It’s Ours!

Intro

So… an update from my last post….. the Rancilio Silvia is now a proud member of our family.

Here’s the story. If you read my blog (or talk to me at all) you would know that my husband and I have been researching and entertaining the possibility of purchasing an espresso machine. Now we aren’t avid coffee drinkers, but we do enjoy the more than occasional artisanally crafted coffee beverage. And with the soon to come career change (on my husband’s part) it will provide us with more time at home in the mornings and we just thought an espresso machine would be a pleasure to wake up to. We didn’t want just any old machine (but we also didn’t want to spend a ton of money). We wanted to be able to control the settings and learn for ourselves just how to make the perfect espresso drink. We thought we had decided on one of the Gaggia machines but after watching the videos we weren’t impressed. Upon reading many coffee forum postings I had come across the Rancilio Silvia numerous times. So I checked it out for myself. Beautiful but out of our price range.

My husband suggested that I check out Craigslist. Fate stepped in at this point. Someone in our town (which isn’t all that large) just happened to be selling the Silvia for nearly half the price!! Immediately I emailed the seller; it was to late to call. I called the very next morning and did not receive a response. After many a calls later finally I reached him.

Me: “I am calling about the espresso machine.”

Seller: “Oh, great! It is a very good machine, and like I said in the ad, has only been used a half dozen times. The only reason why I am selling it is because I can’t get the perfect grind and I don’t have the money to buy an expensive grinder. I’m a bit of a snob.”

Me: “Great! So, I’m assuming it’s still available?”

Seller: “Yes. But someone is coming to take a look at it on Friday. Why don’t you give me a call Friday afternoon and you can see if it’s still available.”

My heart sank.

Me: “Oh, ok. I will call you. We will be heading out of town Friday evening, but if you need us to drop off a deposit that night we could work something out. I know I want this machine as I have done a ton of research.”

Seller: “Alright. I will talk to you on Friday.”

In an attempt to get a “one-up” on whoever this person was who was going to check out MY machine I wrote the seller an email:

“I will talk to you on Friday. Also, I think I mentioned this on the phone… but I am a pastry chef and was wondering if I could throw in some chocolates to sweeten the deal?”

I received no response.

So I proceeded to be bummed. Having very little hope that anyone would ever pass up this deal I thought it was over. I just couldn’t let it go.

In an attempt to provide comic relief and to brighten up an otherwise very sad situation… I playfully asked my husband that evening if it was he who was meeting with the seller about the machine.

IT WAS!!! He had somehow gotten ahold of the seller in between all my calls. A rush of relief fell over me than a burst of joy as I realized that very soon the Rancilio Silvia would be ours.

So a very special thanks to my sweet husband for being so sneaky and trying to pull a fast one on me….. I love it!! and thanks to the seller for being such a coffee snob. 🙂

Now if I could just figure out how to make it work properly.

The research continues.