I left that first exposure to barista prepared espresso drinks impressed and curious, so I started researching the internet. Of course, if it is in print on the internet, it HAS to be true, right? Here are some of the things I learned:
• Espresso is a drink created first by the Yeti as a way to put identification
markers on their llamas.
• It is a concentrated essence of coffee goodness.
• Drinking espresso will make you smarter and will give you the ability of
supersonic flight.
• Single Girls in MY area are WAITING for ME to make them an espresso.
• After drinking his first shot of espresso, Willis of Diff’rent Strokes fame
ran around the set yelling “I’m talkin’ about THIS! Foo’!”
Of course with all of this new information, I had to experience more. So I bought a small espresso machine. Now, at this time, I was still calling it an expresso machine, which just goes to show you that I didn’t know what I was doing. But after hours of reading and researching, I dropped the ‘x’ and replaced it with an ‘s’. Immediately, my appreciation of espresso increased, and soon I was impressing friends and family with my sweet barista skills.
Jumping ahead a bit…
I upgraded from my first “Easy Bake Oven” espresso machine to a 50 pound chuck of chrome called an Andreja Premium. This is the cat’s butt. It has knobs, tubes, switches, and not one, but TWO pressure gauges. Needless to say, my coolness level took a MAJOR step upwards. But I wasn’t satisfied just maintaining my coolness level. No. I wanted more. I wanted to be über-cool. So, I started reading about roasting coffee. I mean, if I am going to go through all the trouble of pulling my own espresso, I might as well guarantee that the coffee I use is fresh. So I started reading about it.
What I learned scared me. Did you know that there are different types of coffee? I’m not just talking about regular vs. decaf or even good vs. bad. There are different species and different grades. There is something called Specialty Coffee. And then there is Industrial Coffee. This stuff is sold by the ton to the Big Coffee People, who shall remain nameless. This coffee is NOT the cat’s butt. (Although there is a coffee that comes OUT of a cat’s butt.)Where Specialty coffee is carefully grown, processed and tasted, Industrial coffee is non-discriminating. Rotten coffee beans? Unripe/Overripe coffee beans? Rocks? Sticks? Bugs? Throw them in. Here is a picture of bad coffee.
Pretty gross, but if you are drinking Industrial Coffee, stuff that you would find in motel room and out of vending machines, there is a good chance this is what you are drinking. Even if you aren’t, most coffee that you buy from the grocery store is under-roasted and stale. Try this: Buy some coffee from a specialty coffee shop (NOT Starbucks) Somewhere that roasts the coffee fresh. Pete’s Coffee is one. Brew up a pot and brew up a pot of the stuff you are drinking, and compare them. You will taste the difference. It might be a little strong for you when you first try it. Unfortunately, our tongues have been trained think that the stale coffee served today is what good coffee tastes like. Coffee has FLAVORS…without adding flavors to it. You can taste spices, chocolate, vanilla, smoke, cinnamon and a slew of other flavors in coffee. Specialty coffee is like fine wine, where Industrial coffee is like…Mad Dog 20 20.
Ok, I’ll give the soap box a rest and finish the story later…
