Postscript

I was lying in bed last night wide awake at 3:00 am thinking of coffee. Thinking how the espresso gadget makes a really good hit of coffee.  How it'll be really great when I get up and can have my morning cup.  How I love that it makes crema.  Was I up because of caffeine? Was it too early to get up and have an espresso? Is coffee evil? (I know that is anthropomorphizing and vilifying at the same time and that's really dumb, but I was pretty tired and often the things you ponder about in the middle of the night make no sense in the morning).  The truth is that since I've got my new machinery I have sometimes been having one more coffee a day- because its easy to make just one shot. I have two cups in the morning, one at 6:30 and one before 8:00 and now sometimes one at lunch around 1:30 pm, something I know I shouldn't do on account of my self diagnosed extreme reaction to caffeine. But it's only one shot. How much of a toxic dose can that give me? How can a 1:30 coffee affect my sleep after I've fallen asleep? It can't wake me up, can it? And it is so good. Really good. But I didn't have a third hit yesterday and I'm still up and wide awake. Do you mind!

Talk about anthropomorphizing

Espresso Express

(Continuation from previous post)

And so I "finally" (and by that I mean after obsessively cross referencing the number of reviews against the ratings, price, quality, yada yada yada and trying to determine if there were any deals to be had out there cause I love the discount, but then who doesn't) decided to purchase an open box Ascaso Mini in black ABS plastic.

C'mon, aint she a beaute

I purchased her online for $199 from idrinkcoffee, a fairly local "merchant" (they call themselves merchants- great word) free shipping included. That's a good deal- $40 off the regular price because of the open box. What is an open box you ask-or maybe you figured it out cause you 're smart but I asked. It means that a previous customer opened it and returned it cause they immediately decided they didn't like it, (why would they not like it on sight?- that's disturbing) or there was a minor problem which has been repaired and it is now in perfect working condition,(even more disturbing- but they say it is perfect now and are giving me the normal warranty so it must be perfect, right?)  I took the plunge notwithstanding my concerns. So I was pretty excited when a day after my order, I received a large package in the mail. Yes indeedy- it was my new grinder. Excellent coffee here we come.  Took er home and pulled er out of the box- she looked perfect. Ready to go when I am! Had seen a video on how to run er, so the next morning, plugged er in- put some beanos in the hopper, hit the grind button- she ground once, she ground twice and then stopped. Cold. Stopped cold. That's right.  Do you mind! This can not be, and yet it be. GRRRR. Ground the coffee in the magic bullet, dripped it through the drip maker- had an crappy coffee, dashed off an email to idrinkcoffee espressing (ya, that's a joke) my dismay, propped up a note in bold marker on the new grinder for Mr. L which read "DOES NOT WORK" and went for a run.  Mr. L had taken a look by the time I got back and said "Yup, it doesn't work- you're right." After a few emails back and forth with customer service at idrinkcoffee wherein they suggested possible but ultimately futile fixes I decided to speed up the process by returning the sucker in the flesh.

Because in the meantime, I had found a truly astounding deal at Whole Latte Love (cute yes? Whole Lotta Love- Led Zeplin, I get it- I wonder if they had to pay to use it) a Gaggia Classic espresso machine rated pretty highly by coffeegeek and discounted together with the use of a coupon to $329 about $270.00 off.

C'mon, aint she a beaute, too

I wasn't even going to get an espresso machine but could not pass up this deal. I bet I've spent thousands of unnecessary dollars on not passing up a deal- anybody who goes to Costco knows what I mean. Maybe one day I'll be able stop to that.

