A Feelgood Story ...

Armed with a new charger for my camera, I wanted to post a quick reflection on three events that happened this week.

1. Biscuits?!


One of my regular customers brought in a bunch of biscuits for me, made using some coffee that I had roasted for her the week before. Note the exquisite work with the piping nozzle. (The textbook is pretty good, too.)

2. Catastrophe!


For some reason, I came home to find puddles of water all over my espresso bench, including all around my tampers. This stuff sometimes happens in a shared household. It only took a minute to clean up, but I realised that the handle of this tamper had rotted so that it no longer gripped the threads of the bolt.

Whilst I don't use this tamper any more, it still has a lot of sentimental value. I bought it from Greg years ago when I bought my first espresso machine and grinder combo. Back then, the tampers came with a really long handle, the idea being that you could grab it in your fist. The base was also just a well machined circle of stainless steel. The tamper traveled back and forth between Greg and I as various modifications were made. The first was cutting down the original Jarrah handle. In hindsight, we probably went too short. It didn't take too long until I met up with Greg in Adelaide and he showed me a zany new type of handle - I had to buy it and switched over to it straight away. I can't remember exactly what happened with the base, but at some stage I ended up with a version with the lines that I wished for in my review and the partly chamfered base that Greg Kaan suggested. Of course, along the way it has also been my pleasure to test out various tampers and designs that I'm bound to stay silent about.

Watching Greg's tamper and his business evolve has been a lot of fun. The tamper will continue to occupy a special place in my collection.

3. Syphon



In the photo; Syphon brought back from Japan for me by Pete, cup brought back from Sri Lanka by Nim and copious amounts of advice from the Barismoids.

I have met a lot of very nice people in coffee and I shall miss them very much when (if?) I leave it.