Relocating blog

I'm relocating my blog from here to

http://barnine.blogspot.com

I'll continue to publish posts here for a while (for those of you too lazy to update your rss readers), but the main site will be the one mentioned above.

Rancilio Z9 Lever Espresso Machine

I'm very excited to have recently obtained a restored lever espresso machine for the cafe. It's around 35 years old and has been given a great overhaul by an excited little tinker-er in New South Wales. Eventually this machine will run alongside a Synesso Cyncra in the cafe and will be set up in such a way so as to allow any budding coffee enthusiasts the opportunity to pull a few shots.
However for now, it resides at my place and provides the perfect morning cuppa, not to mention a steep learning curve which is great fun explore upon.
Here's the new (old) baby in action:


Bar Nine Espresso on Vimeo.

Coolest little barista ever!

Here's some footage of my son, Noah, making me a coffee just before his second birthday. And just for the record, the coffee tasted awesome!

WARNING: Some explicit music present so turn down your speakers if easily offended

Ghetto Drip/Pour Over

Inspired by a conversation with prolific blogger, Luca, and a forum poll started by yours truly, I have decided put out a challenge to the four or so people who read this blog, to see who can create the best (or maybe worst) ghetto drip station.

So here are the rules. Who can find the best/funniest/cheapest/most ingenious piece or pieces of crap to either
A) Chuck Norris (read, brake beat or crush) or
B) McGuyver (read, manipulate or engineer in some way) into a Drip station.

Single drip is okay, bonus points awarded for multiple cup drip/pour-over station, as well as practicality or sheer impracticality.

Now for those of you who don't know what this is (particularly those living in the espresso dominated market of Australia) here's one example of a finnished product.



So basically it's a fairly simple device that holds a filter (usually paper, metal or cloth) in place above another vessel designed to catch the brewed coffee, ground coffee and hot water go in the top, simple.

So get your thinking caps on, and just to help get you started here's my first design.



Or check out Koffee Kosmo's fantastic (and far more practical) effort here.

Espresso royale organic cafe.

Well in the slow moving town of Adelaide it's not often a new cafe of passionate owners, that's worth heading out of your way for springs up. But that's exactly what you'll find at 357 magill rd, st morris, at "espresso royale".
It's a bit hard to spot as the name of the cafe almost doesn't appear on the site at all, instead lookout for a big "organic coffee" sign.  A good landmark to watch out for is the green, organic meats butcher across the road.
The small, quirky cafe boasts a shiny new la marz fb70 in the front which is a welcome site in a state overrun by cheap and nasty heat exchangers. Unfortunately no Robur to go along with it but they manage what they have very well.
The coffee is roasted on site so you know it's always fresh. They have a huge emphasis on organic fair trade coffee and food, offering a selection of three different single origins though no blends (They run an Ethiopian Sidamo as their 'house' coffee).
I had an espresso (which they make as a double) and a flat white and both were well made, though not perfect, but easily some of the better coffee available in south Australia.
The owners here really seem to care, which is fantastic as there is currently only a very small handful of operators in South Australia that operate with any sense of passion for what they do.  So I thoroughly recommend heading out to St Morris and please put forward any comments as to your experience.