aerojrp wrote:It was serviced after no more than every 2 days, so it was always in tip top condition.

Not easy to find a superauto in the U.S. that is adjusted every 2 days. "Set it and forget it" tends to be the norm. The only really good superauto espresso I ever had was from a La Cimbali in the Pasquini showroom.

One thing that jumped out at me was the Illy quote:

"With a pre-dose capsule, it's always the right grind," says Mark Romano, a senior director at Illy coffee, which makes its own line of capsule coffee systems. "And with a self-contained extraction chamber, you can consistently get to 80-90 [out of a quality scale of 100]."

My perception is that in HB world, and certainly based on my own expectations producing a coffee that would score 90 out of a 100 of the coffee's potential is an abject failure. Doesn't mean I wouldn't drink it, but I wouldn't be happy with it either.

Years ago outlaw biker clubs starting wearing patches that said "1%" in response to a supposed claim by the American Motorcycle Association that 99% of all motorcyclists were law abiding citizens. Anyone up for 10% patches for HB Members?

another_jim wrote:.... and sell the capsules as a frozen food

I've wondered the same thing due to our air tight freezing tests. Though I can see where this would open up the real understanding of freshness of a roast that has been so well suppressed by big coffee in general.

The New Yorker on "Better Brewing Though Technology":

http://nyr.kr/17PZXvU

Anything that people do that can be considered an art form will never be replaced with a machine. There are too many variables - and the unknown variable of what a human being can do when inspired to create.