Rancilio Rocky Arrival and Initial Impressions!

There she is!

My finally arrived!! There it is sitting on the counter top awaiting its maiden voyage. First impressions of the machine: it is bigger and heavier than it looks in the pictures! but feel really solid and well made.  There were some coffee grounds on the unit but this is NORMAL! These grinders are tested by manufacturer so if yours comes like that, don't fret.  As you can see the default setting is at a 10, which seems like a common starting point for espresso.  The unit comes with nice quality user manual in different languages.  The packaging was very secure, so much so i had to spend some time just to take it out. There is a switch for main power, switch for turning on grinding (you have to hold this button down), and a button you hold down to adjust grind setting. Last thing I want to note about this grinder is it's stepped, meaning the grind settings are discreet step and not continuous.  This means if your dialing in you shot, you may get stuck between two grind setting and although this can me remedied with changing tamping strength it's not ideal.  Personally, I chose stepped since it'll be an all purpose grinder, I wanted to be able to change between drip, press, espresso easily.  I didn't jump to the Presso next to it immediately since I wanted to just try out the grinder first.  Found out what it's first usage was after the break...

...And without further ado, it's the French Press! (with freshly ground coffee)

Maiden voyage

Ah how boring you may say - and I agree french press isn't a showy brew method.  However, this is not regular press, it's cold brew!  I wanted to use a sure fire method for the first trial of the rocky and it's been freakin hot lately so cold brew it is.  My grind setting was on a 45 (started around 30 but was much too fine).  Even on 45 it's finer than what i usually use but that's what makes this an experiment. I will try this tomorrow and update this post.

Final impressions: surprisingly quiet for a big motor and burrs grinding beans. The removable portafilter holder (squiggly metal thing) was useful for the french press grind otherwise it would've gotten in the way of the carafe i was using to receive the ground coffee.  The tray on the bottom is for lose grounds and is easily removable for cleaning. Overall definitely please with this product, and with the fact I don't have to MANUALLY grind my coffee every morning.