I have a brand new friend to play with: The Starbucks Sirena:

It is a super-duper, BMW designed, Saeco built, espresso machine! I have been shopping around for a high quality (but not prosumer level) machine that I can play with on a daily basis.

I have had a long history of coffee drinking that all started when I was fifteen years old. I’m steel reeling at the fact that I am twice as old currently! So, I guess you could say that my coffee adventure started halfway through my life. I’m not counting the cups of massively sugar laden cups I would sneak after church on Sundays when I was a little brat. And let me emphasize the fact that I was a brat. But, I digress…

This job was at a coffee shop that served not just coffee, but espresso drinks. The world was still just at the start of the new revolution of coffee/espresso that was led by Starbucks. I worked at a dishwasher/busboy at this coffee shop and only learned about coffee from a distance. For my breaks, the staff would let me make my own drinks on the espresso machine. They would teach me their tricks and recipes. My favorite was the iced mocha; this was before anyone considered blending it, so it was simply chocolate mixed with espresso, poured over ice and covered in cold milk. Simple, yet amazing.

Shortly after, I bought an espresso machine and started playing at home. But, it didn’t interest me for all that long. It was a messy adventure to try and make espresso drinks at home. Plus, the steam was so weak that I struggled to make a drink. I used the machine a few times and then it was put away for good.

Years went by and that coffee shop eventually went from being that one location to having a large chain of shops. They are still respected in this city as an average cup of coffee by coffee geeks of the world. Trust me, average is a compliment in their world! I worked in restaurants working my way from dishwasher to waiter forgetting largely about the designer coffee industry, barely noticing that Starbucks was starting to take over the world.

Then, one day, a customer of mine mentioned that he ran an espresso bar at the university and needed part time help. I jumped at the chance (I was a university student at that time and needed the extra job). I had the chance to make hundreds of espresso drinks a day on a professional machine of incredible quality. I wish I knew then what I knew now because I could have done some amazing things with that machine.

At that job, I fell completely in love with coffee. I decided, with no exceptions, that my goal in life was to own a coffee shop of my own. I took what I thought was the best possible move: I got a job at Starbucks. Little did I know just how much I didn’t know about coffee!!!

During the classroom sessions of learning to become a certified Barista at Starbucks I had to memorize a wealth of information. I was learning the coffee regions of the world and how their flavor profiles differed, I learned the different methods of getting the fruit off the coffee bean and how this affected the flavor, I learned just why grind, proportion, water, and freshness were the most important factors in making a proper cup of coffee. I was taught how to time my espresso shots and how to change my grind over and over again until I reached the exact right time, colour, and taste.

At Starbucks, we were masters of coffee knowledge. We knew details that others had no idea existed. There was a strong emphasis on teaching customers and translating the importance of certain coffee making factors. For example, when a customer asked for an extra hot latte, we would let them know exactly why burning the milk is NOT a good idea when it comes to taste, or why non-fat milk is horrible for making proper drinks, or why they should go buy a grinder instead of having me grind their coffee.

But I have to tell you, making hundreds of lattes a day, most of them ladened with enough sugar/whip cream/syrups to successfully hide all tastes of the milk and coffee takes its tole. Three years later, I had become a certified trainer, had become adept at coffee tasting, but had become completely disillusioned with designer coffee. Nobody truly cared about the quality of coffee. And more and more, my managers were hiring people that hated coffee and didn’t even drink it. Have you ever tried to do a coffee tasting/teaching session with folks like that?

I left for a desk job with more flexible hours to help me finish my nursing degree. I left coffee behind.

That was until I left my desk job and needed a job for a few months before starting work as a nurse. I decided to go back to the familiar Starbucks that had taught me everything I knew about coffee.

The day I started, I was disgusted! In three years, Starbucks (not just mine, but I’ve really noticed it as a trend) had become so much more about quantity than quality. They replaced their espresso machines with super-automatics: no more grinding and tamping, their drinks had gone farther and farther away from showcasing quality beans and skills baristas, and further toward increasing the amount of sugar and flavors. I blame the frappuccino for the demise of Starbucks quality. It brought in a customer element that wasn’t interested the finer details of coffee and espresso. But that’s a whole other rant!

And no, I’m not complaining about customers. Frappuccinos are delicious, I drink them myself. I just think that it is drinks like that that take away from Starbucks original purpose, which was to make amazing coffee and spread the word of what coffee truly could be. I think drinks like that and aggressive expansion have turned Starbucks into just another Tim Hortons/Dunkin’ Donuts etc.

The lineups at this Starbucks were so long. I was generally working on 20-30 drinks at any given time. I didn’t have time to work on perfect foaming technique, or time my espresso shots, or even look to make sure they were the right colour. Training at the Starbucks had become minimal at best: The focus was on getting bodies on the floor rather than making sure they could answer question like, “What’s the difference between Arabian Mocha Java, and Arabian Sidamo?” It was more important that they knew how to read the recipe cards.

I left spontaneously in disgust over how these folks were trained, and how customers had gone from knowledgeable coffee consumers to fast food junkies. The customers were crass and rude and all wanted non-fat milk that was burnt (extra hot). Nobody had time to explain the science of steaming milk or extracting oils from coffee. And lets face it, the customers just didn’t care.

In the meantime, my GERD was getting so bad that I quit drinking coffee all together. I left that world completely behind me for good.

Then, one day, I wondered into the greatest coffee shop of all time (a few weeks ago) and had what I claim to be the greatest latte of all-time. And it was DECAF! I tried their drip coffee, espresso, and many other drinks. Each one continued to be absolutely incredible. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing! The baristas were knowledgeable about coffee and took it to an art-form that I didn’t even know existed previously. I even got a lecture about having them grind my coffee, and I heard them teaching a customer why they didn’t want to do an extra hot drink. These people were what Starbucks was at one time: a haven for innovation and perfection in the world of coffee.

But they had taken it one step further. This is what they call the “Third Wave” of coffee. The quality of beans have leapt forward, and the brewing techniques have come a long way. It represents the return of certain expectations from a coffee shop. Those expectation are of quality, rather than quantity. It is a return of the “art” and “theatre” of making espresso. It is a return of a love of coffee that I thought had all but been destroyed.

I went to the doctor, got better pills for my GERD and started diving into coffee again. I bought a grinder, a press, and a bunch of coffee from 49th parallel roasters to taste. I still couldn’t believe what I was tasting. Starbucks was never THAT good!

I dived into the forums at coffeegeek. I was fascinated by all the information! Afterall, being a Starbucks trainer, I thought I had learned everything there was to learn about coffee. I couldn’t resist any longer, and that’s when I decided to buy the Starbucks Sirena.

I chose this model because of its looks and quality. Neither of these factors have failed me! It unfortunately comes with a pressurized portafilter, but that was easily remedied by taking it right out. Now I have a quality machine that works like a dream. I can’t believe how well it pulls espresso shots, and it makes beautifully foamed milk FAST! I’m already making lattes that are much better anything Starbucks makes. And now I can spend time perfecting my espresso shots: Time, color, taste, volume.

Many people in the coffeegeek world are doubtful about the Starbucks Sirena. They don’t trust Starbucks (for good reason), but I’m here to proclaim that this machine does an amazing job!

Anyway, I know this is a nursing blog, so I’ve gone on and on a little too long. So, I doubt there’s many people left reading at this point. But I think coffee has played such a huge role in my life that I just can’t leave it behind in my own personal story.

And I just finished my latte. Time to go play with my machine some more!!!