista, and stop by because of it. But that's just my interpretation. I don't know anybody else "face to face" who cares enough about coffee to hang out in a forum devoted to it.

Anyway, I've had a "rep" for a while, but in this transient society we live in, everybody seems to move away. I've had the pleasure of mentoring a couple of people into the fold, but that's about it, and they have since moved on to other jobs in other states.

Sometimes I'll make lattes or caps for a gaggle that happens to be at the house, and almost %100 of them say "best I ever had!" or "even better than starbucks!" (Which should qualify the opinions.) And that was on a lowly thermoblock machine.

Anyway, my Wife is coming around. She'll bring home some flavored stuff once in a while because it "sounds good" but then she'll drink it and say it tastes funky. I've weened her off of some of the sugar, and lately she's more into americanos than lattes. I doubt she'll ever drink a straight espresso, though. My son might develop an interest, but he's only 11, so I worry a bit about hooking him on my favorite drug just yet.

One friend told me, he will be slipping his order under the door for the following day.