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Espresso Enthusiasts

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Saturday date nite for wife and I!
Bob Dylan at 8pm Detroits Masonic Temple, prior had dinner 5pm at Mad Nice, closed that with a perfect toasted Pistachio latte.
 
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Enjoyed an exquisite espresso macchiato in my favourite Art Deco café, along with a glass of sparkling water, and some freshly squeezed orange juice. Wonderful.
 
My very favourite Art Deco (it dates from 1922) café played host to me again, today, where I ordered, sipped and greatly enjoyed some sparkling water, freshly squeezed orange juice, espresso macchiato, and a small slice of an exceedingly divine raspberry and blackcurrant cake.
 
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Enjoyed an excellent espresso macchiato (and sparkling water, and freshly squeezed orange juice) in my very favourite, utterly glorious, Art Deco café.
 
DaveFromCampbelltown said:
So, some years ago, I bought a DeLonghi ECP 31.21 noddy espresso machine from Aldi, at half price.
It's simple. Put coffee in the portafilter, press the button, hear grinding noises because you forgot to fill up the water, stop, fill up the water, wait till it gets hot, press the button again and get coffee out.
Adjust grind size and amount for the particular type of coffee.
View attachment 2593534
It still works, but is getting a bit long in the tooth. One day soon, it will emit spitz 'n' sparkz instead of coffee.
It is essential that I have working coffee machine, otherwise the sky will fall in, the world will end and other similar disasters.

Looking around, I find that a later iteration of this class of machine is being discounted. Also, I have a gift card from many years ago that was still valid. A few tens of dollars later, this came home --

View attachment 2593535

Eh, voila! A new EC885 Dedica now graces the kitchen. The other is stored in the garage as a backup for the time being.
Advantages of the new machine --
  • It's narrower, so it takes up less room.
  • The water reservoir holds more water.
  • The portafilter now fits the grinder properly so you can grind just by pushing the button at the back with the portafilter.
  • It has a better steaming wand.
  • It pre-infuses the coffee in the basket. This is, apparently, a good thing.
  • The portafilter baskets are larger, holding more coffee (never a bad thing).
  • You can adjust the water temperature, too cold, just right, too hot.
  • You can adjust the water hardness to soft, medium or hard. This puzzled me somewhat, as I thought it meant the water pressure, but a Youtube said that it referred to how often you de-scale your machine.
  • It keeps the water hot for some time, so I don't have to wait between brewing cups.
In summary, it makes drinkable coffee, with a minimum of input from the operator (put coffee in portafilter, mount portafilter in machine, press button, remember to put cup under before too much spills).
Click to expand...

I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
 
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DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
Click to expand...
Moka pots are wonderful.
 
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DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
Click to expand...
Sounds strange - have you checked the electrical system?
I have no idea how it function where you are? But here we have some plugs that can go dead, and certain areas that it connects with it can 'go dark'.

And a recipt that messing with you ☹️
Most stores, at least here, keep purchases online if you are their customer there.
If this is your only purchase at that place, you can only hope they have a good system, an go visit them.
Another way, you might have an home-insurance, not sure an espresso-machine in general are worth that road - depending on type of insurance, of course.

Bur get some Coffee/Espresso in the way you had it before, and calm down, so you feel like a human before you proceed ♥️
 
I went to the grocery store after discovering my bean supply running dangerously low. With nothing particularly catching my eye, I decided I would conduct a challenge between two large readily available (at least to me) brands: Dunkin's Original Blend vs. Starbucks Sunsera Blend (aka blonde roast -- because I know that is all I can tolerate). I am familar with both -- in store -- but have not had either in quite awhile. I also know both are suitable "on the go" coffees but now I wanted to test if one or both would prove suitable as a stand-in home coffee when other supplies dwindle. Wish me luck.

IMG_9189.jpeg
 
DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
Click to expand...
Four months ... disappointing to say the least. I would not be happy either.
 
Madhatter32 said:
I went to the grocery store after discovering my bean supply running dangerously low. With nothing particularly catching my eye, I decided I would conduct a challenge between two large readily available (at least to me) brands: Dunkin's Original Blend vs. Starbucks Sunsera Blend (aka blonde roast -- because I know that is all I can tolerate). I am familar with both -- in store -- but have not had either in quite awhile. I also know both are suitable "on the go" coffees but now I wanted to test if one or both would prove suitable as a stand-in home coffee when other supplies dwindle. Wish me luck.

View attachment 2622952
Click to expand...
Ditch the Dunkin! It smells like trucker pee. 🤢
 
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DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
Click to expand...

ack!! that's awful.

the machines are conspiring against us.......my old bean grinder died a few months ago and the replacement only lasted a few days before it stopped working.
 
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Earlier today, I paid a last lingering visit to an Art Deco (it dates from 1922) café I have come to love, where I sipped an espresso macchiato, which was served with sparkling water, along with freshly squeezed orange juice and grapefruit juice. Simply divine. And delicious.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Earlier today, I paid a last lingering visit to an Art Deco (it dates from 1922) café I have come to love, where I sipped an espresso macchiato, which was served with sparkling water, along with freshly squeezed orange juice and grapefruit juice. Simply divine. And delicious.
Click to expand...

I read that too quickly this morning. "...where I sipped an espresso machine, ...". What a crazy thing to do.
 
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svenmany said:
I read that too quickly this morning. "...where I sipped an espresso machine, ...". What a crazy thing to do.
Click to expand...
While I have seen some amazing espresso machines (including a gorgeous object tiled with porcelain), I must concede that I have never sipped such a machine; the coffee, yes, the machine......ah, no.
 
DaveFromCampbelltown said:
I am disconsolate, devastated, sans coffee.

The brand new machine (above) is dead.

I press the button to warm it up before putting the porta filter in, nothing happened.
No lights, no sirens, no buzzing noises. Nothing.
Put the plug into a known good socket. Still nothing.
Il est morte. De nada. Silence.
Under warranty, but do you think I can find the receipt?

Fortunately the moka pot still works.
Click to expand...

Thank you all for the supportive comments.

Anyway, after the moka pot coffee had cut in, I rang the store, and they were able to send me a copy of the receipt.
So, I took the machine, and receipt back to the store.
A nice person came out, and removed the machine from the bag.
At which point I noticed the power switch. It was off.
Now this was not totally my fault. The switch is a little black square on a black background, that sits flush with the surface. You can't see it from any normal angle. I had forgotten it had even existed.
Anyway, the nice person took the machine out the back, confirmed that it does work if the power switch is turned on.

It appears to have been operator error. Apparently I had moved the machine a few inches to the left before making coffee and had inadvertently toggled the power switch (which I had forgotten even existed) off.

This is what happens when you try to make coffee before you have had your first coffee...
 
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Found a way to get the bag of Lavazza's Intenso 9/10 Beans to use, even if it was way to strong for me in itself.
So I mix an ~handful of the 'Lavazza Intenso’ beans into a kilo when I open and put the beans into my 'Bean Container’.
It tasted just great with a few robusta beans in the mix of these beans today 😋

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