Death on the Mukka Express

I thought I would be nice and make espresso instead of the usual freeze dried coffee since I have both an espresso maker and a cappuccino maker. These are not the nice, high tech, plug-in ones, but instead the old school Italian ones where the bottom and the top screw together and you put it on the burner.

The cappuccino maker has an additional piece that, should you wish it to, forces steaming coffee through milk. After a normal amount of time, the espresso maker had finished making espresso while the cappuccino maker had only dribbled out a trickle. So I turned up the heat. Then steam started coming out of the pressure release valve so I figured the little steamer thingy must be on wrong. Protected with a tea towel, I opened up the capp maker and tweaked the steamer thingy which popped off in my hand.

Did you know that contraption is under so much pressure it takes nearly 20 seconds for 6oz of espresso to blow out in a coffee-geiser that reaches the kitchen ceiling? I stood there for a moment pondering whether I should throw my tea towel over the steam and then decided that since the burner was still on, the towel would catch fire and just make matters worse. I skipped into the living room and hid behind a tallish Texan who was nonchalantly sipping espresso while watching the growing puddle of coffee form on the ceiling.

Then he said, “See why I don’t cook?”