I got an email yesterday from Mike, who has had to recently close a cafe here in Vancouver. He's looking to sell his Rancillo Espresso Machine, but hasn't had any takers so far. So, I offered to post the details for him, to see if that would help.

Rancilio Classe 10 SDE, Automatic espresso machine, stainless steel casing, with two filter groups, manual steam and automatic TSC, two hot water nozzles.

This machine is less than a year old, purchased December 2004 and used moderately for nine months in a small independent coffee bar. It has been well taken care of, cleaned every working day and serviced recently to replace rubber seals in filter group. Unfortunately, we had to close our shop and want to find a good home for our baby as we simply don't have space for it at home.

Hooks up to water supply, drain hose at bottom to drain into catch bucket or hook up to drainage system. Runs on 220 V power supply.

Comes complete with three (3) chrome-plated copper portafilters - two double, one single, filter cleaning discs, cleaning brush, TSC cleaning hose, and instruction manuals.

What is the TSC?
An automatic steaming wand, with separate buttons to produce steamed milk for lattes or cappuccinos. Just put the right amount of milk into the steaming pitcher, place the pitcher on the rack with the TSC in the milk, and press the desired button. The machine will even remind you to purge the TSC afterward, which is accomplished by pressing either of the two steaming buttons.

Is it easy to clean?
Extremely! The Classe 10 has automated cleaning cycles, eliminating a lot of the tedious manual work. Most notably, the automatic backflush feature… load the cleaning discs right into the filter holders, add a bit of Purocaff coffee cleaner (or equivalent) load them into the groups and start the cleaning cycle… the machine will clean each group in alternating cycles.

Cleaning the TSC is also easy. You attach the small cleaning tube to the intake nozzle, add cold water to a 1 litre pitcher, add Purocaff (or equivalent) dairy cleaner, place the tube and the TSC in the pitcher of water, and start the TSC cleaning cycle. After a moment, you just need to replace the used water with fresh cold clean water for the rinse… and a couple of minutes later you're done!

What is this machine worth when brand new?
The Classe 10 SDE normally retails at about $8500 US/$10,000 Canadian.

Contact Mike for details.

Solar Roast is a roasting company in Oregon that uses 100% organic and fair trade coffee and uses most "Earth Friendly" roasting methods. They can claim this because their roaster doesn't use any fossil fuels: it uses the sun.

Roast Master Michael Hartkop wanted to create a truly organic roasting method and with the help of his brother David they built Helios.

Helios uses a 10 foot solar collector to focus the sun's rays onto a drum roaster. This is enough to reach temperatures of 600 degrees Farenheit. The mirrors automatically track the sun, using solar power for the electronics, making roasting possible all day long. Of course, this only works on sunny days, so roasting during winter in the Pacific Northwest is a bit of a challenge.

They have a nice list of single origins and blends, but they seem to be out of stock right now. I'll give them a try in a few months, when the sun comes out again.

Kees van der Westen is a Dutch espresso machine designer, you can see his work on the Espressonistic Works website. I have no idea how good this machines are, but they would certainly be a conversation item in any coffee shop.

What do you think about this coffee machine?

My take - very cool looking bad coffee! Don't waste your $259 (CAD)

Nespresso

Nespresso has revolutionized the way of preparing coffee to deliver the ultimate coffee experience for each one of life’s moments of indulgence.

At the heart of this concept is the unique Nespresso trilogy: the hermetically-sealed, iconic capsules with the large variety of Grand Cru ground coffees, the state-of-the-art, easy-to-use, sleek-looking coffee machines, and the Nespresso Club which offers unmatched personal service...

The Nespresso Grand Cru coffee has the best in-cup quality due to unmatched crema, body and taste. And, the great assortment of coffee blends enable Club Members to select the coffees that match their personal taste preferences, thus creating very individual moments of pleasure and indulgence time and time again.

So, you have to not only buy the machine but join a 'club' because you are locked into the coffee they provide, and no others. And, crema? I doubt it. Oh, and it's from Nestlé. Mass market does not equal quality.

Via gadgetryblog

Technorati Tags: espresso, crema, nestle, nespresso, gadget, coffee,

Technorati Tags: http://www.technorati.com/tags/coffee, http://www.technorati.com/tags/crema, http://www.technorati.com/tags/espresso, http://www.technorati.com/tags/gadget, http://www.technorati.com/tags/nespresso, http://www.technorati.com/tags/nestle

I forced myself to try each and every coffee variety served at the Eat! Vancouver 2005 convention.

