Coffee, Coffee

[zourtney]

I somehow ended up with my Dad's old Krups espresso maker. I am very thankful for the gift, but I might get hooked on caffeine-laced milk suds. I haven't tried it since I brought it home; I'm still trying to steam out of calcium deposits caught in the filter.

It should be fun though and is supposedly a very sturdy old machine. Sometimes I appreciate hand-me-downs more than new stuff -- isn't that odd?

[Nick]

Like a little connection to that person sitting there on your counter.
Cool. Coffee = good. Espresso = awesome.

[zourtney]

I agree, espresso does equal awesome I think it is significantly more caffeinated, but I could be wrong.

[Nick]

It is until you add the milk I think. Then its not too much more then coffee... unless you have two or three shots that is.

[zourtney]

I just made an eggnog latte! Or something similar to that.

I didn't get a chance to find my little coffee tamper tool yesterday (a long story I'm going to call "Eve's Christmas present which I'm definitely going to hide away for the next 25 days"), so I used the bottom of a really small vase we had sitting around. And I didn't have any milk, so I used eggnog. Despite the improvisations, it seems to have turned out pretty good. Starbucks would charge $3.45, easily And I used as many beans as I would use in a half-pot of coffee 

[Nick]

How many shots was your drink? That sounds like allot of grounds for only making one espresso. Either that or you make your coffee really weak

[zourtney]

I'm not really sure how to quantify "a shot" since it just blasts hot, steamy water over the beans until you turn it off (or it's out of water/steam). I used about 2 1/4 tablespoons of ground coffee. Probably about 2 fl oz of "espresso" maybe? Hard to say because I didn't measure it. But it was about right.

[Nick]

You use 1/2 tablespoon to make a half pot of coffee?

I would like to taste your dark waters over there and see how they compare to mine.

[zourtney]

No, like 2 - 3 tbsp, but I never measure. I don't usually make a full pot because no one else is around to drink it. And it'll mold after a few days (like 10).

[Nick]

I usually make a nice strong pot and then drink it one or two cups at a time over a couple of days. Seems to keep well at room temp I have come back from road trips and the like to find a few white spots trying to grow in it. Easy to check it for white fuzzies though so I don't worry about it much. And I microwave it to some undrinkably hot temperature so I am probably safe.

[Nick]

My espresso maker exploded!

I was trying to use it today after neglecting to do anything with it for a few weeks. The part that pumps hot water though the brown grounds worked fine, but when I turned the steamer part on nothing came out. So I soaked the steam nozzle in hot water for a but and turned it back on. Then suddenly there was a loud, muffled "WHUMP"  sound and the lid blew right off the thing. So I guess the steam chamber ruptured and I will need to take it apart and see how bad it is. I always let the steamer part run until it was all out of water so I would think there wouldn't be too many deposits in there...

So, a word from experience: don't do what I did. I don't know what it is I did wrong, but don't do it.

[zourtney]

Oh no! I'll try not to do whatever it was that you did.

[zourtney]

Anyone (within reason) who wants a eggnog or milk latte should come over; I'll make you one! Especially an eggnog one, because I accidentally bought expired stuff last night.

[zourtney]

Well, I made it to h kitchen store and bought my little espresso tools -- a metal cup for steaming milk and a "tamper" for packing down the coffee. I also got snow bibs, but those are not for eating.

[Nick]

Cool. Let us all know how the tamper works. I always just used the flat bottom the the coffee scooper, but a real tamper might be nice to have.