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!