I need about a twelve-hour stretch of time in which I’m not working to sort of relax and get some things done. I think this is called a “day off,” except the stuff I need to get done is work stuff. I never can seem to do this while I’m at work. What I need to do on my day off is the “fun” part of my job, like designing signs, strategic planning, and so forth. Well, to be honest, there are few parts of my job that do not have some sort of appeal, it’s just that I freak out when I have to do them all at once or when I'm so far behind I can't do any of them.

I have lately discovered the simple joy of cleaning the espresso machine. I did it today even though it was supposed to be my day off. I went to work anyway and tried to accomplish things, then I cleaned the espresso machine and went home.

Here is how you clean a professional espresso machine:

First you backflush it, which means you send a cleanser up into the pipes to get the old coffee out. This is accomplished with the pressure that builds up when you block the hot water from coming out. After using the cleanser, you have to do the same thing without the cleanser to rinse it all out.

Once that’s out of the way, you take out the grilles that cover the drain pan where the excess water and espresso go. You wash the all of those in the sink. Our sink isn’t big enough for the drain pan, so you have to do one side at a time.

Then comes the general polishing. We have an organic all-purpose cleaner that we use to get all of the spatters, fingerprints, water droplets, etc. off the machine, especially the polished chrome back and edges.

And lastly, you reassemble the whole thing and stare, transfixed, as it gleams in the overhead lights.

It is ironic that I own a café and I don’t even like coffee, but I do like my friend the espresso machine.