When it comes to coffee, like many things, I'm definitely no expert but I'm very fussy.
It may not surprise my friends or regular readers of this blog but I don't have much patience for fancy-shmancy pseudo-coffee drinks.
You're likely to get a slightly odd look if you ask me for sugar in your coffee before tasting it - the same way I'll quietly glare at liberal use of salt and pepper before tasting my cooking.
I apologise to the girl behind me in the queue at Velvet the other day who ordered a large skinny decaf with two sugars - yes, I did laugh at you.
So now you see where I stand. Firmly in the uninformed but self-righteous camp.
True Love at Home
Which is why it eventually just wouldn't do to have an automatic coffee machine. While it produced coffee and it was free as it was my father's old machine, we tired of not-quite-good-enough coffee and regular servicing.
Isomac Tea
After a bit of consultation with the friendly people on the coffee snobs forum, a chat with the all-knowing king of self-righteousness himself, Matt from Abstract Gourmet (who will hopefully take that in the good humour with which it was intended) and a friendly tip from baristaapp on twitter, we decided on an Isomac Tea (pronounced Teh-ah).
For those clever about these things, it is an Italian-made HX machine with an E61 commercial group head. All I know is that it will look rather pretty in my kitchen and it makes fabulously rich, almost syrupy coffee.
My long-suffering husband who usually rolls his eyes when I tell him about something we "need" was way ahead of me on this one.
After I told him about various opinions, sent him links to look at and details of our friendly local stockist (thanks Ashley from Five Senses) it was all happening.
It took just one excellent ristretto and a fabulously textured flat white to sell him completely.
Stimulating the Economy - Thanks for the Rudd Bucks
Mazzer Mini-E
I do however know enough to know that there is no point having a great espresso machine without an even better grinder.
I've deployed my Rudd Bucks (for those outside of Australia, there has been an almighty cash handout of up to $900 per tax-payer earning under a particular amount) and bought Miss Tea a friend.
She's a Mazzer Mini-Electronic. Glad to see the money is going to those in need...
The Value Equation
While I'm not an advocate of wanton spending, I do believe very strongly in carefully budgeted luxuries.
My husband and I do drink a fair amount of coffee and we entertain at home a lot too.
Having excellent coffee at home will reduce the temptation to drink coffee out (and with it, often a piece of cake).
I'm also a proponent of the buy cheap buy twice - so always try to buy the best value (not necessarily the most expensive) I can afford.
Our new toys also contribute to one of our major goals - to enjoy time entertaining friends.
Photo credit: Holding Love by nicely85
I'm looking forward to wonderful coffee at home.
Things I do know about coffee
- The skill of the person operating the grinder and espresso machine is an important factor. Accordingly I'm sending my husband to the WA Barista Academy.
- Fresh coffee is everything. We buy our coffee freshly roasted from Five Senses
- Milk quality is important in a flat white or latte. We get Bannister Downs milk whenever we can - it becomes fabulous microfoam very easily.
- Michael at Cafe Grendel knows more than I could ever hope to know about coffee
- I prefer the taste of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe over Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee, pre-digested by an East-Javanese civet cat.
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Oh, I wish I was in your shoes. I too adore coffee, I can drink it black, I can drink a latte or a cappucino - but never with sugar... Oooh, I wish I could just stop by and have a cup, it sounds so good....
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Thanks Margarita - and if you're ever heading over to Western Australia I promise that I'll get my husband to make you a coffee
You're more than welcome - especially as you don't take sugar!
Oh yeah gotta love the Rudd bucks, and I must say yours was well spent. Wowser, never a grumpy morning will there be with that baby on your bench, enjoy
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Definitely no grumpy mornings here - the only irritation is that the shininess shows every fingerprint and mark. I'm in the obsessive polishing stage but it does definitely give me a lot of pleasure
I do feel a bit guilty about conspicuous consumption when so many people are doing it tough but we did support small, local business in the purchasing - and that is what we were supposed to do I guess.
I can highly recommend sending your husband off to the WA Barista Academy. When mine was made redundant as a result of the GFC, off he went to the WABA, and now he's managing a cafe and has a string of regulars, some of whom drive past if they don't see him standing behind the espresso machine.
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I think you're right Prudence and the WA Barista Academy is definitely going to be a good investment. I'm looking forward to the spoils!
There was a clever short play on British television years ago, from before the time there was a Starbucks on every corner.
The protagonist was a kind of scruffy guy who picks up a girl way out of his league and invites her back for coffee. She scoffs at his instant coffee out of a jar (quite rightly!), but is just interested enough to see him for a second date. This time when she goes back for coffee, he's graduated to proper ground coffee and a cafetiere. She gets more interested in him, he's getting more interested in coffee. Next date, he's got himself a grinder and some fancy beans; he's treating her pretty coolly. The final date is her trying desperately to seduce him by rolling half-naked on his sofa, and all he has eyes for is his new state-of-the-art stainless steel Italian coffee maker.
There's a moral in there somewhere!
By the way, I have a lot of sympathy for your queue girl with her sugared skinny. I'm sure I am not the only person in the world to have diet coke with my pizza...
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I sometimes feel like I'm missing out on something by not drinking coffee, or tea. It's a bit like not knowing any card games to play. Some kind of social nicety that you've missed.
I rarely drink hot chocolate because it is so often disappointing. Mostly I just wait until I'm home and have a Milo. With a couple of squares of chocolate sitting at the bottom, waiting for me.
I do know what you mean about disappointing hot chocolate (and it is often the way with coffee too, unfortunately).
I am really enjoying five senses hot chocolate though. With properly steamed milk it is just wonderful. I might have one now in fact...
Just found the blog and the post on coffee. LOVE the machine! We always have short macchiatos (non traditional I'm afraid) each morning with the kids. One, maybe two, each day.
Just back from Melbourne where I frequent DeGraves (in DeGraves Lane, CBD) and Pellegrinis.
Life is too short to drink bad coffee!
Bill