Whaddaya have to do to get a cappuccino around here?

I was going to write a rather cheery little post about the garden this morning, but that will have to wait. Events have overtaken me.

There are certain things you should be able to do fairly easily in the morning when you’re not yet properly awake. Wash your face, feed the cat and, most importantly, make a cappuccino.

This morning my face was washed, Stella was fed and the milk frothing part of the proceedings was just fine. Then it all went sideways, pear shaped, tits up, whatever.

Last week when I went to the grocery store it was out of the brand of espresso I normally buy, so I bought something different. When I opened the package it was clear this was a much finer grind than my normal brand and sure enough the first morning I used the new coffee it took quite a bit longer to push the water through than usual. Slightly annoying, but not the end of the world. This morning it was taking forever. A peek underneath revealed the espresso was coming through not as a reasonably steady trickle, but one (not two) tiny drops at a time. I’d be lucky if it filled the jug by teatime. Switched the cappuccino maker off, wrestled the coffee holder part free of the machine, emptied the grounds, got a sponge and wiped the machine off. (My, my, there was rather a lot of coffee grounds embedded.) Decided I’d make do with a decaf cappuccino, as that grind didn’t seem to pose a problem. Switched the machine back on and turned the dial to the espresso option. Nope. Still one tiny drop at a time.

All of this would have been so much easier to deal with if I actually had some caffeine in me and was therefore properly awake.

Okay, I thought, let’s put the kettle on and dig the Bodum out of the cupboard. Said Bodum was purchased last year to make it possible to have a cup of coffee (made with water boiled on the wood stove) when there was a power failure. Although there have been power failures since, none have gone on for days, so the power’s never been off when I get up in the morning. Which is to say, this morning was the first time I’ve actually used it.

Of course I filled it too full, so of course when I pressed down harder than I thought should be required, coffee shot out the top, all over the kitchen counter and the floor. Gah. Tipped some of the remaining coffee into the sink. Pressed down on the filter again, poured the coffee into the mug containing somewhat cooled steamed milk and sat down at the computer.

When I’ve finished writing this I am going to have to spend a considerable amount of time (a) finishing cleaning up the mess I’ve made trying to get some caffeine into my system and (b) trying to figure out why my Breville is suddenly not working. A quick check on Google reveals multiple video tutorials for cleaning Brevilles. Perhaps one of them will be useful. Let’s hope so, because, goddamnit, I need my cappuccino in the morning.