of course. brain freeze.

>we’ve instructed our staff to line the counters under the grinders with wax paper so we can collect every ground gone awry.

heh. i know the feeling. even the other week, i bought some roasted stuff from counter culture — rare for me, because i do so much volume on the home bar. as i was paintakingly trying to grind to the exact amount needed, then distribute extra carefully and tamp perfectly, i did something truly stupid — i lost control of my tamp somehow, and the bottom skewed suddenly to one side, digging violently into the puck and throwing grounds across the floor. first time i’d ever done that.

>was wondering if anyone had actually tried the Esmerelda as espresso.

i’ve got a post percolating on this, but i’ve been thinking about how this whole SO thing is still so novel to professional/cafe types (not talking about you per se, rich). i mean, chris tacy had a nice piece in barista mag about brewing brazil’s top coffees as espresso — as if it were some sort of break-through idea, and people should wake up and start learning the wonders of SO in the portafilter.

but home junkies have been doing this for ages — and not just out of convenience. it’s just a dramatic way to experience coffee and pull things out of SO that you just would never have experienced. why is this still so unthinkable to some people? (again, not really talking about you, rich. you are voicing a reality in the business.)

am i going to pull shots of esmerelda? sure am. i have long ceased to consider any roast or bean or blend as exclusively “for espresso,” and it makes for an especially vivid espresso-drinking experience/journey/thing.

as for americanos, well, that’s a remote posssibility i guess. but we’re talkin’ a fairly limited supply of juice here, and that just ain’t one of my favorite origin delivery methods.

Should you try, be sure to post the results.

sales pitches are not cool. thanks for the remarks, tho.

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Anyway keep up the posts.