My espresso machine arrived today! Well, really it arrived yesterday, but the post office only left me a little receipt in my box and then they held it hostage till today, when I went with Jon to pick it up. It was a whopper of a box with a $16-something shipping label on it, which makes me feel quite pleased (but also a little guilty) for getting free shipping on it from the dude I bought it off of on eBay. So we went to the grocery to find caramel syrup, vanilla syrup, and, oh yes, coffee in order for me to try my hand at an iced caramel macchiato. The grocery had vanilla syrup and coffee (I had fun using a bean grinder for the first time ever; they had an espresso-specific grind setting!) but no caramel syrup except the stuff for ice cream and I was leery about that. I decided to get the caramel from Starbucks since, on two separate occasions, the baristas at my usual Starbucks have informed me that they sell it in the store. Well, the usual store didn’t have it, and another two in town also didn’t. One informed me that they’re currently not promoting the syrup, so darn it if I shouldn’t have bought the ice cream stuff after all. Oh well, I’ll get some next time I’m out.

So my iced caramel macchiato ended up doing all right, once I got home and washed all the little fiddly bits and put the machine together and read the instructions and took it apart again because, oh yeah, you have to add coffee grounds to an espresso machine at some point in order to get espresso out. I think I used too much milk for my first attempt, and perhaps I should have smaller ice cubes, and it would be nice to get some caramel involved at some point, but overall it was pleasant tasting.

My second espresso drink turned out much better than the first: a simple cappuccino. I made two shots of espresso (and realized that it’s not like a regular coffee pot in that you turn it off yourself, when you have the right amount of espresso), adding vanilla syrup when it finished. Then, in a second cup, I steamed and frothed milk (my machine’s a DeLonghi BAR32 retro espresso machine, and eee! it froths milk!). Then, feeling like a pro, I poured the steamed milk on top of the espresso, reserving the froth for last. Now I just need to figure out how to do the little swirly designs in my milk froth.

Also, searching for “demitasse cup” on Walmart.com yielded some interesting, if not relevant, results, including a few rice cookers, a PUR water filter, and a Yamaha keyboard. What the flip?? How does an electronic keyboard come up when I search for the words ‘demitasse’ and ‘cup’? Jeez, Walmart, tweak your search engine. However, it looks like demitasse cups are about 2 ounces each, and it just so happens that some shot glasses are 2 ounces, so I think I’ll buy shot glasses for my espresso and be done. Then I won’t have to judge how full I want my regular coffee cup to be when deciding when to turn off the espresso machine.