🚀 go-pugleaf

I've tried posting to the world on alt.coffee, but since food lovers
are often coffee lovers, and both are soemtimes gadget lovers too, I
thought I'd ask the question here.

My Tuesday Morning $30 closeout special Farberware espresso maker,
surely no connoisseur's machine, which has been doing OK for three
years is now starting to leak and suffer from sticky valves. I've
nursed it long enough and I'd like to take a step up when I replace
it. I tend to keep things forever, but when I called to see if I could
get parts to repair it, I was told that it's been out of production
for so long that there are no longer any parts in stock.

I really, really, really, really want to buy from a real store, where
I can go to look at various machines, talk to someone who knows
something about them, maybe get a demonstration, and walk out the door
with one. However, I can't find any place in my area to shop. There's
the department stores and Bed Bath and Beyond, but nobody there knows
anything and they have the "standard" Krups and the other one -
essentially no choices.

Has anyone discovered a reasonable place to shop for espresso makers
in the Washington DC area? Or have espresso makers other than the
department store brands just become so much of a limited interest
novelty that the only place to buy is over the Internet?

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo