For Ebohling - Questions about machines

Before the holidays we received a comment on the "Our Machine" post and felt it was worthy of giving it its own entry. The question was:

"Still like your S1? I've been trying to figure out my next machine (upgrade from Rancilio Silvia/Rocky duo). Been looking at everything such as Andreja, Domobar, Brewtus II, and of course La Spaz Vivaldi II. Such a hard decision...don't want to have any buyer's remorse when forking over that much money! I am bummed that Chris Coffee screwed up my last order and instead of getting my order in a couple of days it took over a week...they said they would reimburse me for the slower shipping, but that's not at all the point. Obviously when someone pays almost as much for expedited shipping as the item they purchased, they want it fast."

To answer the first question..."YES!" A big fat resounding YES! When we first started looking we decided we wanted a machine that had a double boiler, a rotary pump, and could be directly plumbed. The two main ones we (read "he" as he's the researcher) looked at were the Brewtus II and the S1. While the Brewtus II is a more aesthetically pleasing model, we think the S1 is slightly more capable. We would highly recommend getting a machine that has a double boiler as the temperature is much more stable for brewing and you get more steam for frothing. Both of us agree that buying the S1 has been one of the best purchases, albeit most expensive purchases, we have ever made. We use it everyday and thus far have had no complaints. It's always nice knowing that if you have a crappy cup of cappuccino while you're out, you can come home and have a good one.

We didn't have any issues with Chris' Coffee so hopefully, and unfortunately, you just had a one-time bad delivery. In fact, Chris' threw in a free naked portafilter which we still use with every pull. I would give them another shot although we totally understand your disappointment. When we ordered our S1 we had been having issues with UPS for other deliveries and had pretty much resigned ourselves to thinking that our beloved espresso machine would not arrive when it was scheduled to. The hours ticked by, the sun started to set, and even "he" started to get pissy. Amazingly enough the UPS driver pulled through and arrived fairly late in the evening to deliver the big brown box. We would've been highly annoyed if it had not come as we too were very excited to hook it up and start brewing. But, as I said I would still order from Chris'. We've read a lot of good reviews and he truly does seem to want to please his customers. And please do check back in and let us know which machine you got and how it works for you!

All The Perks

On the hunt for more cafe's serving different brands of beans, we came across a small shop in a strip mall near Albertsons in Happy Valley that serves Longbottom Coffee and Tea. We have passed by this place several times going back and forth between home and New Seasons, yet wasn't sure if it was indeed All The Perks or another cafe given there are two signs on the front of the facade. One is quite large and says, "Coffee House," or something to that effect, while the other reads, "All The Perks" yet it is very small and impossible to read from the road. Given there aren't many coffee places in Happy Valley we figured it was a safe assumption that we had found the place we were looking for and finally stopped in yesterday to check it out.

The inside was quite surprising and impressive. The coffee bar is gorgeous and we really liked the booths they have. Pastries appeared fresh and tasty, although we behaved ourselves and didn't order any. The barista was very nice yet asked the dreaded question..."Would you like that more 'wet' or 'dry'?" This came after the fact that I had to order a 12 ozs. cappuccino as it was the smallest size they offered...and it was put into a paper cup. 3 strikes and you're out, baby. We were a tad crushed. Neither of us has ever had Longbottom Coffee but in reading about their espresso beans on their website, they seemed like a good one to try. Plus, we were hoping to find a cafe closer to home that we could hang out in from time to time and enjoy a cappuccino made by someone other than me. Okay, maybe I wish for that more than "he" does given I'm the one that always makes the cappuccinos in this house. Unfortunately, my cappuccino was obviously a latte and there was no way to even get a sense of how the beans tasted. We didn't think to ask if All The Perks sells the Longbottom espresso beans so I may swing back by there and find out. I also forgot that Longbottom offers several blends of espresso and am unsure as to which one was served in our drinks.

Sadly, when we arrived home I dumped mine out and had to make our own.

Ristretto Roasters

Ristretto Roasters is one of the few coffee shops in Portland that does not serve Stumptown beans. And while we love Stumptown, we also love variety. In trying to find a cafe that served a different brand of espresso, we came across Ristretto's. They roast their own beans right in the cafe. Thus this was next on our list of places to try. We stopped in at the cozy shop, situated right across the street from a really old schoolhouse, on a Saturday afternoon. Like many coffee houses this one bears the typical decor of eclectic furniture and art, however behind a wall in the back lies the roasting room. This is where the magic happens. Albeit stinky magic...or so I'm told.

We placed our order, two cappuccinos and a muffin for me. The girl working the register asked me what size I wanted. That definitely caught me off guard as I'm not used to being asked this question in the more "serious" coffee houses. I had to think for a moment and answered, "The smallest size you have." Then we specified that it was "for here," paid, and grabbed a table. It seemed to take awhile for our cappuccinos to be made, especially given there was no one else in there. Finally one of the gals told us our coffees were up so "he" headed to the counter to get them. Unfortunately they were in paper cups. Nooooooooooooooo. Que disappointing. I think we all know how I feel about paper cups both for taste reasons and size reasons. That big 'ole cup meant there was no way to truly sample the taste of their espresso. Sigh. What we could taste was nice. Sadly it wasn't enough to get all the complexities and flavors like we should have.

So once again we'll have to put off a real review until we can try a proper cappuccino from Ristretto's. I guess it gives us a good excuse to make the trek back up there, yet we'd prefer to make it again because we loved what we were served...not because we didn't get to sample it the way we should have.