awhile between drinks

ok its been awhile between drinks - so its time to get cracking  with a bit of an update!

on the home front I've had a few equipment changes of recent

gone is my prized Rancilio S24 - which although old and a bit bedraggled made excellent coffee - to be replaced by a two year old Rancilio Epoca single group semi-commercial machine

And although the Epoca (terrible name btw remind me to fire the marketing guy on that one) looks the biz and makes great coffee with plenty of fire power - the actual build quality seems to be a lot less sturdy than its predecessor

My home machines need to be presentable and funcional - as I often use them for catering jobs / fund raising etc and although the Epoca ticks many of the right boxes, the flimsy plastic sides snap right off even after fairly minimal use / transportation

So I've replaced these with custom build stainless side, and, much to my chagrin, the plastic front panal popped off recently too - so I'm getting a custom build stainless front made for the machine as well, which, to its credit, makes great coffee, and, with the addition of a synesso steam tip, has unprecedented steam power, which, I would say, far exceeds manufacturer specifications!

Anyway, I'll post some before and after shots so that you get a better idea of what I'm talking about!

heres a stock image of the before shot which pretty much is what my machine looked like prior to renovations - all in all not a bad looking machine - but again many off the bells and whistles on the plastic facade are just that: a facade only which is prone to breaking or snapping off under heavy usage / transportation!

Also recently swapped my home roaster over from a KKTO to a Gene Cafe, whcih is in no way a slight on the KKTO - which is and awesome roasting device - but I decided it was time to try something different to see how it worked and what results I could get out of it!

Anyway, that's a tale for a different day, so night folks, and keep an eye out for the newly modded Rancilio, oh and the Sunbeam Em6910 which I rescued from hard waste and restored to better that new working condition - soon to be revealed!