Wednesday, January 20th, 2010...7:12 pm
The Espresso Machine Ping Pong Ball Tip
If you have an espresso machine where the water reservoir is visible, but it is difficult to see the water level, consider adding a few Ping Pong into the water. For years I had a Starbucks Barista espresso machine and although I often couldn’t see the water level, I could always see those Ping Pong balls floating. I knew in a glance whether or not I needed to add more water. Running out of water in the middle of an espresso pour is never a good thing.
The photo below is from Using the Barista Home Espresso Machine by Ryan Jacobs. For my machine, I used orange Ping Pong balls.
Source:
Using the Barista Home Espresso Machine – INeedCoffee article by Ryan Jacobs.
7 Comments
January 20th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Very interesting tactic. It does look like with the tinted glass it would be hard to tell at a glance if it was empty or not. With my new K-Cup brewer there is an indicator that tells you when to refill. I wonder if there are any consumer espresso machines that have something similar?
January 20th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I do not know. The Ping Pong trick is something Ryan and I did back in 2000. I’m wondering if it has applications beyond just espresso machines.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:24 am
I wish my espresso machine had a visible water chamber. Actually, there’s a lot of things that I wished about it, but that’s a whole blog post probably.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:57 am
I’m assuming there is no noticeable “flavor” change in the coffee after having the ping pong balls in there for a while?
BTW MAS, on an unrelated subject, when did you write your first blog post (on anything)? Someone told me that the Julie and Julia 2002 blogging timeline was too early to be realistic but I was pretty sure that you have had a blog (off and on) for atleast 10 years…
January 21st, 2010 at 11:29 am
No taste run off from the Ping Pong balls.
My personal blog started in March 2000. I shut it down in 2004 and then relaunched in 2005. Those posts still exist, but are not public. From 1995-1999, I had various content on ISP accounts that would be considered “blog like” today, but not back then.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:23 am
You sure it wont foul up the machines? -I bet this would invalidate any warranty…
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:45 am
Fear of invalidating a warranty has never stopped me before.
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