www.olympia-express.ch: espresso, the chemistry of love

Ordered Thursday evening from Orphan Espresso - order arrived Monday!

Postby SwingT on Tue Nov 17, 2009 12:18 pm

Wow.

They're in Idaho, I'm in South Carolina.

Doug and Barb are really on the ball!

I e-mailed an order late thursday evening, hard to believe it arrived Monday Via priority mail.

Kudos to Doug and Barb, and the US postal service.

I wanted a Kyocerea Hand grinder in time to take on a trip so asked them to get it out quick.

Also, picked up an Espro Toroid roundish bottom frothing pitcher -simple, elegant design can mean a lot - it's working a good bit better than my bumper frothing pitcher -

And that Kyocera hand grinder - first setting I tried choked the vivaldi it was so fine, so did the next one down. One more down got in the ball park, one more notch down probably to be correct.

I think when I get outstanding service it's worthy of sharing with others. Plus, if you haven't tried one of the Espro Toroid frothing pitchers it was a surprise as to how much difference it makes. I was happy with my cappas and just needed another pitcher. Didn't realize they would come out so much better
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Postby hperry on Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:50 pm

They are fast and totally commited to quality. My experience has been the same. They are a great resource.
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Postby michaelbenis on Tue Nov 17, 2009 3:16 pm

Great people, great products, great advice and no salesy nonsense.

And.... as you've noticed..... they're quick.

I reckon Doug's working on a time machine in that workshop of his :D
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Postby orphanespresso on Thu Nov 26, 2009 6:59 am

AWWWW :oops: Barb is the shipping champ. Working on a time machine, in a sense yes....been working on building a completely contained all the bells and whistles powder coating setup....really does make the cases and frames as new. And the other end of the time machine is the 1948 Gaggia Gilda that we got...two weeks now, soaking and freeing parts with one tough part left to get loose from years of scale. The first mass produced home espresso machine, and this thing has lots of engineering on the fly aspects and more thought and worry that went into it than one can imagine. What many people assume is a pressure gauge on the machine is actually a dial thermometer, so what Achille was concerned about was temperature, since the steam off wodbbler would keep the pressure at some lowish amount. Now that little aluminum gizmo is what I call a time machine.
Appreciate the kudos all.
Doug
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Postby Stuggi on Thu Nov 26, 2009 8:10 am

Let's hope mine get's here as fast, I'm itching to try my OEM pavoni bottomless portafilter. :D
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Postby sweaner on Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:56 pm

orphanespresso wrote:And the other end of the time machine is the 1948 Gaggia Gilda that we got...two weeks now


Doug, you must post some pics of this work in progress.
Scott
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Man does not live by coffee alone...we need beer too.
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Postby Stuggi on Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:28 am

Yeah, those really old levers and other espresso machines that you rebuild are always a joy to watch!
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Postby Stuggi on Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:22 am

Ordered the evening of the 25th (GMT+2 time), shipped the 27th, arrived today, the 8th of December. Very fast indeed for a cross-Atlantic shipment, especially when you consider that the 6th was a holiday due to Finland's 92th independence day (result is that nothing moved so I would probably have had it yesterday under normal circumstances). I might also add that everything was triple wrapped with foam, bubble wrap and peanuts. The bamboo towels were also a nice touch, thank you very much! :)

Now, if only all my suppliers at work were like the folks at OE, I would have nothing to do all day but browse HB. :mrgreen:
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Postby Clint Orchuk on Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:03 am

Barb and Doug treat you like family. Any thing I order gets here in two days First Class Mail. Without their stuff, and bunches of free help, my machine would still be a pile of parts. I couldn't have done it without them. And just when I'm about to blow a gasket (mine) from a new problem just after I think I've got everything figured out, guess who I get a call from.

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Postby jonny on Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:40 am

Doug and Barb have a vision for their passion and they don't sell anything they don't believe in. What they do believe in is resurrecting the glorious past of some lovely machines and the people with the courage and devotion to make it happen. They have a GREAT resource of parts at very reasonable prices and they are always willing to do all they can for the coffee lovers. They also believe in doing business the "old fashioned way:" true honest people selling supplies that don't necessarily yield a large profit, but benefit a niche market that they enjoy being a part of. What a world we'd live in if all businesses had this attitude! Thanks for your hard work and devotion, Doug and Barb!

EDIT: I forgot I wanted to add a story. During my Pasquini Livietta restoration, they accidentally sent me the wrong part. We are all human, right? They were so apologetic and nice about the mistake and I received the replacement part in just a couple days with no charge on my behalf. Amazing customer service how they were so eager to help me out on my restoration. The machine turned out great and it couldn't have happened without Orphan Espresso.
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