My impression from friends who do business in Italy is that the fancy machines are for offices; the cheap machines for export, and the mocha pot for homes. The Silvia started as a promotional gift to Rancilio distributors; presumably for office use. Many small businesses where people will spend time (boutiques, salons etc) have semi-pro single or double group commercial machines.

My own impression is that despite the ubiquity of cafes; everyone offers to make coffee -- in homes, businesses, restaurants, hotels -- so everyone has some kind of coffeemaker.

AdrianN wrote:Chewing the bean is also used to figure out (to some degree) how recent was the roasting. With the dark roasts usual in Italy, a bean should literally explode when chewed if it's been roasted the same day.

Thanks! That will be an interesting experiment!

Wait.. You guys havent been chewing your beans? I thought we all did that....

Yup been doing what I call dry cupping for a couple decades. Started long before roasting professionally, long before home roasting, back when trying to find decent whole beans to buy I'd munch 'em in addition to smell to decide. BTW best munched while still warm right after roasting! I dry cup a few beans most of my roasts.

csepulv wrote:While I love this site, it can easily give the impression the only way to get good espresso is by spending a lot of money: double boiler, pressure profiling, large conical grinders, etc. But you do see a lot of discussions where someone has a more limited budget and there are ways to get good espresso much cheaper. The more convenience, consistency and aesthetic appeal and the budget can grow, but it doesn't have to.

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As frequently noted here, the grinder is the real issue. I had a Capresso Infinity many years ago. It was like playing Russian Roulette with 4-5 bullets loaded.

Agreed decent espresso at home doesn't have to cost thousands. A lot depends on how much effort and hassle you're willing to put into getting a decent shot. I have a couple decades old <$100 Krups Gusto that paired with good coffee and good grinder can produce a pretty darn good shot. With a crazy tough to nail temp surf but possible. But most certainly not easily or consistently!

During my senior year as an undergraduate at Purdue two graduate students and I lived in an off campus house. (It was demolished just after I left Purdue to make room for a dormitory.) One of the graduate students was the son of Italian immigrants. His Father was killed in a mining accident, and his Mother stayed with us for a lot of that year. She was an incredible Italian cook, and taught all of us a LOT about Italian cooking and food customs. We had a very Italian household! Coffee was exclusively the product of a moka pot. From time to time there was talk of espresso machines, and how great they were, but we were all very happy with our moka pot coffee which both the son and mother said was the Italian home standard. Evening meals, in typical southern Europe style, almost always were accompanied by a small glass of dry red wine. (My chief food related duty to the group was to make decent bread!)

Moka pots are often under rated. My Italian house mate and his Mother were right! If one really use them correctly the coffee that they make is extremely good.

day wrote:Wait.. You guys havent been chewing your beans? I thought we all did that....

Well, since 1972 I have done it, but I must admit that I have not done it immediately Post Roast as a "Cupping" technique. Thanks for the good suggestions guys!!

csepulv wrote: Anyway, I think you can have good, enjoyable espresso without spending a lot.

Actually, if you are the type who 1. doesn't mind a bit of tinkering and 2. is capable to shop carefully on craigslist/fleabay and so on you can end up with a very good setup while spending very little money. This isn't for everyone, of course, but I think there are quite a few guys here who can vouch for this approach.

So if most Italians only have Moka Pots in their homes who originally bought all the Caravels, La Peppinas, Faeminas & other small espresso machines in the 50's, 60's & 70's?

Good question!