Blast From the Past


 
LMichaels

LMichaels

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
So, my uncle emigrated here from Italy in 1958. Not sure what possessed him to do this but I swear he must have had a full (or maybe even more than one) full steamer trunk full of these things. Every aunt, and cousin around at that time got one or in the case of some of us younger cousins had one reserved for them. Last time I tried to use it, it blew water and coffee all over my stove. So I stuck it in the cupboard and hadn't thought about it in a few years. Well now here we all are talking about coffee makers, grinders, beans and so on. So, I pulled it out to have a look. The original gasket was from 1958 of course and was totally brittle so I did some measuring. Then decided to look online and see if I could find new ones for it. Turns out you can still buy most everything for this.
Ordered some gaskets and a filter plate made by Bialetti in Italy and it arrived today. Did some cleaning and lo-and behold I was able to successfully get it to move water without it blowing out the side.
I may make a cup or two with it tomorrow. But, here are a couple photos of it. I am definitely gonna enjoy this thing more now that I know I can actually find the parts to keep brewing with it
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JimZ said:
That is cool. I thought those make really strong coffee right?
Click to expand...
Yes. Back then it was espresso. Now they have multi thousand $$$ machines to do this :D But, basically it works by building steam and pressure in the lower tank where water is. In there is an upside down funnel. The pressurized steam works it's way up through the neck of that funnel into a "puck" of finely ground coffee and now the lower tank is pressurized. No gauges or anything but if you pack it too tightly pressure builds too high and there is a relief/safety valve in the lower tank. I am unsure how much pressure builds to push through that puck of coffee. But, then as it pushes it's way through it comes out the top and condenses back to liquid and you get espresso. It is really good stuff too
 
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