I bought an Alex Duetto a few weeks back. I chuckled at the 1kg of coffee that came with it, roasted almost 4 months ago (dec '08). I spent the next week playing with the machine settings etc when all of a sudden I was out of coffee! What I thought was a new and hefty supply of espresso from my local roaster turned out to be a single-origin coffee roasted to City+, and then they put on the wrong label! It was easter and they were closed, as was my local coffee shop. The roaster also died on me a while back so my greens were no good either.

So... Desperate to play some more I reluctantly opened the bag that came with the machine. It required a few adjustments on the grinder but I eventually got a pull that looked decent. To my surprise it looked very decent. I poured into a shotglass for observation and there was crema all the way to the bottom when I stopped it. The blend was 100% arabica btw. The surface was even speckled and look inviting. I gave it a taste and have to admit I found it quite enjoyable. It is not by any means the best I have ever had, but if any of my local coffee shops served this I would be very happy to go back.

Now I have used the full 1kg package and my conclusion is that this stuff is totally acceptable in an emergency. I will be stocking a can of Illy beans or similar should a new coffee emergency arrive in the near future!

Tick, tick, tick, tick....

espressoed wrote:Tick, tick, tick, tick....

The OP runs out of coffee which was a bag of mislabeled SO, finds that all the shops are closed on the holiday, then pulls out a bag of coffee that came with the machine (saved for some reason like it was a collectible from the Franklin Mint *1) and runs through it despite the fact that it was 4 months old, and finds it to his liking.... And then draws the conclusion that keeping a can of Illy around for emergencies is a good idea...

No need for the tick... tick... . . tick. The bomb went off long ago.

I think I can sell him some single origin, aged Alsatian Arabica. I just finished feeding a half-pound to my German Shepherd, so the coffee should be ready for shipping first thing in the morning.


*1 "We can't guarantee that this coffee will go up in value, but all the previous coffees have!"

It took you 5 hours to reply!!? We're slipping here folks.

In defense of the OP, he never said it was to his liking, just that it was decent in an emergency.

Probably like being stuck in a sandstorm and being forced to drink one's own urine. Under normal circumstances it would be unthinkable, but as an alternative to dying from deprivation, it's a "decent" alternative.

It's always a fun opportunity for us coffee heads to posture; but stale coffee doesn't taste awful, it just tastes dull. In some ways dull is worse than awful, since it's how the Nestles of this world can prosper.

I was expecting to get killed here. You guys are too nice

The point I was trying to make was that it wasn't totally without flavour. My parents have a Rocky/Silvia combo but despite my best efforts their coffee is always stale. Trying to make espresso there is impossible at any grind setting, I would either get nothing out or a full 2oz in 4 seconds. This coffee surprised me in that I could make something that was both visually appealing and actually tasted something. There was nothing was fantastic about it - but it was still better than 95% of the coffee shops around here. And despite not being amazed I wasn't disappointed either (perhaps expecting something awful, I don't know). In an emergency like this I could at least drink it and not have to spit it out, there was nothing revolting about it.

Just curious if it was Machristay from Chris' Coffee? or did you buy the machine from another vendor.

No, I bought the machine from Bella Barista in the UK. Not sure about the name...

There was a thread here on HB a little while back about the coffee in Italy. Quite a few people were impressed by it during their visits there. How come then that perhaps many of the same people will find that same coffee undrinkable if made at home? Cafes in Italy almost exclusively uses Lavazza, Illy etc for their coffees. During my trip to Florence last summer I couldn't find a single shop that used coffee from a local roaster (although I am sure I would have found one if I knew were to look).

Should've used the free stuff for calibration. Plus, it would've been slightly fresher.