The Espresso Diaries: Intensity vs. Appreciation

In this episode, I dive deep into my personal journey with espresso and how it differs from my primary love for pour-over coffee. I explore the philosophical parallels between espresso's intense personality and human interactions, reflecting on how we don't have to love everything about our passions to appreciate them. I share my experiences with my lever machine, the Olympia Cremina from Switzerland, and how it took me over a year to learn and several more to master.

By listening to this episode, you'll gain insights into the introspective side of coffee appreciation and how our preferences reflect our approach to life itself. I discuss how espresso's boldness can be both challenging and rewarding, and how over time, I've discovered more nuance and clarity in espresso that I didn't initially think was possible. This episode is perfect for anyone on their own coffee journey who's navigating their preferences and wondering if they need to love every brewing method equally.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:20 My Pour Over Preference and Coffee Journey
• 2:30 The Mysterious Appeal of Espresso
• 3:45 My Experience with the Olympia Cremina
• 5:10 Learning Curve of Mastering Espresso
• 6:30 The Unique Personality of Espresso
• 8:15 Parallels Between Espresso and Human Interactions
• 10:00 Finding Nuance in Intensity
• 12:05 Appreciating Espresso for What It Is
• 13:40 No Regrets on the Espresso Journey
• 15:00 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

[00:00] We live. We live right now. Today is February 18th, 2025. We doing pretty good right now. I hope that you're doing pretty good.

[00:15] People are always wondering what the topic is. And I think today's going to be different because they should all be different, right? This one's going to be interesting. It's more so like an introspective or kind of think about things of how I felt before and how I feel now. And where I think the present state of my, in this case, espresso journey has been.

[00:42] As you guys already know, I'm a pour over guy, true and true. I love pour over. It's a lot of fun. I think to me, that's what coffee is all about. Pour over, drip, understanding what coffee is, getting the clarity of coffee, understanding that some coffees are better than others for whatever various reasons. You can play around with grind sizes and temperatures and all that good stuff. It's a lot of fun. Sometimes it can be frustrating. Sometimes the coffees can be disappointing.

[01:12] However, it's still the thing that I go to 80, 90 percent of the time. And espresso, I don't really talk about it that much because I don't really do it as much as it may seem on the channel or in these talks together.

[01:27] It's just not my cup of tea. It's not my thing. And I think that's okay. I think as we go through this whole coffee journey or just life in general, we do have things that we do like and things that we don't like. And we like more of than the others than not. In this case, espresso for me.

[01:48] So what am I really talking about here? I guess it's one of those things to where a lot of times when we talk about things, we either know something about it or we think that we feel the way that we're going to feel if we were to get that thing. And in my case, I experienced espresso.

[02:05] When I was doing my thing with pour overs, going deep into the rabbit hole of understanding what a pour over really is, I was curious about the mysteriousness of espresso. Like why do people care about it? What's the whole thing about it? A lot of times whenever I see people talk about espresso, that's the only thing they talk about. Coffee and everything else doesn't really matter whatsoever.

[02:30] It's one of those things to where I just was very curious about what is so magical about it. So I went to coffee shops. I tried it. I didn't get it. Still don't still didn't understand what people were going after.

[02:45] And then I decided to just get an espresso machine and I didn't get any espresso machine. To me, I got one, I believe to be a lot more fun. It'll put you in your place quickly. And it was more so dependent on me. And the one that I chose years ago is right here. The Olympia Cremina. I keep saying it wrong, I think. But whatever the case, you understand what I mean.

[03:15] It's a lever machine. It's from Switzerland. They've made these machines for 50, 60 years. They're still making them. And I really do enjoy making espresso from this machine. I think if I had like a semi automatic, I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much. But I don't know. Again, this is what I'm talking about. These are some of the things that I do know.

[03:39] There's been a big journey that I've gone through with this whole espresso machine. Got it off eBay. Got it rebuilt. Played around with it. And people always said that it will take over a year to actually really learn the machine or master it.

[03:56] It did take a year to learn the machine. I would say it took me another two to three more years after that to kind of mostly master what it can do, what it's good at, things that you can do differently in it and all that good stuff.

[04:15] It's been a challenge. It's been a struggle. And the reason why I'm saying that is because a lot of times when people think about espresso, they think about Italy or the nostalgia or the type of coffee that it actually produces. And to me, it's kind of an interesting place to where you either love it or you hate it.

[04:36] Even if you hate it, you can always make like a milk based drink out of it and it tastes just fine. And it's also one of those things where it gives a lot of coffee people, if they don't want to put like milk and sugar into their pour over or drip coffee, it gives them a reason to want to do a milk based drink.

[04:54] I have no problems with a milk based drink, but that's what I've seen a lot of is like people were like, "Oh, it's espresso. It's just strong coffee. That's what it is." And then you mix it in with different milks, different degrees of all that stuff.

[05:12] I've learned a lot about espresso through not really caring about it so much. And it's an interesting journey just because a lot of times in life we go through this thing to where we think that we're going to love everything about it. But that's not the case all the time.

[05:30] When we go through things, we realize that we only like certain things about things. And then when it comes to actually doing something each and every day, we tend to not gravitate to it as much as we thought that we would. And that's the case for me with espresso.

[05:45] I do like it. I do think for the most part, if you had to have like a final four type of tournament, which brew method is probably the most fun to do or funnest. I would say it would be espresso hands down.

