382. glorious cup

Stephanie Court, Sacramento CA.

“I gave up caffeine for Lent this year so Easter Sunday made for lots of coffee drinking.  It may not look like much but after 40 days, this was the most glorious cup of espresso in all the land.”

This is what I love about this project. Stephanie graduated from UC Davis Law School last year (that’s my town) and lives down the road in Sacramento, but she found the blog through another contributor, Urban Muser, who lives in NYC.

Stephanie blogs at Big Mario Life.

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348. making espresso

Tim Holmes at Zocalo Coffeehouse, San Leandro, CA.

It’s taken 348 pictures of coffee to get one from behind the bar. This is where the magic happens folks (well, after the growing magic, the picking magic, and the roasting magic….lots of magic in a great cup).

Tim is the owner of Zocalo Coffeehouse. I guess that makes him Mr. Magic.

341. at last

Jussi Laitinen, Helsinki, Finland.

“I broke my espresso machine, so I wasn’t able to prepare shots at home. So I ordered the parts to fix it, but unfortunately they all came from the U.S. to Finland, which took weeks. I almost died for waiting, trying to get some relief from cafeteria espressos, some of which kept me alive, some just made me weaker. So when my parts came, I fixed the machine in a couple of hours, and added the new SSR and PID. After the long, long waiting, I pulled a shot of Brazil sweet collection blend. Do I even have to say how good it tasted? It was almost midnight when I got my espresso…finally.”

Jussi, it looks like it was worth the wait.

Jussi is a home barista and blogs (in Finnish) at nonsesopedia.

273. roman holiday | quattro

Quinn Pendleton, Monaco.

More from Rome. “These are from our lunch at the Cafe Ciampini, right next to the Piazza Espana in the center of Rome. It was a beautiful sunny day and the piazza was bustling, but sitting above it all we could have a peaceful and tranquil lunch, of course finishing with an espresso.”

Quinn is a dancer living in Monaco and blogs about her travels and life as a dancer with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo here.

272. roman holiday | tre

Quinn Pendleton, Monaco.

From Quinn’s recent Roman holiday. “These are from our lunch at the Cafe Ciampini, right next to the Piazza Espana in the center of Rome. It was a beautiful sunny day and the piazza was bustling, but sitting above it all we could have a peaceful and tranquil lunch, of course finishing with an espresso.”

Quinn is a dancer living in Monaco, and blogs about her travels and life as a dancer with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo here.

249. espresso from the top down

From Jussi Laitinen, Helsinki, Finland. Jussi is a homebarista  and blogs (in Finnish) at nonsesopedia.

I have to say, I love this point of view. I will refrain from licking my computer screen, but I really love the view.

225. la pavoni

Story before photos today. Every 25 photos I like to toss you something extra special, and this is it. When I started this project, my dear friend Kevin mentioned (in a non-judgmental way I am sure) that unlike me, he and Chip only drank one cup of coffee a day. But it was the perfect cup, made with the perfect equipment and the perfect beans. So perfect that one is enough? Evidently so. This weekend he sent me proof, along with this note: “Promised you a long time ago a series on our home machine, a la Pavoni we bought after the 30 days in Italy. It took us a while to find the right beans with the perfect taste and crema but we did: Buongusto by Bristot.”

See for yourself. And Kevin, I just need to double check, so expect me on Steinback Mountain soon.

211. espresso vs. turkish, the throwdown

Quinn Pendleton, Monaco.

“These are from Istanbul, where I went last summer to visit my boyfriend. We decided to compare the favored Italian espresso with the traditional Turkish coffee, and for me the Turkish coffee won hands down! The espresso tasted like dirty water next to the rich and semi-sweet Turkish! Plus, there is the added bonus of reading the grinds in the bottom…And, it so happened a little heart appeared on the side!”

Quinn blogs about her travels and life as a dancer with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo here.  Wow. That’s all I have to say….wow!

191. good friends and good coffee

Good friends let you take pictures of them and never complain. This is my good friend Vicki. At Temple Coffee in Sacramento. And I promise, this is the last of the espresso tasting class photos!

186. leftovers

A leftover cup from my espresso tasting class at Temple Coffee last weekend. Also, my response to the doctor who suggested to me that I might want to consider cutting back on my caffeine. I don’t think so.