The Sect of Rama

This past weekend I took the espresso machine out of moth balls in anticipation of needing the caffeine for my pending new fatherhood (3 weeks to go), gave it a good cleaning, and roasted some regular and decaf beans. Its been in storage for roughly 6 months mostly because Mrs R couldn't drink caffeinated beverages and [briefly] no longer craved it. Plus the once/twice a week roasting session plus the longish morning ritual of griding/extracting/frothing for a couple of cappuccinos was wearing on me.

Well the break did me good, as I find the process enjoyable once again. Funny how you forget just how good a real cappuccino can be. I'm no expert, but even with my modest equipment (Gaggia 16002, a Zassenhaus knee grinder powered via a cordless drill, and a Poppery roaster), I made a better cap on my first day back as barista than the previous 6 months. (FWIW, I probably have only had 3-4 in that time frame, as I'm always disappointed in whats served.)

In an effort to push a few readers over to home espresso making, I took a one minute video of the machine at work. (warning, just over 100MB. Yes, streaming video via Mediacast is on the RFE list.) There's a little blonding towards the end, but nothing horrendous. Maybe its time to convert my portafilter to a bottomless. More photos/videos to come of some cappuccino action, once I stock whole milk again...