I am the proud owner of a wonderful FrancisFrancis! X1 espresso maker. As a machine of function and beauty, it is used daily. I live in a hard water area and the machine comes with this slightly disturbing warning:
Failure to undertake regular decalcification will result in lime-scale build-up that may in turn cause an appliance malfunction not covered by the guarantee.
Hmm. OK then, I don’t want to invalidate the guarantee on a 375 piece of equipment, so how do I descale it? The manual has only this to say:
Please contact the manufacturer for information on how to use a household decalcification appliance.
What? Surely you are the manufacturer? And what is a decalcification appliance? A trip back to the Steamer Trading Cookshop was in order, where a very helpful assistant explained the process:
On another kitchen related note, I cooked my first Jerusalem artichokes last night. They are in season at the moment and we got a couple of pounds in our weekly vegetable box. They look somewhat like root ginger but, once peeled and sliced, are similar to potatoes with a sweeter smell. In fact they are cooked exactly like potatoes (boiled, roasted, fried etc). I followed Jamie Oliver’s recipe for Baked Jerusalem Artichokes with Bread Crumbs, Thyme & Lemon – a sort of gratin/dauphinoise affair, and the result was delicious with the Jerusalem artichokes bringer a lighter texture than the equivalent dish made with spuds.
Interestingly, I learned that Jerusalem artichokes have nothing to do with Jerusalem, the word instead comes from girasole, Italian for sunflower. Jerusalem artichokes are a member of the sunflower family it seems. Thanks to Wikipedia for that gem.
Andy Budd wrote:
It just me or have you turned into Dunstan?
patrick h. lauke wrote:
it’s “girasole”, not “girosole”...and anybody who deigns that ponce oliver by calling him “james” deserves to get a scaley coffee maker… ;)
Rich wrote:
Patrick – two errors duly corrected. Ponce perhaps, but good recipes none-the-less.
Tim wrote:
Where do you get your vegetable box from?
Rich wrote:
Barcombe Nursery (near Lewes, East Sussex).
Tel. 01273 400011
robert wrote:
it looks stunning but given the arduous task required to descale it, surely moving to a soft water area would be less painful ;)
Will wrote:
I’ve simply been roasting mine in olive oil. Delicious and squidgy in the middle. Play havoc with the – ah – sub-duvet abience though.
David wrote:
I have that very machine, in that very colour.
Do you use the pods or fresh granules? I find myself using the pods, because they’re quick and easy.
Your best bet if you don’t want to end up shelling out for them is to bulk buy whenever you go over to France/Europe, as they’re significantly cheaper per tin.
Rich wrote:
David – I mostly use pods for the same reason you do. I found some Cafe Direct pods recently which are cheaper than Illy. They don’t seem to be as rich or strong though, so I’ll stick with Illy for neat expresso, but Cafe Direct are fine for capuccino etc.
Matt Southerden wrote:
We live in a hard water area, and our solution to all things scaled is to have a couple of Brita jugs for our kitchen. One smaller jug goes in the fridge for chilled drinking water, and a bigger one sits on the worktop, which we use for cooking, coffee maker, kettle, iron, etc.
mike wrote:
you could just by DURGOL liquid and follow its intructions for descaling. can be found in some coffee establishmenets or at 1st-line equipment ( where they have really good espresso machines) www.1st-line.com
Currie Alexander Powers wrote:
I have the same lovely Francis Francis (same colour).
I think I blew it. Didn’t read the manual carefully.
My machine (2 1/2 years old) isn’t heating up properly.
Do you think it’s too late to try descaling it?
Currie
Miguel Covarrubias wrote:
I bought a Francis coffee maker .
Now my resitance is broken,i want to know if u can sell that suoply to me or if u now who can sell that
tks
Espresso Machine wrote:
I own the Fancis francis espresso machine too :-) Really a great coffee machine (strong and essential)
jim
Antoine wrote:
Hi,
Where did you buy the Francis Francis descaling powder?
Thanks
Antoine
Jeff Bowers wrote:
I received a Francis Francis X1 as a gift, but it came with no instruction manual. This is the first X1 model, not the new version. Could someome send me a part of the instructions that explains how to make/brew a cup of espresso. Thankyou so much! email is bowersjeff@hotmail.com
Rich wrote:
Jeff – try the instructional video linked from the bottom of this page on the Illy site.
Rich wrote:
Antoine – I bought the descaling powder from Steamer Trading in Brighton, UK.
Angel wrote:
Hey there,
Stumbled to your site on my surf to find descaler for my Francis. Just wanted to thank you. Am glad I don’t need to get their own! :o)