
I stopped by La Colombe this morning to pick up a macchiato and welcome myself back into the city. As I waited in the surprisingly long line, I noticed something glimmering behind the counter. Peeking over the shoulder of the person in front of me, I saw what it was…
Pumps! Shiny new manual-pull pumps! They didn’t look to be brass, unfortunately, and the baristas are clearly still getting the hang of them, but I’m optimistic that the quality of the espresso at La Colombe is going to get even better in the weeks to come. They just got them installed last evening, so expect a bit of a learning curve as the baristas acclimate to the new pistons, getting the pressure and temperature just right, and tweaking their grind, so be patient and forgiving if your espresso is lacking a bit of crema.
Well, that didn’t last long. On Sunday, the baristas were rather harried, and it soon became clear why: One of the two new machines was broken, and the other had been broken on Saturday before being replaced. Additionally, the new machines, as promising as they were, simply didn’t have the throughput to handle the volume of customers La Colombe gets.
As much as I would love to see La Colombe migrate to proper pump-based shot-pulling, I can understand this decision: Even the best espresso in the world is no good if I don’t have time to wait for a shot. The new machines were installed on Thursday night, had two replacement installations by Sunday morning, and were gone in favor of the old machines by Monday morning.
Ah well. Maybe some day.
-Jovialist