RANCHO ESPRESSO

 The main little work horse espresso maker. I think I paid about 5 bucks for this little guy at a yard sale. It was like new. They retail for about 100 bucks.

The "Big Bertha" of espresso machines around here. The Breville is a nice espresso maker. I go in spurts and use this one for awhile then use the other ones. It's parked out in the garage until called upon to perform.

The vintage Benjamin and Medwin stove top machine. I used it the other day but it's not quite as convenient as the others. And, you know just how convenience oriented that Ol' Ran is.

Ah, yes. Nothing like a nice hot espresso cappuccino to help one greet the day. It's super to be able to grab a cuppa after showering (or before) and start the day checking e-mail and getting ready for the work ahead.

You may have already guessed that the Ranch has a bunch of espresso hanging around just waiting to be broken into. That is a correct; there is a lot of it play with. And  just like women, not all coffees are made alike. Sooooo….Ol’ Ran likes to sample this one and that one from hither and yon. I’ve tried the expensive Eye-Talian stuff and like it. It tastes great and should since some of it costs about 50% more than Starbucks. However, my assessment is that it isn’t worth the price difference.

Then, there’s the Cuban "La Llave" which, for a relatively cheap coffee, is pretty darn good. I use that to make both espressos and Cuban coffee.  It’s actually not a dark roasted coffee yet is very flavorful. Other espresso brands available here in Podunk are "Pilon", "Cafe' Bustelo", "Medalgia D'Oro", and "Goya". Local supermarkets also have private brand espresso coffee beans available.

I’m finding that Italian roasts are pretty good too. The difference between it and the French roast is only about 30 seconds in the roaster. The French roast is 40% or more ash which is fine….if you like ash. I like French roast regularly brewed but 90% of the time use it to make espresso and usually blend it with something else.  

 Another revvy is that just about any dark roasted coffee makes for good cappuccinos. I didn’t know that until I started grinding and blending different coffees. It isn’t so much the roast but rather the type (e.g. Columbian, Sumatra, Costa Rica, et. al.) and blend of beans. Light roasts aren’t used at all in making espresso that I can tell but just about all of the others roasts are. That's on top of the other revvy that "espresso" isn't a roast but a method of brewing coffee. Don'tcha just love coming into the light from utter darkness.

About all of the beans I use are premium "Arabica". The cheap “robusto” beans are bitter and nasty tasting and even dark roasted ones aren’t all that appealing. That’s the “Dollar Tree” stuff which appears to be a bargain but really isn’t because you just throw the stinky junk out later. Even Motel 6 doesn't use it. You just can't doctor that garbage up enough to make it potable. I think it's recycled truck stop coffee grounds that have been dried and repacked after adding ground up old tennis shoes to it.

 So far, I’ve been mixing some of the major brands together and coming up with some interesting brews. Adding a bit of Columbian to the mix is usually a winner. So far, it doesn't seem to matter which brand is used. They all come out fairly tasty. However, a dark/French roast Columbian is pretty hard to beat as an espresso or regularly brewed coffee. Around here French roast Columbian isn't available. Even on our vacation trips I can't find it anywhere. Not sure what that's all about since it's a sure fire great tasting coffee. In times past we could buy it locally but it isn’t available any longer. That means that I have to mix a medium with a dark roast.

 Something similar may be hitting the shelves because I just saw a can of “Dark Roast Columbian” the other day at “Town and Country Market” on west Olive St. It’s by the same marketer as the old “French Roast Columbian” so it’s likely that it’s just been repackaged. That would be nice. Until then, I’m just tossing in some medium roast Columbian with the regular French roasted stuff and home brewing a nice cup of cappuccino or latte’.  When the new coffee goes on sale, I'll snatch a can.

Yuban is pretty good coffee so I tried mixing their French Roast with Folger’s Columbian (medium roast) and came up with a decent blend. I’m now trying Eight O’ Clock French mixed with what all. It's fun to tinker with the different options. If it turns out to be goofy, then I just put more milk in it and thin it out a bit. Or, I  just toss in a bit of Starbucks which seems to make even the worst coffee taste better. I've been trying out Folger's different roasts and haven't been disappointed. Trying to find their "Bistro" style has been difficult because Porterville isn't a real town yet and not that many folks here drink exotic coffees. I've not yet broken into the dark roast Maxwell House and Hills Brothers coffees. All in due time, I suppose. 

 Speaking of espresso, you can’t have a cappuccino if you don’t have an espresso maker. Rancho Relaxo has no shortage of coffee making contraptions. We do, of course, have the standard “Mr. Coffee” style coffee maker. It’s a nice little 4 cupper which serves my purposes. Then, there’s the big Keurig pod monster. I can mix and match till the cows come home with that big baby. And, there’s the French press coffee makers (one large and one smaller one) that await commissioning. If that isn’t enough to pluck your duck, I have a large Turkish style Ibrik so I can make Turkish coffee. Actually, since it's so big, I don't use it at all. Instead, the little stainless steel milk steamer pot with a long handle works just fine for Turkish style brewing. I can probably use the big one when the Imams and Ayatollahs come for a visit, eh?

 

I also have a vintage Benjamin and Medwin stainless steel stove top espresso maker. Dear friend and brother, Jackson Wallen, in Cayucos has one and loves it. You can get one eBay for 50 bucks or so. They are well built and should last at least another 50 years or so without failing.

But, the cake taker isn’t that one or the electric Melitta espresso makers (one white and one black…as a back up…a man’s got to have a back up, don'tcha know). It’s the big stainless steel Breville espresso maker. She’s a beaut and she retails for about 400 clams. Now….Ol’ Ran isn’t about to chip for such an expensive boat anchor. However, he can be convinced that spending 100 bucks for the same machine is a good deal. The folks we got it from received it as a gift and they had no more desire to drink espresso coffee than getting a case of lymphocytic choriomeningitis. I was pleased to spare them any suffering.

 

Connie (bless her little non-coffee drinking heart) found it on Craig’s List so we picked it up and gave it a new home. It creates a great espresso. I do drink straight espressos but most of my drinks are cappuccinos. I prefer that even over the latte’s though that was the original drink for a long time until I learned the differences.

It’s nice to stuff different blends in it and try this and that coffee. I can run a batch of decaff through it too which comes in handy at night when a guy doesn't want to stay up all night but just wants to savor the flavor. How nice to snuggle up next to a hot cappuccino and sip it while tinkering on computers or such.

 

It's also nice to have a couple of different kinds of coffee grinders. We have one each of the mill type and the impact (whirly) type. Both have their pluses and minuses but I end up using the blade type most of the time for convenience sake (did I mention how convenience oriented I am?). True aficianados spend as much for their coffee grinders as they do for their coffee machines. Guess I'll be an amateur for the time being. It's certainly a lot less expensive that way.  

 I won’t run out of coffee for awhile. We knock over Costco from time to time and haul a batch home. Then, there are the close-outs. I won’t buy Starbucks at retail or sale prices but will load up when they dump some prior to “sell by” dates. I can’t buy too much, though, or it gets stale.

 Anyway, that’s some of the every day happenings here at Rancho Espresso. You can bet….. we stay awake and alert around here.  Maybe we should change the name to “Rancho Wide Awake-O”.