Greetings, I am LMWDP #614, happy to be here.

I've been an avid coffee person for many years, the last 5 or so have been more interesting though as I started down the rabbithole of espresso, espresso machines, grinders, roasting and all the other little avenues that act as wonderful distractions along the road of life.

Lately life has been more challenging. My mother passed away in January of head and neck cancer. This happened while my marriage of 21 years was coming to an end. If that wasn't difficult enough, shortly after my mother passed away I learned that I, too, had head and neck cancer (not genetic as far as we know). My mom's was due to metastasized sun damage on her lip, mine was a result of HPV+ cancer at the rear of my tongue that metastasized to my lymph nodes. So my life sort of really unraveled in front of my eyes over a very short period of time. I'm 50 years old, have always been healthy, take good care of myself, live a very clean lifestyle, and by all measures should be the last one to get cancer. As we probably have all learned by those close to us, cancer is indiscriminate and often not very compassionate about its targets. I quickly formulated a plan and moved to Texas (home of MD Anderson Cancer Center) from California, bought a house, and went through cancer treatment while starting virtually all parts of my life over again.

Fast forward a few months later - I'm now finished with treatment. My house is coming together nicely, and I am now a happy lever owner alongside a lovely Monolith Flat SSP. These are gifts to myself for getting through some tough times in life and reasons to stick around a bit longer and keep fighting.

So witness a few new friends on my counter: Londinium R, Kafatek Monolith Flat with SSP upgrade, and all sorts of other little toys to go with them. I only hope my barista skills can match the goods in my kitchen

If there's anything I'd like to impart to my HB friends who have helped me along the way, its that this HPV+ head and neck cancer is hitting us hard. Its said that its the cancer that middle aged healthy men that have never smoked get. That's me - never smoked, rarely drank beyond appreciation of fine beers and Scotch in moderation, and working out to a fault. Now, PLEASE READ THIS AND TAKE HEART: If you are a middle aged healthy man, and you develop anything odd in your neck/throat area and it doesn't resolve within a few weeks - GET IT CHECKED! In my case, it was a small swollen lymph node on one side that swelled up and after 3 months I had it checked - and it was stage IV metastatic cancer. Guys - LISTEN! Take this seriously - its an up and coming epidemic and we're all potential targets. Please, please, please, get yourselves checked out if you fit this picture - it may save your life. My prognosis is good because I found it early and it appears to have cooperated with a very aggressive treatment - time will tell but my doctors are encouraged.

Looking forward to many more years of lever action!

Jeff in Fort Worth, TX - if you're around me, look me up and lets share some espresso!

Hi there,
My name is Braxton, and I have been into coffee for the last 4 years.
I found a La Pavoni at a yard sale on the side of Hwy 395 in Carson City Nv.
It was labeled $30 bucks. I offered the guy $20 because that's all I had in my wallet. The guy said no, they sell for a couple hundred bucks online. So pull my phone out while I sit in my car, and look up this La Pavoni, and I see the new ones selling for upwards of $800. I pop down to the gas station and get bam ash back and I go home with this machine I know nothing about!

From there I began to research and learn about this machine from a stance of knowing almost nothing about coffee.
This was one of the things that spurred my into specialty coffee. Since then I have had 3 pump espresso machines, I have aLa Pavoni Zip grinder, a OE Lido E grinder, most of the out over a around, and a vacuum pot.
I love some pout over, and espresso from a pump machine.
But I'll never leave lever espresso behind.
It is like driving a stick shift car, there's just something about it!

Without finding this little espresso machine for sale a few years ago I don't know if I would be this far down the rabbit hole!

Fellow Leverheads!

I couldn't be more ecstatic to find and join such a motley crew!

My quest to find the finest espresso has certainly taken the circuitous route, but here I am.
Years ago as an Army helicopter pilot, I traveled the world, seeking the quintessential drink for my cigar habit on Uncle Sam's dime...
I found that drink while stationed in Europe for 5+ years, and coupled my cigar experiences with fantastic espresso from superlative coffee in Germany and Italy.

After leaving the military, I thought I would never again find that fantastic coffee... until a couple years ago I found my way to Hector Luis Prieto's Finca Quemado de Rubi (San Juan y Martinez, Cuba).

There, on his small farm in Pinar del Rio, he served the most fantastic strong, bracing, farm-grown, farm-roasted coffee, along with his divine farm-rolled puros. I've been back to Finca Hector Luis 3 times now in the last couple years, and it only gets better each time!

So here I am... in search of that fantastic coffee and espresso to make in my own home, embarking on the quest to discover (again) the perfect drinks to pair with my perfect cigars! Similar to learning how to fly, I've started with the tempermental La Pavoni Pro and 2018 HG-One... and have begun my journey to tame the beast!

