Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Mazel Tov!

The reality of the busy-ness of life delayed the anticipated arrival of the Conti Twin Star 2, but Christmas morning came yesterday afternoon at 2149 N Center St.

I kept watching for a proverbial pot to boil out the front door waiting for a semi to pull up with our new toy. All of the sudden, I hear a very loud banging on the back steel door about 100 feet away. It's a good thing I got my new hearing aid for my "good" ear last week since I actually detected the initial hand to door engagement.

I did a quick jog to the door and opened it. The man started to ask "Java Jo..." when I said "Yeah! You've got our espresso machine."

Rhett Mullinax (our new super volunteer) and Ben showed up in time to help me move it to a table (200+ lb) until we could move the old machine over. It took us about an hour to get it hooked up and powered up (in NC lingo: "cut on.") The boilers filled up and achieved proper temperature in about 25 minutes. After filling up the new grinder (which came with the package) and flushing the system a bit, we started pulling shots.

I had the first consumed latte from it (which is pictured above) and found it delightfully smooth. Not that the old machine did not produce a good flavor, but this one created a "new and improved" version.

Over the next few days, we will become familiarized with it and train our volunteers how to use it. It should not be much of a challenge since this one is easier to use than the old Conti machine. It's also faster and will help us expedite the making of espresso-based beverages during rush times (like Friday night live music).

We will use the old one for remote purposes since it is portable and uses 110v.

If you're local, come and check out our "new arrival."

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