Hi everyone. This is a bit long, but my relationship with coffee is a bit of a weird story, and I thought it might be entertaining for some of you at least.
Growing up, my parents drank coffee all the time, and they liked it black. That was good because I could always rely on getting a coffee-related gift for them for birthdays and holidays, and it would make them happy.
I never drank coffee at all. Neither did my wife. There was one time in my twenties when I tried coffee out because there was so much free coffee available at my workplace that I thought I was missing out. I found that the way I liked coffee best was black, just like my parents, but I didn’t like it enough to keep drinking it. And since neither one of us drank coffee, we didn’t even have a coffee maker in our house.
We were fortunate enough to visit Paris a few years ago just before the pandemic. We were doing the touristy thing of sitting at a cafe. My wife decided that we should try an espresso. Much to my surprise, it was amazing. I’d had espressos back in the US where I’m from, but it was nothing like what we experienced.
When we got back from that trip, my wife set out on a mission to find the best espresso in our area. She hit every coffee shop within a 20 mile radius. No luck. We were a bit surprised, as we live in New Jersey, so it’s not like there aren’t any Italians around here. 😉 🇮🇹 A foodie friend of ours told us that the reason was probably that espresso machines in the US aren’t cleaned/maintained the way they should be. I’m not sure if that is completely true, but the fact is nothing near us came close to what we experienced at that cafe.
I suggested that we get a real espresso machine, but our kitchen area is small, and my wife didn’t want to have even a small espresso machine taking up counter space. Because of the space issues, we tried a Moka pot and a Baratza Virtuoso+, and that made good coffee, but nothing that we were super excited about, and it certainly wasn’t the same as espresso, as I’m sure you all know.
I then found out about the 9Barista. I got our 9Barista at the beginning of the year, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that we’ve been having espresso every day since then. The espresso we’ve had is definitely better than anything we can get around here, and every so often I get lucky and have one that is as good as what I remember from that day at the cafe.
So that’s our story. I’ve gone from not drinking coffee for over 50 years to enjoying an espresso every day. What I’m hoping to learn from you all is information on grinders. I have a question which I’ll post in another thread.
Thanks!
