Single Boiler

Bitten by Banham’s Law again today, this time as applied to single boiler espresso machines. Managed to leave the boiler in steam mode all morning, resulting in me hurriedly pulling a shot at “get rekt” temperatures.

I realised what was happening about half way through and figured things would be fine. Just an unpleasantly burned shot that I would probably discard.

What I did not figure out in time was that my portafilter was now a pressure vessel. Went to take the handle off only to have it blown clear of the showerhead by the desperately-trying-to-expand steam, blowing weirdly-dry coffee grounds all over my kitchen in the process.

The reason I was making the coffee in such a rush in the first place is that the cleaners had just arrived and I needed to decamp myself and my homeschool pupil downstairs to the office. I made a half-hearted attempt at wiping up the worst of it with a cloth and then slunk away with my tail between my legs.

coda: Espresso shot produced with steam instead of water was actually more drinkable than it had any right to be. TIL!