This post brought to you by Too Much Coffee Man.

I've had an espresso renaissance this month.

I've had this La Pavoni Europiccola for about 3 years, and just this year I took a real interest in it, after 3 years of putting out some pretty mediocre shots, each time wishing for something as good as the local espresso shop, each time wondering just how much trouble it might be to install one of THOSE machines in the basement somewhere.

The seals were leaky. I looked on the internets and found whom to buy them from. It turns out it was the importer of my particular machine waay back in '96. I'd had no idea of the provenance of my machine other than it was owned by that guy I bought it from, off craigslist.

Then I got a fancy tamper from Stumptown here locally- they had to order the wee little 49mm, and it was worth the wait. I read that some people tap a few bulges into the walls of the filter basket so it does not flop out of the filter handle at the slightest provocation, so I did that and it worked.

I buy my beans from a local roaster, Ristretto, or Stumptown, or sometimes Whole Foods downtown, typically within 5 days of the actual roast date. I store them in light proof, vacuum sealed leftover wine bottles, even though no one seems to be able to prove that it improves the taste or life of the beans.

I thought that the Weiss Distribution Technique might be for me, and so I cut the top off of a Crystal Geyser bottle and made a funnel for that, and bought a titanium tent stake to stir and level.

I read on the internets how to modify my rebranded Starbucks grinder for a finer grind, and now I know where to dial it optimally for the three most common beans I use. I flush my group head before and after each shot, and clean it before I put it away.

I cannot believe the quality of shot I'm pulling these days. The incremental improvements along the way have been nothing compared to the quantum leap of improvement now that I've put it all together. I crave my own espresso, over places I used to worship, like here or here. I can't share the taste or the fun with you, even with Web 2.0, but I can enthusiastically tell you that it's a journey well worth the effort.

I knew that my ancient, finger-burning, chrome plated anachronism still could work wonders. No electronics needed, just good old fashioned trial-and-error, some elbow grease, and a stout caffeine tolerance.