A few months ago, I decided to give up coffee and switch to tea. That bout of temporary insanity lasted about a month, and I’ve appreciated coffee more and more ever since I reincorporated it into my daily routine. Each morning, I wake up around 5:30 a.m. and make a beeline for the kitchen, where my Cuisinart DCC-2000 is programmed to start brewing four cups of Allegro’s organic breakfast blend each morning at 5 a.m. (Heaven forbid I should wake up before my alarm goes off and there’s no coffee.)
Drinking coffee while reading the news is my favorite morning ritual, and it’s something I miss whenever I have to travel. Yes, there’s usually room service, but waiting 30 minutes for someone to bring you coffee just isn’t the same as rolling out of bed and pouring yourself a cup.
Last week, on a trip to Florence, Italy, I had the pleasure of staying at Palazzo Tornabuoni, a former Medici home in the heart of the city that has been transformed into a handful of luxury apartments. From the Four Seasons mattresses (the project is managed by the Four Seasons group) to the 17th-century frescoes, the development is flawless. However, my heart sank just a bit when I saw the seemingly complex-looking espresso machine sitting on the countertop in the stunning Boffi kitchen. Don’t get me wrong: A cappuccino is great in the morning—when someone else makes it for you. Taking the time to measure the espresso, time the brewing process just right, and steam the milk is too much work at 5:30 in the morning, especially for someone who hasn’t had her first cup of coffee yet. However, with no other option in sight, I decided to give the machine a chance.
Upon arrival, one of Palazzo Tornabuoni’s excellent staff members had given me a quick tutorial of how the machine worked, which seemed simple enough—basically drop the premeasured, prepackaged disposable container of Illy espresso into the machine and press start—yet, I had my doubts. I had tried these sorts of machines before, but either the prepackaged coffee that went with the machine didn’t taste good, or the machine ended up being much more complex than it initially looked. As someone who, in college, once ruined ramen noodles (yes, that’s possible), I’m aware of my limitations in the kitchen, and I half expected to break the machine. But it was beyond simple, even for someone with jet lag. The premeasured coffee packets mean that you don’t have to fumble with measuring cups and messy ground coffee, and it tasted good beyond belief (Starbucks take note).
I’ll admit, my first morning back at home in Los Angeles, it was nice to wake up and have my coffee waiting for me, but I missed the taste of the cappuccino I had started to get used to. So I tracked down the machine, the Francis Francis X7, which to my delight is available for $399.99 on Amazon.com. Now, if only I had a Boffi kitchen to put it in. (Palazzo Tornabuoni, 866.753.6667, www.palazzotornabuoni.com; Francis Francis X7, available at http://www.amazon.com/Francis-207003-iperEspresso-Machine-lack/dp/B00190J6X2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1241713495&sr=8-1
