A "Home-Barista" is born

I have been an on again, off again coffee drinker for 16+ years not counting my youth. As a kid, I enjoyed coffee with my grandfather(s). Of 'course this was with cream and sugar, and it was of the Folgers crystals, or Sanka variety, but I still enjoyed it.

In college, I was an occasional coffee drinker, and when I found hazelnut coffee at Bruegger's Bagels, I really thought that was the cat's meow. Of course I was still cream and sugaring it. Later in college, I recall having my first cappuccino, and I believe it was at Cup-A-Joe in Raleigh NC. Thinking back now, it probably was a fairly good one, but I didn't find it particularly great. That was the first espresso-based drink I ever had. Around this time, Starbuck's and Caribou and that ilk where just starting to pop up in the area. I tried 'em all, but again never particularly impressed, nor disappointed either... rather ho hum.

I am not sure why, but late in college, my girlfriend (now wife) and I bought a Braun "steam toy" espresso machine, and a blade grinder, also Braun. It just seemed to be the thing to do. And we used it, once in awhile at least. I could steam some milk on that thing pretty good too.

After college, I drank the drip, pre-ground swill that most all office environments enjoy at work. By this point, I had a decent drip machine coffee maker at home and it was used occasionally, but almost always preground, and often came from the freezer. It was however not my daily ritual or anything.

Fast forward a few jobs later and the office coffee isn't any better, and the home coffee drinking is still pretty spotty but more regular. I am at least smart enough to avoid the office airpots unless I am really hard up. The Braun steam toy still makes appearances at home at least 8-12 times per year or so. We get fairly consistent in buying whole bean coffees.... I got a Delonghi burr grinder (read $30 from TJ Maxx), and grind just prior to brewing. My wife gets me a coffee club subscription, and I get a pound per month of freshly roasted coffees from around the country, some pretty good, some so so.

In the meantime, we have moved to Black Mountain, NC and a new coffee shop called "The Dripolator" opens up. The Dripolator is a nice, simply appointed, no frills coffee shop with decent atmosphere and inexpensive furniture (like thrift store stuff). The emphasis is on the coffee and the cottage industry pastry suppliers, no silly drink names, and a local NC roaster. The brew origins change daily, and I start stopping in for my morning coffee, because my wife is off the caffeine for baby number one. Again, I find the coffees okay, but I never really hone in on a SO that I love, and I usually find that I am happiest with the days that they have a House Blend (which I assumed was whatever bits they had lying around). One morning, I order my coffee and the owner says it'll be a bit, a new batch is brewing, would I like to have an Americano instead? I say sure and she makes me a double Americano. This was my "Eureka!" moment. I can honestly say that I have never had another drip coffee from that establishment ever since. I was sold. I was transformed. Wow, this is great!

Fast forward a few more years, my wife is off caffeine again for baby number two. My coffee habits have regressed slightly. I have a cup or two of drip coffee from the house in the AM that I carry to work, and some of my coworkers and I grab a cup around 3PM daily from local shops, typically drip, but sometimes we venture to a shop with espresso for my Americano. It's not so easy to grab a cup at the local shop in the AM with a 2 or 3 year old as it was with a kid in the infant carrier, so those drinks become the rarity, and it's not cheap anyhow. I say to myself, "how can I do this at home", the Braun steam toy just doesn't do it, nor does it seem too practical to attempt to use daily.

So I venture out onto the Internet, and the only thing I know is that I want a "real" espresso machine. Okay, at the time, "real" means that it has a pump, not just a steam/water thermoblock. I find the Briel Lido machine on Amazon, for those that don't know that is this $125 machine:

Briel Lido

All the reviews for the Briel machine are polar opposites... the reviews are either "I love it, perfect", or "I hated it, don't buy this P.O.S". There is only the occasional review that says what is likely true, this is as good as $125 can do for ya.

So, I hesitate to buy my "real" espresso machine. I look some more. I read more reviews over a few days time. I find coffeegeek. I say to myself, "these people are NUTS!". I read and read and read some more. I ascertain that anything less than a Rancilio Silvia will be junk... $500 bucks! Hah! What? I might need a new grinder?! Craziness. Sheer lunacy. I stop looking. For about 9 months I stop looking.

A friend of mine at work starts talking coffee machines one day, and how he would like to get something decent for the office. I share with him what I learned previously and I start looking again. He is taking a class with a friend that has a Saeco superautomatic machine and homeroasts. I start looking at espresso machines again. I start to become interested in the Estro Profi Rio (a Saeco machine), this is a pump machine with a grinder, semi-automatic. They look like they might be purchased on eBay for not too much. I wait and watch.... I am too cheap. I look at the Nuova Simonelli Ellimatic (a small, very small heat exchanger machine). I wait and watch.... I am too cheap.

In the meantime, I also find Home-Barista.com. I read, read, read and read. I am at coffeegeek, and home-barista, reading about PID controllers and heat exchangers and double boilers and 3-way solenoids. I am still interested in the Saeco semi-automatic machine, and I look to the Starbucks Barista (a Saeco machine). I am cruising Whole Latte Love, looking at semi-automatics, the likes of Gaggia, Saeco and Rancilio. Anything beyond $500 is way too much. I am also still looking at superautomatics, having determined that any semi-automatic would be too messy and too potentially dangerous to use at work.

I start reading about home roasting, and Poppery's and Poppery II's. I find Sweet Marias. I think I may have actually said to myself, I can't do this! It's too much. It's a slippery slope that I can't afford the time or money to get into. I still decide that anything less than a Silvia and I will regret it. I also decide that any superautomatic machine will be disappointing and cheaply constructed. I stop again. But not for long.

I find on Coffeegeek a PID modified Silvia and contact the seller. I end up hesitating and miss out. Not but a few days later, another comes up, also PID modded, with knockbox and tamper (and a spare boiler), so I jump all over it.... I'm in! As Dan has said on these forums, I swallowed the red pill.

Before all the dust settles, I have the used Rancilio Silvia with a PID controller, the extras it came with. I ordered some replacement parts, a bottomless portafilter and a demo Rocky doserless from Jim at 1st-line, AND acquired a Saeco Vienna Superautomatica machine for use at the office.

Well, I hope most of you remember the madness that ensues when you have your first "real" espresso machine.... I tried to remain cool, calm and collected. I actually had Silvia for nearly a month without the Rocky (due to the guys in brown that throw packages). This gave me the time to tear the machine apart, replace some parts, clean some things (although the machine was immaculate, a fellow HB'er and CG'er that cared for her immensely). When I did get the grinder, I used about ½ pound of coffee in one evening! That was fun... and messy!

A few emails to the seller to answer my newbie questions and I was pulling some pretty decent stuff....and I was drinking my beloved Americanos, and my first real doppios ever (steam toy swill doesn't count). Again, I was hooked.

But, back to that slippery slope... Before too much longer I was looking at BIG machines on eBay and CG. A Salvatore, Nuova Simonelli MACs, Rancilio Epocas, and Cimbali Juniors! Mazzers, and Rossi and Cimbali grinders. I was bitten, I had the bug.

Well, I am still exploring the rabbit hole.... A Cimbali Junior grinder and a Cimbali M32 Bistro sit in my basement as playthings. The superautomatic is a godsend at work (really, more later). I won Free Summer of coffee from HB and Counter Culture. I have been to CC's espresso labs... I have become active on this forum... How much further will it go? I think a long long way. More to come later.

jesawdy wrote:A "Home-Barista" is born

Enjoyed the Journey