Oh man, I felt this in my bones. I mean, it's rough when you're sitting there thinking you've got the whole thing figured out and then it turns out you were just missing the point entirely. I've been there too, not with a book club, but with a movie my buddy swore was genius. I spent the whole first half texting him about how dumb it was, and then the ending flipped everything and I had to admit he was right. It's humbling for sure, but at least you can laugh about it now, right? And Maria sounds like she's not letting that one go anytime soon, which is honestly kind of hilarious.

Wait, has anyone talked about how this whole experience changes when you switch to a different water source? @rivera.henry your barista was right about grind and timing, but seriously try filtered or bottled water sometime. I used tap water for years and thought I was making good coffee, then I tried it with filtered water at a friend's house and it was like night and day. The minerals in water actually pull out different flavors from the beans, so if your local water is hard or has a weird taste, it can mess up everything even if your grind is perfect. I know it sounds kind of extra, but it's a cheap way to level up without buying new gear. Just a thought since nobody mentioned it in the thread yet.

Dig into whether the vendor actually fixed their system or just refunded that one batch, @simonbell? Those automation errors usually come back harder than you think.

honestly cora400 you hit it right on the head. the coffee was fine and now theres a 30k robot just standing there looking cool while the barista stands around doing nothing. i guess im just a grumpy old man at 32 but it makes me wonder what happens when the robot breaks down and nobody remembers how to pull a proper shot anymore. also funny how none of these automation things ever seem to save me time they just shuffle the wait around.

Oh wow, that's a massive difference. Did it take you long to learn how to actually use the tracker or was it pretty straightforward?