The coffee available was:

Folgers coffee served in the Home Café from Black & Decker
Nestle Coffee-mate Caramel Flavoured Coffee
Barbarba Caffe
Level Ground Trading
Ethical Bean
Salt Spring Coffee Co

In all honesty, I think there might have been others that we just neglected to get brochures of or take pictures of. Overall, there were good, bad and really bad coffees available. But, you can tell I was pretty highly caffeinated after all of this.

Check out each of my above reviews to see what I think.

I tried the Folgers coffee served in the Home Café from Black & Decker while at Eat! Vancouver 2005. Sigh. I did not enjoy this one.

The machine features a pod system - water is forced through the pods at high pressure to create the coffee. The tagline for the system is "The One Cup Coffeehouse."

If this were a coffeehouse cup of coffee, I would not return to the cafe. It was watery and completely lacked flavour (although who would want to drink Folgers anyway). So yes, bad. Very bad.

I've not read much about the pod system, but can't imagine why it would make a good cup of coffee. There is a sheath of material between the water and the coffee - wouldn't the material impede the oils from coming out?

Today we purchased a French Press from Bodum. Ianiv wanted something that he can take to work during the week. The coffee served there is some "Elephant" brand in those large awful machines. This way he can make a nicer cup at his desk.

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press

I've asked him to bring it home for weekends. Truth be told, we have a really crappy assortment of espresso machines at home. No plain old coffee machines. A stovetop Moka, a 'lovely' Mr. Coffee so crappy it's not even on their website, and a small pot to make Turkish coffee. It's quite sad, we know. A nicer espresso machine is high on our wish list - it will be included in our wedding registry. But, for now, we think this will be a vast improvement.

Arieanna and I were shopping at an outdoor equipment store when we saw this coffee maker from Coleman. It is designed to be used with their camping stoves, you just put it over the burner, and it features a 10 cup capacity and brewing pause-n-serve in case you cannot wait for the whole thing to finish brewing before drinking your the first cup.

Now, Arieanna and I are not hardcore outdoor types. We go "camping" a few times a year with out friends, but it's not like we go to the backcountry for a weekend just with a backpack on our backs. We take stuff like a two burner stove, an air mattress, things to make our life easier. But that coffee maker is really pushing it...

The Senseo coffee machine by Philips and Douwe Egberts apparently markets itself as the machine "with the delicious crema layer," creating huge controversy for true coffee connoisseurs.

According to the Senseo site, the claim is for a "frothy coffee layer that seals in aroma and taste" - basically, the definition of crema, right?

Well, a couple of points need to be made. First, the Senseo machine uses a pod system. That should flash some warnings. The coffee is already prepackaged in little filters - meaning it is not freshly ground by the time it hits your machine. Combine that with the fact that it's not a fine espresso grind to begin with and the pressure of the system is not strong enough to release the oils needed for true crema, you get a coffee that cannot be called espresso.

Ok, so Senseo first doesn't push enough pressure through to create the crema oils, and any oil that does get created is sopped up in the filter. Great design for an espresso-like machine, heh? Well, they do call it a coffee machine, not an espresso machine... but still, they have gone to the trouble to approximate the look of an espresso. The final coffee created looks like an espresso with crema, but the "stuff" on top is actually just foam.

Second, the stuff on top of the Senseo-produced brew is not crema. They use a little nozzle to drive pressure out to create lots and lots of bubbles to approximate the look and feel of a true crema.

This whole rant is thanks to the great post over at Bloggle: The Coffee Odyssey.

Apartment Therapy has put out a little list on what they consider to be the Top 11 Coffee Machines.

They divide the coffee machines into Coffee & Espresso machines. The discussion is pretty mixed on the contents of the list. There is also very little to quantify why these are in the top 11 to begin with. Anyway, here is the list:

Coffee:

* Braun KF400 AroMaster 10-Cup Coffee Maker
* Braun FlavorSelect KF180
* Jasper Morrison Coffee Maker - CT800
* Bialetti Moka Express
* Chemex Coffee Maker
* Aldo Rossi French Press
* BODUM MELIOR French Press Coffee Maker 3 cup

Espresso:

* FrancisFrancis! X1 Espresso Maker
* Bodum Granos Espresso Maker
* La Pavoni Espresso Maker
* Dualit Espresso Maker

Despite my love for coffee, we currently have mostly crappy espresso machines - 3 in total, actually. We definitely plan to upgrade... eventually. :)

What do you think? Have you tried any of these?