Well, friends, after much trial and error with my new Kyocera hand grinder/mill from Orphan Espresso, I finally have my espresso dialed in again. The beans from Broadway Café really blow Whole Foods’ out of the water, too, even when they’re a week or so old. I can’t quite reproduce the full experience of Broadway’s espresso, but I’m close enough that it beats 90% of the competition in the Kansas City area, in my opinion. Not bad for a home setup, if you ask me! Broadway still has me on the body/texture front. Plus it’s cooler to have an espresso and watch all the hipsters than it is to sit in my house and have the same drink.
I really like the Young Press, too, for French press coffee. I have found that 2 scoops of whole beans will produce enough grounds for 2 measuring cups of water, which is about 1.5 “cups” of coffee (I hope that makes sense). I still have a lot to learn about French press, but I’m a happy camper when it comes to my coffee enjoyment, right now. The Gaggia is due for a cleaning this weekend, which is never fun and seems like a lot more work than it should be, but that’s life.
On the beer front, I have some French beers to try, as well as a huge stock of damn near anything you could want to drink. I seriously need to stop buying beer for a while! Sheesh!
May 22, 2009 @ 11:52:23
That’s a cool picture – did you take it? I’ve been following your espresso drama – sorry to hear about the hand grinder as it sounded really cool (and looked neat as well).
We’re the same way with beer, buying more while we still have a ton at home. Part of the fun is finding something new & interesting!
May 22, 2009 @ 15:48:56
No, that isn’t my photo, unfortunately. The PeDe grinder is still doing good service for coarse grinding for French press. It just didn’t work out as an espresso grinder. No big deal, although I’ve invested as much in hand grinders as I could have in a decent plug-in grinder! C’est la vie.