The perfect Espresso (and how handy is Podscope?)
admin | January 28, 2007A recent episode of G’day World (G’DAY WORLD 190 – Evan Maloney: Paid Blogger, Screenwriter, Tough Guy) got me thinking about coffee. This Christmas my sister Naomi, knowing about my caffeine addiction, bought me a coffee machine. So far I’ve been making fairly average cappuccinos with very little care or consistency. Just your typical garden variety someone-bought-me-a-coffee-machine-for-Christmas-style coffee.
But now that’s not enough. See in this particular episode of G’day World Cam mentions that on that particular morning he’d made his first perfect cafe latte. He seemed to be pleased as punch. Which made me think, why am I settling for an average coffee when I could with some practice make a really good coffee?
So I’ve decided to start learning and practicing. I’ve been reading various articles on coffee making (I’ve bookmarked The espresso guide and How to present a latte) I’m going to pick up some proper espresso cups and a milk jug, and I’m going to make a lot of coffee.
I’m thinking it might be fun to photograph my progress and keep an ongoing log so that anyone who knows good coffee can feel appropriately smug about how poor my early efforts are.
On a completely different note I just tried out Podscope for the first time. In their words:
Podscope lets you search the spoken word for audio and video that interests you.
I used it because I couldn’t remember precisely which episode of G’day World Cam mentioned his perfect latte in. So I used Podscope to find it 
It certainly still has some kinks to iron out. For example ‘espresso’ wouldn’t come up with his podcast nor would ‘latte’ however ‘coffee’ worked perfectly and I eventually found what I was after. Overall I was very impressed! It will even play a short clip containing the search term in context so you can figure out whether you have the right podcast. I definitely think it’s something worth playing with and I’m sure they’ll tidy up the speech recognition over time.
Tags: Christmas, Cameron+Reilly, Podcast, Coffee, Podscope, Espresso
From one snob to a budding one: turn back! Quit as soon as you can! That is, unless you have a nice trust fund.
Seriously, making great coffee can be an ever-more expensive endeavor without end. But guessing where you are at, you probably can go so far with moderately fresh beans. But chances are that your machine, and more importantly your grinder, aren’t up to the task. You won’t be able to regularly create a nice crema, let alone good microfoam, without equipment that unfortunately costs a bit more than the average coffee drinker is willing to invest in.
Well, I didn’t intend to make this sound so discouraging… so how about switching gears?
Ah, the lone woman among engineers thing. I really think they deserve a lot more recognition than they get … I think it’s great stuff. And, IMO, the good news is that if you’re pretty good, you’re going to stand out that much more. Good luck sticking with it.
Now about that “certifiably insane thing” is another story. Why is it that rational, capable people often want to associate themselves as “insane” like bad morning disc jockeys? The truly insane are the ones who don’t even know it… so it’s a good thing you’re not.
See unfortunately I like to be the best at everything I do or at the least the best possible for the equipment at hand. If I can’t make a perfect coffee at least I might manage an above average one. Plus I don’t have the attention span to spend that much money on one endeavor.
The lone woman among engineers thing was actually a lot easier than I expected. I sometimes get asked by other girls how I get taken seriously and its hard coming up with anything more useful than ‘I dunno… I just do I guess’.
As far as certifiably insane. There have been plenty of periods in my life when I might have been committed. Fortuntely I’m now on the eccentric side of crazy but I wasn’t always.