I'm in the market now for a bosco or londinium, and look forward to the new adventures that await!

Welcome to the rabbit hole KTC!

Whichever spring lever you choose, I think you will be happy. I went the Bosco route and do not regret the extra expense but that might not work for everyone. Being single and retired does have some advantages when it comes to allocating funds.

N6GQ wrote:<image> I quickly formulated a plan and moved to Texas (home of MD Anderson Cancer Center) from California, bought a house, and went through cancer treatment while starting virtually all parts of my life over again.

Fast forward a few months later - I'm now finished with treatment. My house is coming together nicely, and I am now a happy lever owner alongside a lovely Monolith Flat SSP. These are gifts to myself for getting through some tough times in life and reasons to stick around a bit longer and keep fighting.

Such an experience gives perspective that one would rather gain an easier way. I wish you well and I'm sorry you had to go through that during a rough time of your life. The team at MD Anderson is really great and now the Houston coffee scene is much better than it was in 2009, when I was down there for treatment.

KrustyTheClown wrote:Fellow Leverheads!

I couldn't be more ecstatic to find and join such a motley crew!

My quest to find the finest espresso has certainly taken the circuitous route, but here I am.
Years ago as an Army helicopter pilot, I traveled the world, seeking the quintessential drink for my cigar habit on Uncle Sam's dime...
I found that drink while stationed in Europe for 5+ years, and coupled my cigar experiences with fantastic espresso from superlative coffee in Germany and Italy.

After leaving the military, I thought I would never again find that fantastic coffee... until a couple years ago I found my way to Hector Luis Prieto's Finca Quemado de Rubi (San Juan y Martinez, Cuba).

There, on his small farm in Pinar del Rio, he served the most fantastic strong, bracing, farm-grown, farm-roasted coffee, along with his divine farm-rolled puros. I've been back to Finca Hector Luis 3 times now in the last couple years, and it only gets better each time!

So here I am... in search of that fantastic coffee and espresso to make in my own home, embarking on the quest to discover (again) the perfect drinks to pair with my perfect cigars! Similar to learning how to fly, I've started with the tempermental La Pavoni Pro and 2018 HG-One... and have begun my journey to tame the beast!

I'm in the market now for a bosco or londinium, and look forward to the new adventures that await!

Get a Bosco.

KrustyTheClown wrote:Fellow Leverheads!

I couldn't be more ecstatic to find and join such a motley crew!

...a couple years ago I found my way to Hector Luis Prieto's Finca Quemado de Rubi (San Juan y Martinez, Cuba).

There, on his small farm in Pinar del Rio, he served the most fantastic strong, bracing, farm-grown, farm-roasted coffee, along with his divine farm-rolled puros. I've been back to Finca Hector Luis 3 times now in the last couple years, and it only gets better each time!

Welcome to the LMWDP, Krusty, if I'm ever in Cuba I'll have to check out this farm you mention.

FotonDrv wrote:Get a Bosco.

I also recommend this if you have the funds

Chert wrote:Such an experience gives perspective that one would rather gain an easier way. I wish you well and I'm sorry you had to go through that during a rough time of your life. The team at MD Anderson is really great and now the Houston coffee scene is much better than it was in 2009, when I was down there for treatment.

You're right - its much advisable to gain that perspective some other way - although I'm not sure its possible to understand the depths that one can go when confronted with such issues all about the same time. Challenging, indeed. Now its all relative, I'm lucky to have a roof over my head and a good prognosis, so it can always be worse, and I have a lot more compassion than I did before for those going through challenges, so that in its own was worth it. My faith skyrocketed as well - which to me is huge. Long story there, but worth it.

Suffice it to say without taste or salivary glands, espresso isn't all that good.

Thank you, Chert, you're kind and I appreciate it.

I started this whole coffee thing by making coffee everyday, but never drinking any. Each and every morning I made my girlfriend a cup of coffee. But because caffeine has little to no efect on me, I never had the urge to make myself one. After some trips to Italy, where coffee had some taste (actually it had body, but I didn't know much about it then) as opposed to the insipid stuff you could buy in Romania at the time, I bought a stovetop Bialetti moka pot and started using that for her morning coffee.

Then, as luck had it, I became friends with the admin of Espressoman - the Romanian coffee comunity. He directed me to a local roaster and I started using fresh roasted coffee for the Moka Pot. At this point I started tasting the coffee to see if I could make it better. And it got better.

A couple of months later came her birthday. And with it came the idea of an espresso machine. We like to cook, so the manual process made a lot of sense. I looked into the Rok, but it didn't feel like it would survive too much on a daily usage. So, after some more research, with the knowledge I had at the time, I came to the conclusion that a Pavoni would be a nice gift. And there it all began.