I have a La Pavoni Stradavari which is an Italian manual lever machine and it has a pressure gauge, custom handle, and bottomless portafilter. Manual machines are great because you can control how a shot is pulled and they’re easy to clean and maintain yourself.
I would recommend that you get a burr grinder and use fresh coffee beans (ideally local although honestly! I use Cameron’s Coffee organic espresso beans and I love them… very economical without compromising on quality). weigh out how much espresso you use in grams and play around with the amount and the grind size. I use 16 grams for a double shot with the beans I buy. Different beans extract differently and need more or less grounds per shot.
After grinding into your basket, break up clumps with a needle or whisk style stirrer, level it with a distributor tool, and tamp the grounds evenly. also make sure to regularly clean and descale your machine, and use filtered water if you have hard water with a lot of minerals (I love the BWT Penguin filter pitcher for the water I brew espresso with).
So get a new grinder and a scale if you need them and definitely clean and descale the machine, then follow the preparation steps I outlined if you don’t already and play around with one variable at a time. maybe log it in a diary and note any differences you observe so that you can know what made it better or worse! Looking at the puck after you pull the shot can give you clues, and so can the taste.
Aug 23, 2024
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Been finally getting back into it the past couple of days! If you have access to an espresso machine (mine is a cheap, entry level one), the ritual of making espresso is the perfect way to start your morning. The grinding of the beans. Tamping the grounds in a portafilter. The trial and error of pulling a good shot. The feeling when you finally get it dialed in. It’s a deeply rewarding process. Saves money in the long term too!
Mar 6, 2025
It’s gorgeous and everything is within your control as far as the manual input of making espresso but also in maintaining the machine itself. Shoutout to my La Pavoni grinder also…
USPA Bio Bidet bidet seat and Bluevua RoPot countertop reverse osmosis machine are the other two things I licherally could not live without
Apr 25, 2024
I think the key to a good moka pot coffee is minimizing time on the stove element:
- Preheat the stove burner
- Boil water before putting it in the pot
- Extract with the lid open so you can pull the pot immediately when it’s done
- If you wanna be a freak about it you can weigh your beans and water (I never bother)
But if the issue is you are unhappy with your espresso quality, I think it might be worth it to dial in your grind (I like a ~22s extraction but this is all preference). The way I think about espresso is that weight of beans/volume of water/extraction time remain consistent while grind can vary to hit those parameters. This is what was working for me on one of those big Faema beasts tho so ymmv.
HOWEVER I personally cannot be bothered with most of this unless I am getting paid. I french press or steep my shit most days and it’s perfectly nice
Aug 23, 2024
Top Recs from @taterhole
My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebody—be it a relative or one of my best friends—was to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too 💌
Feb 23, 2025
Schedule sent my resignation email for the morning, effective immediately ✅💅
Feb 27, 2025
🖐
I’ve been thinking about how much of social media is centered around curating our self-image. When selfies first became popular, they were dismissed as vain and vapid—a critique often rooted in misogyny—but now, the way we craft our online selves feels more like creating monuments.
We try to signal our individuality, hoping to be seen and understood, but ironically, I think this widens the gap between how others perceive us and who we really are. Instead of fostering connection, it can invite projection and misinterpretation—preconceived notions, prefab labels, and stereotypes. Worse, individuality has become branded and commodified, reducing our identities to products for others to consume.
On most platforms, validation often comes from how well you can curate and present your image—selfies, aesthetic branding, and lifestyle content tend to dominate. High engagement is tied to visibility, not necessarily depth or substance. But I think spaces like PI.FYI show that there’s another way: where connection is built on shared ideas, tastes, and interests rather than surface-level content. It’s refreshing to be part of a community that values thoughts over optics.
By sharing so few images of myself, I’ve found that it gives others room to focus on my ideas and voice. When I do share an image, it feels intentional—something that contributes to the story I want to tell rather than defining it. Sharing less allows me to express who I am beyond appearance.
For women, especially, sharing less can be a radical act in a world where the default is to objectify ourselves. It resists the pressure to center appearance, focusing instead on what truly matters: our thoughts, voices, and authenticity. I’ve posted a handful of pictures of myself in 2,500 posts because I care more about showing who I am than how I look.
In trying to be seen, are we making it harder for others to truly know us? It’s a question worth considering.
Dec 27, 2024