There's a whole lotta story about getting that machine here involving, Meg, Phil, border guards, a dancing bear and a clown, but the good news it that it was shipped and landed on my kitchen table within 2 days.  I gotta say the delivery for this coffee equipment is express.
In the intervening day, I had driven to idrinkcoffee (it's worth the drive to Milton- gorgeous store with gleaming and shiny eye candy, equipment wise, guaranteed to blow your mind), met Stawek the very knowledgeable & charming founder and CEO who calmed me down by preparing for me a fantastic espresso right there, appropriately apologizing about the open box fiasco, answering all my boring questions about grinders and giving me the $40 off a new polished steel Ascaso mini. (Good PR, Stawek but you had me at the espresso). So here is the upgrade:

C'mon it's worth the extra $50 to have matching equipment

I was on an upswing. So flash forward to Sunday morning-time for my espresso which I was going to have with French toast with real maple syrup to celebrate. The stakes were high and yet unbelievably but true there was another cafuffle with the grinder involving it getting clogged, Phil and Mr. L opening it up, some fiddling with a thingamabob, the guys closing it up- finding that the screw didn't catch, trying to find another screw, til finally (yes, for the love of Seymour, please, please let this woman have a cup of espresso) all was in readiness, the Spanish machine- Barcelona, (grinder) the Italian machine- Milan, (espresso) yours truly, (more than ready) and ta da!

Espresso Express :  a mere 20 easy steps!

So worth it!

MORNING CUP O JOE

How important is your morning cup of coffee? I mean really.  Well, I know for me its pretty darn important, so when I became thwarted in my attempt to have a decent cuppa- I knew this could not stand.

 *As a sidebar I have thought the thought " this is the talk of an out-of-touch, privileged  person living in the first world- get a life- try living in the Ukraine" and while it's all true, and enjoying a good cup of coffee simply is not that relevant, it's also true that our society gets all hepped up about this type of thing (just go to coffeegeek.com and you'll see just how intense people get about coffee and coffee paraphernalia)- and other creature comforts, luxuries and material items that maybe we shouldn't focus on so much....... but do.  Also, I like to think I am injecting a "shot"(espresso term) of  humour and irony into this issue. So having rationalized that it's ok, I'll continue.*

 I would go to sleep at night knowing I had something exciting and delicious to wake up to- (Mr. Lovely- well-yes, but  he tends to sleep in and I'm talking about) my morning cup of coffee. And even though I have been a lover of (Mr. L, well- yes, but I'm still talking about) the coffee for over 34 years, I was  pretty much low tech. We had a Cuisinart burr grinder which was 8 years old, and I had a Bialetti (I was on my 4th one), that I used on the stove top. So when my grinder started seriously jamming (it always has a bit, so that getting the coffee was always a bit of  a grind- ha!) and I had to attempt to clear it out with a shishkabob skewer and then press down with all my might on the plastic lever, which more often than not didn't even work, I started to get frustrated and then grumpy.  I began grinding my coffee in the magic bullet- which is not designed for grinding at all. It crunched the beans into large chunks and then smaller and smaller chunks. GRRR #1. Then my busted up Bialetti became glued together so that I could not unscrew the bottom. Do you mind! Sometimes Mr. L could unscrew it but sometimes not. Sometimes I forgot to ask him the night before (I get up a good hour before him and need that equipment to be available first thing.) Here is a picture of my Bialetti and the magic bullet:

Rough- don't I know it.

 GRRR #2. Out of desperation I began using Mr. L's drip coffee maker which quite frankly made inferior coffee. NOT GOOD. My morning ritual (of having a coffee and going for a run followed by another coffee) was becoming a drag and I did not look forward to it. It was difficult to be joyful about getting my sorry butt out of bed at 6:30, that's for sure.  And so commenced my search- for a new grinder.  I knew I could get a new Bialetti anywhere so I started with the grinder.  What a commotion. I went, obviously, to coffeegeek.com.  I think the name speaks for itself but here is their spiel from the FAQ:

"What's the deal with CoffeeGeek?

The deal is, we're a community of coffee and espresso lovers, and the CoffeeGeek website gives people, both consumers and folks in the coffee industry, a place to hang out, read, debate, write, or even ponder the finer aspects of coffee and espresso.  Our primary concern with CoffeeGeek is creating and maintaining the ultimate destination online or off for the coffee and espresso loving persion. (I think they mean person - give em a break).This includes industry people as well as your typical Joe Consumer looking to find out just a bit more about brewing a better cup.  We beat any industry publication or trade journal in terms of monthly readers, but we're never satisfied - we want the world to learn about better coffee. It's going to take some time."

