Comfort Food

Things are pretty stressful at the moment, what with the "GFC" (as the knobs that use TLAs call it), general uncertainty over what this year will hold and bad vibes hanging over from the holidays (yes, I'm a bit of a grinch). The last thing that I needed was for my espresso machine to break down. My fault, really; I always say that pressurestats should be regarded as disposable parts and I didn't have a spare on hand. My friendly local supplier had a spare sitting around for me, but, of course, in a spectacular convergence of bad luck, inattention and stupidity, I managed to over-tighten the nut and break the fitting, which fit in nicely with my shocker of a week last week. Fortunately, it was Makin to the rescue again, cannibalising a spare machine to give me yet another part for what would otherwise be a two and a half grand paperweight.

I can only presume that MC Escher started drawing as a way of making notes on an espresso machine that he had dismantled. Seriously, though, it doesn't get much easier than this.

I knew the instant that I perambulated over to the machine this morning that my luck had changed. I love most forms of coffee and have been enjoying heaps of brewed coffee of late, but it's easy to over-analyse. Cappuccino is a totally unique form of coffee; comfort food for any barista. There's something soothing about taking five minutes out to make a cappuccino, half-asleep, with brain still in the 'off' position as your arm rocks back and forward in a pattern rehearsed a million times. No need to try and sort out malic acid from lactic, TDS 1.2% from TDS 1.4%, atitlan from huehuetenango. No need to think about who I need to chase up about what. For a few minutes, I just sit back and enjoy the warm, chocolatey foam and pretty pictures.

Come to think of it, there's something oddly soothing about late-night blogging, watching with amusement as my stream of consciousness sprawls, whilst my sentences grow ... and grow ... and grow, attaining nightmarish numbers of commas (and, let's not forget, the occasional parenthesis) ... damn I need a cappuccino!

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.