Espresso Machines and Accessories
Human beings simply love to get technical with the things they love, such as espresso machines. Gearheads love everything about cars and trucks – from the floor mats to the mirrors to the dice hanging in the windshield. Musicians will tinker for hours with capos, slides, Harmon mutes, straight mutes, and even plungers to change their instrument’s native sound. So it is with every human endeavor, espresso machines and coffee “geekery” inspires a similar robust passion and the tendency to obsess over accessories.
If you’ve bought yourself espresso machines, it shows you care about the quality of your coffee. Anyone willing to go to the next level up from a coffee pot, a percolator, or even a French press shows an interest in coffeemaking that only a small percentage of drinkers actually ever achieve. So if you’ve already spent the money on your machine and you know how to make a cup of “joe” better than your barista at the coffee shop on your block, you’re pretty much most of the way there. It is for you, the coffee snob, that accessorization of the level that we will talk about was made for.
First, there is a device called a “tamper”. You need to be pretty familiar with espresso machines to get in-depth with a tamper, but suffice it to say, it is an important and personalized part of every coffee snob’s setup. There are many available – and of course, they range in price from $5 to hundreds, just like most consumer goods. You can take the easy way and get a cheap one or you can go all the way up to the top quality and get one that will set you back a few big bills.
Another accessory that is sure to energize coffee snobs (and bore those of us who are happy with the ol’ plastic black device that sits on our counter that we got at the drug store) is cups and saucers. Unlike Folgers, espresso is a very sensitive, complex liquid (especially the stuff made from high-quality, personally-ground beans). Therefore, it would be a shame – espresso snobs tell us – to drink this liquid gold from inferior quality china or (gasp) paper cups. It would seem to befit the beverage to at least try to invest in a moderately nice set of cups and saucers, if nothing else but for presentation when you serve your guest who incredulously looks at your espresso machine like an alien from outer space.