Its founder is Canadian from Vancouver and I say bravo and thank you, Mark Prince. It is very detailed and informative, often humorous and so a pleasure to read and they sure had a LOT to say about grinders- first and foremost- don't skimp on one. The variables are enormous- (get ready for some coffee speak)- step vs stepless, doser vs doserless, espresso vs.french press and last but certainly not least how much moolah you want to lay out. Yikes! Ya, I can't pick a colour- how on earth can I pick a grinder? Three variables were helping narrow it down- my budget was under $300 ( which sounds like a fortune and is, but is actually an entry level price for coffee aficionados), I wanted it for espresso, and it needed to fit under my 15 inch kitchen cabinet. And so....

Tobacco and French Perfume

Jennifer Lawrence, or rather her character, Rosalyn, in the movie American Hustle has accented (or acscented as Alex would pun) "scents for women" with her enthusiasm for the smell on her nail polish topcoat- "smells like flowers but with garbage" she raves. Interesting that the garbage adds to the allure. Or is Rosalyn just wacky? Yes but I think there is something to having the somewhat off, earthy scent adding to the appeal of the sweet, citrus or floral. I prefer that as well in a scent (to put on my body)- maybe not garbage though.

On my recent trip to the Yucatan peninsula I stopped by the local perfumerie, Coqui, Coqui in Valladolid. They had a lab on site (because they use local organic material) and a very posh sales clerk who spoke perfect English and allowed me to sample some of their more popular fragrances. I tried quite a few but none was quite so alluring as the tobacco scent.  It was...rich, mysterious and yes, smoky. I had to have some-- who wouldn't?

Tobacco perfume....drool!

I would have bought more because the essence was so great but I am a big fan of the french perfume-(the floral but mixed with  the dark, hefty scents which include roots, wood, pepper, black tea), the Hermessence four pack to be exact.  Mr. L got me hooked on Hermes perfume when he bought me the Vetiver Tonka as a birthday present one year. Here is the write up: "powerful vetiver smoothed out by velvety hazelnut. A hint of pralines is mixed with the sweetness of Tonka beans to soften the earthy rough effect of the roots".

Here's what the vetiver root and the tonka bean look like:

vetiver root- rough

tonka bean

and here is the swanky Hermessence bottle:

It has a slightly green tinge

I love wearing this sophisticated perfume. I feel very grown up, edgy, sexy. Like I did when I used to smoke. (Ya that's why tobacco and perfume mixed together- really the perfect combo!) When it was just about finished Mr. L offered to buy me some more.  I guess he liked it too. Well, what's a girl to say? (Thank you darling,that would be divine. Yes, that's the ticket.)  We trekked down to Hermes in Toronto and found that they had a product we had never clued into before, on offer- the Hermessence 4 pack:

Signature orange box

with

4 gorgeous perfumes

4 of 11 options

Personally,  I am drawn to the scents that have floral tones but combined with woody and murky essences- like cedar, pepper, tea.  The four I now have are the Vetiver Tonka, Paprika Brazil (brazil tree mixed with paprika), Santal Massoia (which comes from the massoia tree which is native to New Guinea) and the Poivre Samarcande (old oak mixed with pepper). I sometimes combine two.  I wear perfume every weekday and when going out on the weekend and I have to say I get quite a lift from it.

My next purchase will be the Ambre Narguile which Jean-Claude Ellan (a Hermes perfumeur) describes as follows:

Amber, the Western expression of Eastern fragrances, has a warm, enveloping, almost carnal smell. (ME - Do you mind- Jean Claude!)  I wanted to imbue this idea of amber with the memory of the East I love where tobacco - blended with the smells of fruit, honey and spices - is smoked in narguilés, or water pipes, and where swirls of smoke diffuse a sweet sense of intoxication." 

SWOON!
They didn't have this fragrance the last time but now that I know that tobacco and perfume go together it's the one.