Espresso

I recently had the joy of reverting back to a simpler life. I am not sure that I will stay here, but it was fun to be here for a while.

My Isomac recently decided to fry all its wiring. I understand that this is not an unusual occurrence. The failure was interesting, being presaged by my GFI outlets popping. I should have known that something was wrong.

But I didn’t until the whole unit went south. So I was stuck without an E61, but with a bunch of Costa Rican peaberry roasted and in the bin.

The first thing I did was go back to my trusty old French Press. It was fine, if inspiring. The thing about espresso is that there is no substitute .Sure, you can get some nice flavors from the press, and yes, the roast worked well, but I was looking for something with a little more depth. I think that around alt.coffee it is referred to as going to hell in a hand basket (as in: Here’s your hand basket)

So I reluctantly retrieved my old La Pavoni Europiccola that I had purchased back in 1998 after a trip to France. (long story). There is nothing wrong with the Pavoni. As a matter of fact, I was saving it to give to my brother. But he was going to have to drive here from Milwaukee to pick it up. He has not yet done so.

I got the machine down from its perch above the refrigerator, cleaned it up, and filled it up. I reviewed the “Chrome Peacock” pages just to make sure I would remember how to run the machine. (I did). I filled up the boiler and fired the switch.

The machine worked like a champ. It came up to temperature quickly and the steam wand sounded like an old locomotive. Good enough, and I shut it down.

The next morning was the test. Again I fired up the boiler. It sang like it should and gave me more than enough steam to get the small bit of milk nice and foamy (macchiato, you know).

I ground the coffee on the Macap stepless to the same grind as I was using for the Isomac. I charged two filter baskets (these are tiny. The whole machine is small – each basket only holds about 7 g of coffee) and was ready to go.

You have to picture the Pavoni. Remember, this is a “springless” level machine. You provide all the pressure. If you don’t have the grind exactly right the lever is either impossible to pull, or falls of its own accord. In either case, the liquid produced is not worth drinking.

I locked in the portafiler and started to pump. You bring the lever handle up half way six time, and then on the seventh pull to take it all the way up. You hold up the lever and watch the water drop in the level glass – when it stops dropping the water is fully charged. That takes about ten seconds.

Then you pull it down. Perfection! It was a smooth, heavy pull with nothing but crema coming out the bottom. I quickly pulled off the portafiler and was rewarded with the Pavoni Sneeze. No three way valve! What mess. But I cleaned it up and loaded the other filter basket. Another perfect pull. We were off to the races.

My lovely bride said it was the best coffee she has had in years.

The Pavoni is inconvenient and messy. It is very sensitive to grind and humidity. It is easy to burn your espresso.

But when you get it right, it is heaven in a cup.