Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Jon Galloway — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:18:00 GMT

Peter -
Judging from your post, you've almost certainly seen www.coffeegeek.com. If not, I think you'd like it.
- Jon

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Peter Torr — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 08:53:00 GMT

Yeah, it's pretty hard-core. Way more so than I am :-)

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Todd McKinney — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:09:00 GMT

Your experience pretty much matches the conventional wisdom on coffeegeek.com, and the "ultra hard-core" alt.coffee. You can't get a great espresso from pods. The problem is mainly that the coffee is stale (besides the price, of course). I believe that the X5 is considered a reasonably good machine, so you should have much better results using freshly ground.

What kind of grinder are you using with the Expobar? Most of the coffee snobs that I know think that the grinder is more important than the espresso machine.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Jennifer — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:35:00 GMT

Pete, I can't figure out which is worse - the "whole latte love" pun or when people pronounce espresso "expresso"?

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Peter Torr — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:12:00 GMT

Todd - I have the Mazzer Mini (linked in the last paragraph of the blog). It's a good, SOLID machine.

Jennifer - I know you're making fun of me :-), but you are *soooooo* right on that one...

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Jeff Sirois — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:42:00 GMT

What a coincidence, I just ordered this same package from Illy yesterday! Well, I ordered whole beans rather than pods, but you get the idea... <grin/>

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Todd McKinney — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 13:29:00 GMT

Mazzer Mini - now I'm really jealous :)

So how did the shots turn out? Better espresso with ground instead of the pods?

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Peter Torr — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 17:51:00 GMT

Heh ;-)

Give me a few more days to experiment and I'll get back to you ;-)

IE patch and other stuff

Office Development, Security, Randomness... — Mon, 02 Feb 2004 23:47:00 GMT

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

bliz — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 17:07:00 GMT

Don't forget the cost of milk in your cost per serving calculation. One reason I switched from cappuccino to latte (when I'm out and about and have to get a fix) is because they cost about the same, but in a cappuccino you're paying for tons of foam (as in air). What a racket! :)

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Teresa — Sun, 08 Feb 2004 07:55:00 GMT

Im-a-coffe-freak,-too.-But,-for-some-reason,-Im-one-of-the-tallest-kids-in-the-grade.-Im-not-the-least-bit-vertically-challenged,-and-have-out-grown-2-pairs-of-jeans-in-a-week.-Strange.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Peter Torr — Sun, 15 Feb 2004 09:23:00 GMT

I think it's kind of funny that if you Google for "Francis X5" this blog is the number 6 hit. "Francis X5 illy" is the number 3 hit.

Pretty cool if you ask me :-)

I've already got one friend to buy a machine and two others are considering it based on this blog.

Francis Francis! X5

David Wendel — Mon, 23 Feb 2004 07:17:00 GMT

I just got my X5 two weeks ago. I love it!! It is a great machine and works very well. I got it through the Illy espresso program which a first looks a bit expensive. However you have too figure that you are going to buy coffee anyways so in the end it is very much worth it. An added plus is that you get six espresso cups from the Grey Koons collection which by themselves sell for $200. Yikes!! In the end the only real thing that matters is that the X5 makes a great shot of espresso. You wont be disappointed in this machine.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

single cup coffee maker — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 19:27:00 GMT

I wish i had seen this article BEFORE getting the ESE pods. I would be all the wiser without having wasted the money. When I want the prepackaged stuff I'll stick with my Keurig...great article!

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

BPNYC — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 23:46:00 GMT

I ran across this blog on google, so I assume it's not too late to post a comment that will be valuable. I too just bought the Francis Francis X5 through the Illy deal. You price per shot is incorrect for the beans. They are 30 cents per shot, not 16.

Here are my calculations:
Each 8.8 oz can = $11 per can
@ $66 total / 6 cans

There are = 36.67 shots per can
@ 8.8 oz per can / .24 oz per shot

Each Shot = $0.30
@ $11 per can / 36.67 shots per can

For the E.S.E. pods
Each can costs $10
@$100 total/10 cans

There are 18 shots per can

Each shot costs $0.56
@ $10 per can/18 shots per can

Which is an 87% greater expense

.56 / .3
= 1.8666

1.8666 - 1
= 0.8666

The pods are still quite a bit more expensive. However, I've tried them and have had perfect espresso every time. I'm using the dark roast. Not sure if the ease justifies the expense though.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Peter Torr — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 00:05:00 GMT

Ooops -- thanks BPNYC.

I divided

66 / 11

price per case / price per can ( == # of cans)

instead of:

66 / 6

price per case / # of cans ( == price per can)

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Way — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 18:17:00 GMT

I have taken advantage of that Lilly offer abotu 1 1/2 years ago, and i use the machine at work. The hassle of ground coffe is not an option, and the pods are super convenient. The mamchine has been very reliable so far, depsite daily use and abue. Pods produe a pretty decent espresso. Beats the standard corporate coffe pot any day...

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Gourmet Coffee Bean Maker — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 07:30:00 GMT

I'll stick to making it the old fashioned way! =)

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Fsonline — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 18:14:34 GMT

I have an X5 -- a nice orange one, and my "main squeeze" has a baby blue one. I got mine one sale for $325- at an outlet (MSRP is $595,) She got her from Illy, and got the machine for $250 plus she has to buy X amount of pods. Anyway, If you search the web you can find the pods (ESE COFFE PODS are what they are called, regardless of brand.) I get a nice tall cup of good espresso, using the #1 ESE filter insert for 37 cents a pod. Use the #1 filter basket (It's called the 'Ristretto' filter, and you can get a nice double from each pod. I like to put a packet of Splenda in the cup first, (or two if you like it sweet,) and then for a treat, immerse the nozzle of a can of regular real whipped cream below the surface of the espresso, and gently squirt in a quarter inch of whipped goodness. By the way, in Europe, like in Paris a demi of coffee is called (phonetically,) a "Kafay X-spray", so X-peresso is not so far off base. And since I'm a writer, believe me, I hate it when people mispronounce words... like Nuke-u-lar. But that's simply a geographical anomaly.

Anyway, if you try, the X5 will give you a wonderful morning cup, and the Illy deal on the machine is kind of like the Gevalia deal, they're selling the coffe and giving you the machine at just above cost, or at the least at about half-price. A-river-dare-chee.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Fsonline — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 18:24:05 GMT

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

Stevie — Fri, 19 May 2006 00:40:30 GMT

I've had my Francis X5 for about 30 days. I used it for about 5 days straight before it started making a noise and water began to shower out from the top left side. When it did work, I think I impressed myself with the cappucinos (sp) I was able to make. However, one set of instructions said to steam the milk first, then cool down the temperature by running water through and another set of instructions said to make the espresso first then steam the milk. So I am a little confused about which is the right way.

re: Francis Francis! X5 and ESE pods

ptorr — Fri, 19 May 2006 02:37:17 GMT

I'm no expert, but for the Francis I first warm up the cup by putting hot water in it (NOT from the coffee machine, because it doesn't have much capacity, but from a water heater) and then I brew the espresso and then the milk.

I beleive common wisdom says to do it the other way around, because you don't want your espresso sitting in the cup for very long, BUT if you steam the milk first it takes too long for the machine to cool down (and you probably risk burning the coffee).

On my home machine, which can do both at once, I steam the milk while grinding the coffee (so it's always fresh :-) ) and then add the espresso.