First post: Some Background

 

 

 

 

• Posted by avaserfi
• Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:37

I grew up in a coffee drinking family and have been drinking coffee as
long as I can remember. That said, the coffee was never great, but it
was never bad. About three years ago I decided to seek out great coffee.
My quest started in coffee shops, asking the barista questions while I
learned more on my own and tasted some well brewed coffee. For some
reason, during my educational quest I mostly focused on espresso and
espresso based drinks. My educational campaign was very encouraging, so I
decided I wanted to buy some equipment. A few months of scouring
Craigslist led me to a V1 Rancilio Silvia. I also purchased a Cunil
Tranquillo to pair with the espresso machine.

After cleaning up the Silvia, it looked as good as new. I had done my
research and knew I needed to figure out my ideal temperature surfing
method. Using a styrofoam cup and a thermometer I determined that a two
minute wait after the heating element turned off was the ideal
temperature surf for my machine and tastes.

I also had to go through large quantities of coffee learning to dial in a
coffee's dose, grind and shot length. Fortunately, I had a good
baseline after experiencing so many great coffee drinks. Even then I
still had (and occasionally have) trouble with this part of the equation
although now I use much less coffee to get the right balance.

Over the past few years I became fairly proficient with the Silvia and
Cunil combo, but wanted more. The two were very capable machines, but
the hoops required to brew sometimes made the process feel more like
work than a joy. So I decided to upgrade. It took many months of
research and worries, but I finally found the deal I was looking for on a
machine that did everything I wanted. Check back tomorrow to find out
about my upgrade.