Fine espresso in 16 simple steps with basic equipment
Frequently, friends ask me to tell them how to make great coffee at home. They have tasted delicious coffee on vacation in Italy or in some special cafe closer to home and now their taste buds have awakened to the simple but exquisite joy of fine coffee.
If I show them how I do it at home they are a bit overwhelmed and quickly decide it's not for them which is a shame because in essence, it's very simple. Of course, if you get a Rocket E61 machine or a LONDINIUM I plus an excellent grinder, this makes getting the best shots very easy but it is also possible with just basic things.
A La Pavoni manual espresso machine for instance and some peripherals.
When I go on a short vacation this is for me a great opportunity to strip down to these essentials and that way, my traveling setup is also a convenient example of the way these friends could make themselves delicious espresso.
The stuff that I bring fits in just average trunks, the ones you can check in and take as hand luggage on a flight and they most certainly fit in any car's trunk. Clothes can also be taken along as long as they make themselves useful as a buffer between the pieces of coffee-making hardware.
The heavy metal does make the luggage weigh more but the money spent at the airport on extra weight is easily saved at the destination because I find that one does not really need to go anywhere anymore after setting up the equipment in a rented kitchenette:
I'm in Bad Kohlgrub now and I've been here a week every year for the past 4 years, always bringing my coffee stuff. Sometimes at breakfast I meet guests who are planning to go see Neuschwanstein castle, the famous Garmisch Partenkirchen ski slope, the Abbey of Andechs or the famous fiddle making museum in Mittenwald. I never went there because I have all I need in my room!
While making coffee and enjoying the taste and after taste I think of home and with fondness imagine all the fine things there. I read books, like (currently) "Shady Characters" by Keith Houston about the secret history of typographical symbols and punctuation marks, and "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Taleb about speculation and risk management. If I went to see places I would have no chance to do these finer things.
There's a mountain next door, Hörnle, that I could climb but I have done it years ago and I know that mountains are simple creatures. They can wait, they do not mind if you have been in town and haven't come to look them up. Mountains know what it means to "stay put" and most likely Hörnle understands my staying inside my rooms better than anyone.
What's more, in The Netherlands we have our own mountains. The "Hoge Veluwe" is a spectacular landscape with some of the highest mountains that one can still climb without danger and you're on the top before you get tired, to enjoy a magnificent view. I believe that on a clear day you can see as far as Paris and if that blinking tower were not there one could see a faint glimmer of Rome to the left over its shoulder. If just the skies were clear enough.
So here is a brief video of fine espresso in just 16 simple steps!
If I show them how I do it at home they are a bit overwhelmed and quickly decide it's not for them which is a shame because in essence, it's very simple. Of course, if you get a Rocket E61 machine or a LONDINIUM I plus an excellent grinder, this makes getting the best shots very easy but it is also possible with just basic things.
A La Pavoni manual espresso machine for instance and some peripherals.
When I go on a short vacation this is for me a great opportunity to strip down to these essentials and that way, my traveling setup is also a convenient example of the way these friends could make themselves delicious espresso.
The stuff that I bring fits in just average trunks, the ones you can check in and take as hand luggage on a flight and they most certainly fit in any car's trunk. Clothes can also be taken along as long as they make themselves useful as a buffer between the pieces of coffee-making hardware.
The heavy metal does make the luggage weigh more but the money spent at the airport on extra weight is easily saved at the destination because I find that one does not really need to go anywhere anymore after setting up the equipment in a rented kitchenette:
While making coffee and enjoying the taste and after taste I think of home and with fondness imagine all the fine things there. I read books, like (currently) "Shady Characters" by Keith Houston about the secret history of typographical symbols and punctuation marks, and "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Taleb about speculation and risk management. If I went to see places I would have no chance to do these finer things.
There's a mountain next door, Hörnle, that I could climb but I have done it years ago and I know that mountains are simple creatures. They can wait, they do not mind if you have been in town and haven't come to look them up. Mountains know what it means to "stay put" and most likely Hörnle understands my staying inside my rooms better than anyone.
What's more, in The Netherlands we have our own mountains. The "Hoge Veluwe" is a spectacular landscape with some of the highest mountains that one can still climb without danger and you're on the top before you get tired, to enjoy a magnificent view. I believe that on a clear day you can see as far as Paris and if that blinking tower were not there one could see a faint glimmer of Rome to the left over its shoulder. If just the skies were clear enough.
So here is a brief video of fine espresso in just 16 simple steps!
Reacties