I strike up a conversation with the barista well ahead of ordering my drink. "Wow, that's a classy Slayer Steam you have there, how do you like it?" Or: "I'm a straight espresso guy generally, do you have any single origin espresso on bar today?" Or, if I am eyeing a bag of beans they

I may be somewhat manageable if one is filling the boiler with a pitcher. In our kitchen the espresso machine stands next to the sink and the faucet is pull-out. In the morning my wife gets up first and fills the machine (Silvia till Argos arrives). I can imagine the bubbly faucet water in the funnel being much more

@GU2GD, I believe Ascension to be of the "owners/leaders want to make a good product, but the staff isn't delivering" situation. Perhaps there was some initial training, maybe it wasn't sufficient, maybe there isn't continuing training/feedback etc. I also recognize that there are likely, at least in this area, fewer espresso customers than there are cappuccino/latte/etc. customers, and

I haven't found a similar walk through of how the valve works, but I put together a post with some images I found from LM a few years ago: "Current model La Marzocco GS3 MP - Does anyone have a water flow diagram?" As for how many shots, they should last a very long time. Instead of a stack

If the experience/skill/give a damn is lacking or absent at a cafe with regards to dialing in shots, pour overs, batch brews, etc. it is beyond the scope of a customer to 'teach' the establishment how to properly do so. The desire to 'coach' a barista is something of a vigilante endeavor and generally will not be received in

I once ordered an espresso at a donut/coffee shop with a friend. The espresso was undrinkably bitter, so I only took one sip and left it. My friend went back another day (for a donut) and the barista asked about me -- he explained I only drink the crema

Interesting. I'm not sure how that happened, as I used the quote button at the top of Joiglan's post in the reply to anag that quote. It didn't cross my mind to check that the user was correct... I've fixed it. Yes, I remember well your struggles with the Pro 500. The is so very much that goes into

I'm sure that I'm thinking about it from an overly idealistic perspective. I've never owned a cafe, and would never do so absent a lottery win. Intellectually, I know, they're in it to make money, selling whatever they can to do that. But then, my idealogue heart says "yes, but they also want to serve great coffee to people who

I had the same issue with mine. I thought my issues were related to the amount of spring pressure pushing the stationary burr against the adjuster on my grinder, which is a Titus Nautilus. I don't think my Nautilus was designed with this burrset in mind as the burrset wasn't available when the grinder was built. I

Solis Barista Perfetta vs Bambino Plus Solis Perfetta vs Bambino Plus I need someone to tell me whether to buy the Solis Barista Perfetta or the Bambino Plus as a first machine. I have no desire now or in the near future to do "heavy" modding so the Gaggia is out. This is our first true espresso machine