RANCILIO SILVIA

Bought my first espresso machine "Rancilio Silvia" in 1999. Really it changed my life! This machine looks great, feels great and easy to maintain. The RVS looks are great and certainly my best investment. Equipment was great but I still wasn't able to get the right coffee nor the perfect grinding! After several try outs asking local shops to grind coffee for the Silvia, each time it looked like beach sand...putting that in my piston made me do an espresso look a like in 1 second! Of course it tasted like sh.. So they forced me to buy a decent grinder. Since they don't come cheap I decided to search on our local Ebay for a proper 2nd hand grinder...and I found a 200 Euro ECM Best. After cleaning this baby coffee became like something I hardly tasted before hmmmmmm. The Silvia is great but still you have a huge temp problem so I bought a PID kit. Also I wasn't satisfied with the steam wand...I replaced it. This helped me a lot finding the right moves making "frothed milk" (English?). Latte Art...please give me another 2 years..I am still a wannabee.

VIBIEMME SUPER DOMOBAR 1997

This setting kept me quiet for a few years until I found a VBM Super Domobar in a bag for 130 Euro's (Ebay).....This was my chance to a better world and I bought it, knowing the HX boiler was rupted and some parts missing. The guy bought it a long time ago as a restoration project but never had the time to really make it happen. He renovated the E-61 group but that was it. Finding a new boiler was not that difficult but the price was....380 Euro's!!! Luckily the importer still had a used boiler, black coated back panel, RVS external water reservoir and a drip tray (these parts were already missing when buying) for 140 Euro!.
I resprayed the frame and started putting it all together. After 4 times driving to the VBM importer and spending some more money I finally am a proud VBM owner..what a BEAST!!
I love it, reservoir is massive (where the water goes inside), driptray enough (where unused water goes in), temperature stability magnificant, looks; it's the best classic available with E-61.
It's my best friend in the morning, waiting for me to come down and prepare old school cappuccino..including Latte Art.

ELEKTRA MICRO CASA A LEVA S1 1983

Last Sunday I had a party at home, a friend of mine starred at my equipment (3 espresso machines) and noticed my machine o'fobia. He told me he travelled the world and while visiting Milano he bought a 83' "Elektra Micro Casa a Leva", since he doesn't have any space at home to put it he decided to give it te ME??!! He's CRAZY (Positive way). So I had to be polite and say yes :-). Wouw this is a whole different experience. I am still trying to find the right settings....

FRANKENSTEIN'S COFFEE ROASTER 1958

About a few month ago I spotted this great industrial machine for sale online. Assuming it was a vintage Coffee Roaster I called its owner fully excited. I overwhelmed the kind gentlemen with questions which none of them could be answered. The only way for me to get all my questions answered is to visit its proud owner in Rotterdam. Drove down to Rotterdam into a small neighbourhood arisen from industrial zone surrounding it. The house was tiny but sweet and to my surprise it had a great tropical garden, something you would not imagine in Holland and certainly not in Rotterdam.
Kids running around in front of me I found my way to the garden where his wife was enjoying her tea. She offered me coffee and that's something I can't decline...later on I should have after tasting this horrible Senseo...shame on you Philips, live is not only about turnover!
Enjoying there tiny garden 24 C, sitting on a floating terrace which was placed on top of a artificial swamp which they never managed to turn into normal circumstances, I sipped my coffee and listened to there story on how they got the roaster.
They explained me they bought the house from a biologist who moved to an elder house, he sold the house with full attic. The current owners started cleaning his mess and came across this beauty which later on got a nickname "Frankensteiner" by my Kazakh friend Aidar.
They found it but never knew what it was, a friend of theirs recognized it and informed them it was an old coffee roaster, since they are not coffee lovers they decided to put it for sale online.
Luckily I was well informed and after a superficial research prior to my visit I found out the following info:

Frankensteiner Roaster (Emmericher Machinenfabrik von Gimborn (PROBAT) sample roaster type PR III E 500 M which was sold to the company ROT. V. VEBERO in Rotterdam in 1958. 500gr Sample roaster

This enabled me to tell them more about it and slowly they got the drift why I my eyes where gazing at this machine. They got enthusiastic and said yes to my invitation to come to Amsterdam to roast and taste a real coffee...

I have been using it for a while and it's a rich experience to roast yourself. I am getting a better understanding of the roasting process. The grassy smell which vaporizes is amazing and along the roasting process it gets more dry and Smokey....difficult to explain.
Testing all kinds of beans in several roasting stages gives different flavours in a cup, if you want to know more visit me. That’s it for now ;-)