Barista Baby

I love coffee.

A couple of months ago I mentioned to my non-coffee drinking husband that I would love to find a good deal on a "quality" espresso machine. I have had a small Krups machine for a year now and I originally paid $10 for it on Craigslist. Once I had the ability to make espresso in my own home I stopped purchasing my favorite latte's at Starbucks. I can honestly say I have purchased less than 5 (I honestly think it's 2 but I can't be positive) in over a year. That little $10 machine paid for itself in no time. I would indulge in a $5 coffee about once a week.

Jared began reminding me of the economy and questioning if espresso was a need verses a want. Obviously having a coffee maker of any kind is not a "need" in the grand scheme of things (Haiti!) but it does make my day to day life a little sweeter. Coffee is a healthy alternative for me. In my previous obese state I would crave wonderful warm goodies, bake them, and then consume them. A yummy hot latte with awesome froth is a great substitute and not to mention the truck loads calcium I consume daily. My bones rock! :)

After many weeks of reading reports and watching eBay and Craigslist I found the deal of a lifetime. A sweet woman that lives over by the Chiefs stadium felt it necessary to buy not one but two $400 espresso machines just in case one broke. Maybe I'm just fond of coffee. She LOVES coffee :)

Since her functioning espresso machine was working just fine her husband requested that she sell the "back up" machine. You can imagine my delight when I arrived to find the highly rated, very expensive machine brand new in the box. She failed to mention that in the ad. I handed over the amount of the ridiculously low asking price and skipped to the car.

With traveling to Oklahoma I hadn't had a lot of time to play with it and my first couple cups of coffee were not good and I longed for my $10 Krups. I did a lot of reading online and now I am an educated and talented Barista.

I didn't realize how similar coffee people were to wine people. There's some hilarious snobbery out there. It's really funny to google "how to make a latte" and read about grinding only the freshest of beans and using the fresh grounds within 2 minutes of grinding or it's ruined. My favorite was when frothing the milk you should froth it for 21 seconds so as not to scald it.

Regardless I did learn a lot and I'm super delighted with the delicious espresso that I pull from my awesome machine. The crema is fantastic and the coffee buzz is high. Momma's happy :)