Thankful for Lazarus, Pining for Sylvia

Lazarus

Mr. Coffee (or Signore Coffee, as I like
to call him) lives to brew another day

After de-scaling my espresso machine another two times, it seems to have (slightly) resurrected. Two out of three shots actually manage to hold the pressure without leaking tons of water into the shot. The shots are still bitter and unpredictable, and I’m wasting a ton of coffee grounds, but hey – it’s espresso!
I also have a stovetop model that I received as a birthday gift (thanks, Hallie!). It is entirely different, but it works ok for lattes.
The steam wand on Lazarus will work indefinitely, so I can steam milk for as long as I need to….

Miss Sylvia

photo courtesy Coffee Geek

And since I’m saving up for this, it might take me a long time.
THIS is Miss Sylvia. She is absolutely beautiful, not so much in form, but in function.
I really love a good espresso shot, and have learned enough about how to pull a good one. I love to pore over the specs and insight at Coffee Geek, where the information is amazing and the people are really really really passionate about their espresso.
I’m not quite that passionate (yet), but I would love to have a more reliable and robust machine. The Rancilio Silvia is widely regarded as the best espresso machine you can buy for under a thousand dollars. Yes, I said A THOUSAND DOLLARS. The good (?) news is that Miss Sylvia is “only” $540. But, I really need to buy a grinder to go with it, and the whole package costs $850.
That’s a huge chunk of change for anything. And since we’re now being really financially responsible, it will be a long time before I can afford it. But it will be a good exercise in doing without in the short term to reap long term benefits. Good things come to those who wait, right??!!
Update: My friend Shona has graciously given me her Signore Coffee machine. She claims she hardly ever uses it (being as she has to get up at the crack of dawn for her job). Wow! Mmmm – now I get to enjoy real espresso AND save my pennies. Thanks, Shona!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 9:00 AM and is filed under Shiny Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.