[06:00] I don't know if it's the most rewarding because sometimes a lot of times the coffee tastes this really intense type of way. Yeah, sure, you can add water, but I'm just talking about more so like in this two to one purist type of form.

[06:18] But when you get it right, you get it right. When you get the grind size and then the extraction, the pulling and then the way it comes out of the portafilter, especially if you have something like this, a naked portafilter where you can see the actual coffee coming together. It's so magical.

[06:36] It's so interesting that somebody and some people thought that this is what we think of coffee. This is the way we enjoy coffee. This is the way that we express ourselves or even just going in and out trying to get a quick cup of coffee to move on with their day.

[06:54] We've taken it up a notch to the point where we have like timers and all this stuff and different lever machines. And then it's quite amazing how we can really amplify this thing and coffee to the point to where.

[07:10] What is it again? Are we talking about beans and water? Are we talking about flavors or distractions? Are we talking about enjoyment? Those are some of the things that I think about a lot of times when I'm actually making a cup of coffee. And in this case, espresso.

[07:27] I wonder how much I'm going to really enjoy this coffee, depending on how acidic it is, how much more presents itself to me. And then I think about the actual coffee itself because coffee is just coffee, right?

[07:39] Somebody releases it and then you're presented with it and then you can decide how you would like to actually have it. Sometimes we do pour over. Sometimes we do French press. Sometimes we just mash the beans and put some water on it, boil it or not boil it for a couple of minutes. And then we strain it out and we drink it.

[07:57] Sometimes we just have an espresso shot or two. Sometimes we may have it with milk and sugar and all that good stuff. We have it the way we want to.

[08:06] Coffee turns into a different type of personality or it has a different type of personality when it actually comes to espresso. It intensifies it. It's like somebody is shouting in your face. They really want you to know who you are. They're letting you know who they are. And they're unapologetic about it. That's what espresso is to me.

[08:27] When I'm thinking about this in a kind of weird philosophy type of way, I think that's one of the things I don't really care about with people. I don't want to go to this sub box of hating people or anything like that. I've already done that.

[08:42] I like to get to know people. And through that, I like to come back to conversations and situations. They tell me about their life. I listen and I tell them about my life and all that stuff. We're just getting to know each other. It may take a couple of meetings with each other. It may take a couple of years.

[09:00] Sometimes when you are dealing with people and they're just loud, obnoxious, right in your face, it's a turn off to me. It's like, what are you hiding? And sometimes I get that with espresso. It's like loud, it's intense. There's no even ground with it. There's no playing the field, so to speak.

[09:18] You only get one level with the espresso. Yeah, sure, you can dial it down with some water and some milk and all that stuff. But it's just there and it's intense. And it's one of those things to where I haven't really gotten to the point to where I appreciate that all the time.

[09:36] That's probably just where people are sometimes. They just want to let you know that they are who they are from the get-go. You know, they're here for a good time. Not a long time. And that's kind of like more so an appreciation of people, but also appreciation of espresso.

[09:54] We don't have to enjoy everything the way it is, but I think we can appreciate it for what it is. For the good, the bad, the things that we do like about it, the things that we can kind of manipulate the whole thing with.

[10:12] It's kind of weird just talking about this because I don't know if I'm really talking about coffee anymore. I wonder about that sometimes. Are we talking about coffee? We're talking about life sometimes because it's all the same, right? It's all entwined.

[10:27] We figure out what we like, what we don't like, even within the thing that we do like, we like some things better or more than others. And that's the case with me in an espresso.

[10:39] What about you? Do you like espresso? Do you do it all the time? Do you have that same type of thinking that I do with intensity, the vulgar, the personality, the espresso presents itself in order for you to really understand it?

[10:54] Or am I just up my ass and just not really talking to the way to where it is actually making sense to a lot of people? I think I'm talking about something. I think now that I put it out there, it's really interesting that now we're in a better place to where we understand things even more so.

[11:15] As we dive into improving our craft, getting better gear and understanding all the things that we're trying to do, does that really change the way I feel about espresso? Probably a little bit.

[11:27] I do appreciate it a lot more now because of some of the gear that I have, in particular the grinder. The grinder allows me to actually taste more clarity in espresso, which I didn't think that was really possible because espresso again is just one level, just like intense. It just tells you exactly how it is.

[11:48] But I'm seeing now the intricacies, the little layers, the little things that I didn't think espresso could do. So I am learning more about that coffee's personality.

[12:00] And as I say that, when somebody's loud and intense in my face, I just need to step back and listen to them. See what they say about things and understand the things that they're trying to do and trying to tell me because they're speaking directly to you.

[12:18] I thought I was going to talk more about the regrets of espresso making. But I really don't have any regrets. I'm just glad that I was able to get into espresso and to make my own opinion about it. And I'm glad that I've done that.

[12:33] Again, this is my opinion. If you don't have an espresso machine, that's perfectly fine. But if you want to go down that rabbit hole, take your time, enjoy it and see it for what it is.

[12:45] Don't let other people tell you this is the way they feel about espresso and the way they like to make espresso. You can determine that for yourself. So I advise you to go on your own journey. You may have the same thoughts that I do. You may not. And that's perfectly fine because this is your journey.

[13:05] So this is me just talking like a madman, I guess. So I'll talk to you later. Bye.