You’ve been spoiled by the $5 cup of exotic single-origin pour-over flat white. It’s time to upgrade your home equipment. At this rate, your caffeine addiction is cutting into your cocktail budget.
Forget the primitive French press, or a fantastic newfangled countertop machine. Have the best of both worlds — and unshackle yourself from the baristacracy — with this chrome $US225 Zappia “Paradiso” two-cup espresso maker.
You’ll have to tamp the grind and lock it in place, but the machine handles the extraction. It plugs into the wall with an especially gorgeous cloth-insulated cord and delivers piping hot shots to two waiting demitasses in two or three minutes. It’s as suitable for pre-ground as it is for Kopi Luwak (that’s Indonesian civet-cat coffee, for the uninitiated). Either way, it adds a countertop touch of la bella figura while delivering your daily dose.