Commercial espresso machine

Most of us would surely like a commercial espresso machine at home. And that’s for a number of reasons. When it comes to practicality though, the main reason is making 6 cups of coffee without spending 20 minutes doing this: the ability to pull shot after shot. Of course you have your routine finely tuned and maybe you know a few tricks to cope with entertaining five or six friends but in the end you are technologically limited by the espresso machine you have, be it a Silvia or the cheapest thing money could buy. Sorry for taking a long way round in coming to the point. I’m going to present a trick that you may want to try the next time you’re faced with a fine gathering of friends.

The main problem in that situation is the heatup time that your machine needs in between the shots and your aim is to minimize that as much as possible. You can reduce this time by landing a hand to your overwhelmed espresso machine, using a simple kettle to preheat the water that goes in your tank. Don’t overdo it! You don’t want boiling water to liquefy your rubber tubing. Instead think that every little extra helps. By fiddling around with various temperatures you will be able to get a feeling for the temperature of the water that should go in your tank.

Bottom line: you can reduce the time that your boiler takes to come to temperature in between shots by prewarming the water in your tank. That’s it, no heat exchanger, no thounsands of euros blown on a commercial machine.

Enjoy!

Miss Silvia

It was on a Friday of no particular consequence and I was very caught up in some piece of code I was working on when somebody knocked at my door. I looked at the calendar: The 18th of January… It can’t be… But it was!!! I had ordered Miss Silvia from Rancilio only four days ago and here it was. Those FedEx guys surely know their stuff.

That day I did something I have not done 2oo8 so far: I took a “lunch break” and went in search of coffee. As you might have already found out, not much to choose from around here so I had to settle for the only pack suited for espresso use: Marcilla Espresso. I quickly got back home and proceeded to unpack Silvia and get hear all warm and steaming ;;) I was amazed by how much more professional this espresso machine felt compared to what I had back home: a staggering 58mm brass portafilter with double spout really heavy and sturdy next to the 52mm plastic one that I had back home and a gorgeous stainless steel polished body compared to the all plastic housing I was accustomed to. Another feature of this portafilter is that after a normal 30~45min warm up time the tips of the spout are really hot to the point where it’s no longer comfortable to touch them. S000 hot! Next comes the boiler: (I know, boring stuff for you all) a 0.3 liter boiler by far larger than what I had up to now that produces a lot of steam to last 2 or 3 cappuccinos or more.

And here are some pictures so that you can see what I’m talking about:


And finally, one picture I’m particularly proud of: My first attempt at latte art

Happy coffee to all of you!