The Gift of Espresso

Posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 12:07 am under Grub, Personal.

Starbucks Barista Espresso Maker

After a rough start last week, my fortunes turned sweet when I received in the mail a Starbucks Barista Espresso Machine from my friends Steve and Deana Watson. They where about to sell it on eBay but instead sent it to me as gift. So I wanted to publicly say THANK YOU. YOU HAVE BLESSED ME BEYOND WORDS. I previously owned a Briel. An entry level machine that makes decent espresso but, it becomes increasingly frustrating when making multiple cups. In fact it was such a pain that I usually ended up serving everybody but me because I just couldn’t go through one more serving. However, this new Barista machine rocks. You can immediately tell the difference in the quality of the materials used. The Portafilter is rock solid with a rubber handle. The shell is stainless steal. It is a very simple to use and makes Starbucks quality lattes with perfect crema and froth. And the best part is that it can make multiple cups without throwing a hissy fit like my old one. So I am happy about my new machine, I’ve made quite a lot of cups already and it is a delight to use. THANK YOU STEVE AND DEANA!

Starchucks Espresso Barista

So how easy is it to be your own Starbucks Barista? Here’s the steps a latte requires.

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priming the steamermaking the frothsteaming the milk

First, prime the steamer by letting the old water go through. Then Froth the milk by setting the tip of the steamer just bellow the surface of the milk. Once you got your desired froth you let the tip go in deeper for the milk to steam til you reach no more than 170 degrees.

priming for brewingbrwewing the goods

Once you got your milk, you prime the brew head by letting the old water go through. This cleans up any residual coffee, drops the temperature for brewing and warms up the Portafilter and the cup. Once primed, put the espresso grounded coffee in the Portafilter an brew the goods.

the latte

Pour both into a cup and ahhhh… the perfect latte. Thank you Steve & Deana.

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2 Responses to “The Gift of Espresso”

  1. gravatar Flag Deana
    Dec 6th, 2005 at 7:42 am

    Nice photos! Glad you are putting it to good use!!!!!

  2. gravatar Flag Benxamin
    Dec 7th, 2005 at 9:03 am

    WOW. Nice friends!

    Now, if you need coffee, I regularly share pounds of the #2 coffee company in the US with most of my friends.

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