Mirage - Espressonistic Espresso

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Gaggia Syncrony Compact Super-Automatic Espresso Maker ReviewAlong with all of the thrashing about the last week or two getting a working coffee maker and backup into place, I also went nuts and bought a super automatic espresso machine. If you're not up on espresso maker terminology, a "Super Automatic" is a machine delivers a shot of espresso (or a double, or an americano (espresso+hot water -- coffee, more or less)) at the touch of a button. It grinds the beans, makes the shot, dumps the grinds, etc. Of course, it also comes with a steam wand for frothing the milk. In the online world of coffee snobbery (such as CoffeeGeek, one of my favorite coffee-related sites), there is a special place in home barista hell for...


DIY Espresso MachineEngadget has a how-to article on making a portable "espresso machine". The unit is made up of pretty much equal parts PVC, caulk gun, and hacker ingenuity, and much like a Philips Senseo, it may make coffee from pressurized hot water, calling it espresso seems to be a bit of a stretch. Likewise, it seems to lack the counter-panache of a Francis! Francis! X3 (or a Senseo, even). On the other hand, it may be the best coffee you ever got from shopping on the plumbing aisle at Home Depot, even if it does lack provisions for steaming the milk... With this machine, you’ll heat your water seperately and then just pour it in. I highly suggest you pressure test...


Isomac Tea Espresso Machine Review"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" -- perhaps, but if they called them "stink weeds" it might be more difficult to sell them by the dozen on St. Valentine's Day. We've all heard various funny stories about companies marketing products with unfortunate names in other languages. The Isomac Tea is one of the better examples. The story as I have it is that it's intended to be pronounced "Tey-uh", in the venerable Italian habit of giving neat pieces of gear women's names. Unfortunately, when they brought it out here, a lot of people apparently went "Tea? I want coffee, not tea!" and didn't give it another look. Which is a shame... The Tea is an amazing...


Pity the fool that don’t like espresso…Over on "Words For My Enjoyment", Paul Davidson happens to run into Mr. T standing on line at Starbucks... Well� Mr. T was standing right in front of me in line. It was then that I tuned my eavesdropping ears into the conversation in front of me, in which Mr. T picked out two chocolate covered graham crackers (for dipping) and ordered a double-shot espresso. Yes, that's right - Mr. T, a guy with more energy and moxie than the entire city of Los Angeles, was ordering up additional adrenaline in the form of a dark, thick liquid. It was awesome. And I had to say something or else I'd regret it. Mr. T obviously still has nerves of steel...


Single Origins, Melanges & Espresso BlendsFor me, one of the true joys of home roasting is exploring the vast array of flavors available in different origins of coffees. Each area (and even each farm, and each year) has its own predominant and subtle flavors and aromas. Most of the flavors of an origin are easiest to find in medium roasts -- from a light "City" roast (just at "first crack" when the steam flashes out of the bean, and it goes from a yellow or tan to a brown) to slightly above "Full City" (a darker roast, just into "second crack", and before the bean starts to get noticably oily). At each level of roast, different flavors predominate -- berries, citrus, floral notes, earthiness, chocolate,...