6 comments

  1. Amen to the over-roasted coffee. I appreciate a strong brew, but I find theirs acrid. There’s nothing wrong with high prices, as long as the quality is good, but a cappuccino isn’t worth $4, no matter how good the foam.
    I bought a combination Delonghi Coffee/Espresso maker from Chef’s Catalog when it was on sale for $80, and it makes some darn good drinks here in our office. Between ground coffee bought at Safeway, and a 75-cent container of milk from the convenience store on the first floor of our building, each double cappuccino costs us about 50 cents.
    And don’t get me started about the proper size of an espresso drink (2 oz.=one shot), which has mostly disappeared except at good restaurants.
    Check out the maker here. It’s now $100, but still a bargain.

  2. …and it’s called “Caffe Nabucco,” which incorporates the name of my favorite Verdi overture.

  3. I like the overture to “I Vespri Siciliani” best, with that earsplitting piccolo part. It’s great to listen to first thing in the morning.
    As for the espresso, they just opened a new Starbucks here in Columbia (SC) in what used to be a major “Alternative Lifestlye” shop called the Joyful Alternative (I used to call it ‘Bongs ‘R’ Us). The former owners must be gnashing their teeth that the globalisers are using their old digs.
    No doubt the coffee will smell of incense for a while — or maybe some other (ahem) herbal product.
    I broke down and bought a Rancilio “Silvia” back in March. It was pricy, but it’s been worth every penny. Heck, if I’d had to run out and buy a latte every time I’ve made one with that machine, I would have spent way more than that in the last six months.
    In fact, I tried to buy espresso for my Rancilio at the local Starbucks, but they couldn’t grind it fine enough — their grinder only goes down to medium, it seems. Ironic! The espresso they use to make their drinks is actually ground inside the machine that expresses it, so they can’t actually sell ground espresso that’s usable for making espresso drinks.

  4. As a high school band director, let me say that the construction “ear-splitting piccolo” is a redundancy.
    My eyes are watering just thinking about it.

  5. One cheaper option is the Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. Williams-Sonoma has it on sale for $15 at the moment. I’ve had one for a couple of years, and I can testify that it also makes tasty coffee. It doesn’t take up much room, either — you can put it in a cupboard if you’re not using it.

  6. JBB —
    that’s hysterical!
    Actually there’s a woman who plays both flute and violin (I know, weird combo) for my Lessons and Carols every year, and she has demonstrated to me that the piccolo can be played softly, but only with great care.

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