~1986 – my sister gave me her used Krups 963 machine, which she had but couldn’t be bothered to use. I was 17 and in heaven (I wanted one after tasting a first cup of real coffee at my friends’ mom, who had a similar machine). I was using it mostly with Lavazza Oro pre-ground and thought this was the business!
~1989 – my father bought me an upgrade: a Krups 976 NOVO. I thought this was the most beautiful appliance I ever saw.
But the quality of the coffee didn’t improve as much as I had expected. So I got a Braun 4045 burr (!) grinder so I can grind fresh beans. Also moved to Illy gold beans which came in cans, were expensive and I thought were ‘wow’. Used this combo for about 8-9 years, during which I started buying beans from local roasters.
1998 - my wife got a post-doc at Harvard and off we went to America. Just before that, I went into a coffee store in Amsterdam and saw something that blew my head off: a stainless steel machine with a heavy commercial portafilter that looked a-ma-zing! It was the just released Rancilio Silvia. It was too expensive of course (1,000 Guilders), and I was about to travel, so I decided to forget about it. But I just couldn’t get it out of my head.
When I arrived in the U.S. I was really missing my coffee, but didn’t have much money. So went into an appliance store and got an ex-display De-Longhi ‘espresso’ machine for $50 or so. It was crap (and I didn’t have my grinder either). Coffee-wise, I couldn’t wait for the year to end so I could get rid of it. I left it to some friends (that I didn’t care much about, lol).
1999 - After a year in the US we moved to Belgium (for a second post-doc). To my amazement, I went into that shop in Amsterdam and walked out with a V1 Silvia. Soon after I got a Solis Scala 166 grinder. Wow!
2000 - I started going on coffeegeek forums. Saw people talking about home roasting. Sounded interesting, so I got a popcorn popper, and eventually found a place in the centre of Brussels that was willing to sell me some green beans. Did a first batch and was amazed by the results. So kept going and burned through 3 popcorn poppers before getting a Hearthware Precision Coffee Roaster. After a few years the heater gave up and I got a second one, which worked till 2009. Used to roast on the window sill of the kitchen window. The neighbours in my apartment building were too polite to complain directly, but sometimes used to comment that we seem to like toast. 😊
2009 – the second precision roaster died. I Wanted to get another but they were not available anymore, so got a Gene Café.
2014 – Solis grinder motor popped. Got an Iberital MC2. Game changer again.
For a very long time I just did what I was doing in a stagnant way. Then one day I discovered that I was a bigger idiot than I thought – I wasn’t aware the Silvia needed temp surfing! Well that would certainly explain why occasionally I had fantastic shots, but often got just mediocre coffee. I started doing temp-surfing and results improved dramatically, so I got interested again. Of course now I wanted a PID, but kept wondering: would my ~20 year old V1 Silvia survive the operation?
2020 – Sold my V1 and bought a V6 Silvia intending to PID the new machine. But then I realised that once I get the Auber I will be in HX price territory. Disappointed that nothing significant has changed in the Silvia in the past 20 years and results from the V1 and V6 were very similar, buyer’s remorse started sinking in.
Left: V1 1999; right: V6 2020 - not much difference inside either.
2020 - I kept reading the forums, saw the Niche Zero and thought it ticked all the boxes. Eventually caved in and ordered one. Had to wait a few months to get it, and decided not to do anything until it arrives and I see the effect with the Silvia. However…
While waiting for the Niche I started reading about the all new Mara X and thought: Yes! This is what I was after! Small footprint, temp stability, brew priority – I wanted one! And it wasn’t much more expensive than my new Silvia + the Auber PID which I didn’t yet buy. So I decided to sell the Silvia while it was still virtually new and got the Mara X. Around the same time I changed everything else as well: started weighing input and output, changed roast level, better water, distribution technique, better baskets and shower screen, proper tamper…
2022 (nearly) – coffee has never been better, but I am still on a journey, with so much yet to learn and improve.