I have a fancy espresso machine somewhere in the garage. Too much work for me. Nespresso here as well.
I have a fancy espresso machine somewhere in the garage. Too much work for me. Nespresso here as well.
--- veloflex & star-bucks, years of a little grease from the elbow for these smiles..
ronnie
Fair analogy. Clinchers these days ride great and are significantly easier for the vast majority of people. Nespresso isn't the greatest cup of joe in the world, but for the level of effort, it's damn good. Not everyone needs everything to be at the pinnacle. And if you ride race day tubulars every day, what makes race day special? I'll take my Nespresso at home and my Saturday post ride coffee stop at the local hipster hangout.
The places that sell the coffee also take the capsules for recycling, so it's pretty easy to bring them in when you go to get more.
I have the Surly Cross-Check of espresso setups. This includes a base model pump-driven De'Longhi and a Hario Skerton hand grinder. I think the total setup cost me $150. Even with grinding my own beans by hand it takes less than 5 minutes to get a shot, even with machine warm up time. Now if you jump on the coffee forums many will say that the machine is barely adequate. However in practice it produces a nice product most of the time. Chasing the perfect crema is the upsell to make you open your wallet more, like soundstage for audiophiles, stiffness and compliance in cycling, etc. That being said I'm willing to try out a different machines. Perhaps we can open up the classifieds so folks can unload their nice espresso machines that are currently being stored in their garages?
Eric S. Zimmerman
Zimmerman Bicycle works
and Cinematography
zimmermancamera@gmail
check out the work here
www.ericzimmerman.me
You got your levels, everything has levels. Nespresso fits a level and I dig it. I hit my Nespresso now and then based on how I feel, and I love it. I want to get one of their milk steamers. 62 cents a cup now and then is fine with me.
wanna talk simple
make some cold brew, just mix some ground beans with water and let sit 24hrs
pour through some sorta filter or cheesecloth
or get a fancy premade filter thing...
swear it tastes like cookies...which obviously, i'm a fan of...
We have this Delonghi model. I keep hoping it will die so we can get something else. Unfortunately it is very well made. The secret evidently about Delonghi is that most of the important internal parts at the same throughout the model line, just the automation and adjustability changes. Coffee that comes out is annoyingly good too. Completely automatic except the milk steaming, but things stay cleaner that way. Occasionally have to adjust grind & volume. I would like to be able to control steam pressure and temp - or at least I think I would. Perhaps if I got something that allows for that, I would miss the days of crawling into the kitchen and punching a button. In fact, I am pretty sure of it. I can't imagine Nespresso being any easier.
I do like seeing a Nespresso in the hotel room when traveling. Takes the whole narcoleptic coffee panic of the morning out of the way.
Automatics offer great convenience, but still allow for some playing around. The biggest hang-up is cost, but if you look hard you can always find a place trying to unload a demo unit.
For someone like me who really likes to try different roasts and origins, but don't want to venture in to all of the preparation variable manipulations. I have a Jura ENA 9 and I am super pleased. I can make my morning americano in 2 min with my daughter in my arms and still half asleep.
We had this one at work before it died and we replaced it by this expensive one Miele CM5200 Espresso Machine | Williams-Sonoma
That Miele thing is not that good really, very fiddly, you always have to clean something with it.
At the beach, I can make excellent coffee using a stove top pot made out of heavy stainless (trying to avoid aluminum) we got at a restaurant supply place in Little Italy. Works best on a gas stove (what doesn't? except maybe Wonder Bread & American cheese) with the flame turned all the way down. Friends who visit always want to crank the flame, but that burns the coffee and overheats the rubber gasket so you get the rubbery aftertaste in the coffee. Lowest heat and be patient. 15-20 minutes later, the pot goes into final gurgle mode and the coffee is ready. Then if you want cappuccino, get one of the magic whisks and a milk pot, heat up the milk and whip it up. Smoothest foam ever.
A pal has this one from Breville and it seems like a nice mix between a higher end manual and a super automatic. Double boiler/pumps etc. etc. etc. I am just not sure I can leave the Delonghi's known dependability and take a risk on something this expensive. Every time I see one though the owners say it has been very dependable.
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