Brokedown Coffee is a brief view of my experience with coffee.
Although I drank many cappuccinos from a little shop near the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village while attending New England private schools, I really didn't get into coffee until I had my first Double Latte at the Caffe Mediterranean (Caffe Med) during 1964, in Berkeley, California.
By the early 1970s, I had moved from Berkeley back to the Haight / Ashbury, and a latte became 'too far' of a drive for 'the morning cup'.
It was about this time I moved from a large Macchinetta, to a large Vesuviana, and used a KitchenAid Model KCM grinder (displayed on the Brokedown page). It is fair to mention most of my friends (into coffee), in the neighborhood, would drop by my place, two times a day, when I was 'making myself a cup; ...almost to the point of becoming a ritual.
Eliding a lot of background and history, the result of this 'near ritual' became the Underground, Neighborhood Gathering, Internationally Known, Jet Set visited, United State Cafe (and coffee house), on Haight Street, near the corner of Ashbury Street, in San Francisco.
I tried to move from the Vesuviana and KitchenAid to a number of lesser machines and grinders (displayed on the Brokedown page), but always came back to the Vesuviana.
Eventually I moved to a Rancilio Rocky and Silvia (Silvia sticker on front) and recently picked up a new Silvia, while obtaining parts to rebuild the old one.
For roasting I have used a frying pan, hot air CafeRosto, several Alpenrost, and currently a Behmor 1600.
There are many excellent coffee sites on the Internet and the one I have read the longest is a Usenet Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.coffee/topics
If you are curious about who is writing this, my name is Curtis, I sign as ~@~ ...and appear in this 1980 video on the Haight / Ashbury and this Nobody for President video.
