There are times in my life when I realize it might just be me. As in, I may be the crazy one, even though I’ve proclaimed my innocence in recent columns past. When some obsession has nothing to do with anyone else, I feel suspicious of my sanity. My latest? Crèma.

Crèma is the natural, brown foam that tops a cup a coffee when made with a good espresso machine. I depend on my home machine to satisfy my craving. However, it’s only been recently I realized my espresso maker wasn’t performing the way it should, or rather the way its older brother used to. This is one of those chicken before the egg conundrums. I had the same model of espresso maker for probably eight to 10 years. It made great crèma, then it broke. I felt like I got a good return on it, so I replaced it with exactly the same model. Quite honestly, I don’t remember if the new one ever made good crèma. My coffee grinder broke around the same time, and I couldn’t remember if I got the new one before or after I replaced the coffee grinder.

I know I purchased the new grinder when our Japanese exchange student came to visit over Christmas about three years ago. I wouldn’t have had the new espresso maker by then, but I can’t recall if I questioned the new grinder’s quality of crèma or just ignored it because it had a good name brand. Good name brand or not, one should always question the quality. Going to a hair salon just because they’re high priced with a fancy name, doesn’t mean you’ll get a good haircut.

I’ve had my latest machine for under a year, I think. I’d have to go back and read old blogs to be sure. Not wanting to spend the time finding another one or reading old blogs, I accepted my less-than-stellar crèma. For health reasons, I’m down to one cup a day anyway, so it didn’t seem worth the effort.

As we all eventually learn, Scarlett O’Hara’s approach “I’ll think about it tomorrow,” catches up with us. My latest machine quit one day. It just wouldn’t pump and I was forced to research espresso machines. I ordered a different model of the same brand, as I relate more to her determination, “As God is my witness, I’ll never not have crèma again.”

There were issues. It determined how much water to add based on whether I wanted one shot or two. I probably could have lived with it, though I like complete control over my water usage, but the crèma was non-existent. Back it went. I ordered a different brand that bragged about its crèma. It was a sloppy thing, not totally pressing the water out of the basket, but I could have dealt with the mess if the crèma had been impressive. It was not. It came with an instruction manual suggesting how to get the best crèma. I ordered a new grinder so I could make the coffee finer.

By then my old machine started randomly working again. I guess the two new machines seemed a threat, so I compared the crèma with the finer grind in both machines and my old one performed better. Back the second new one went. My old one stopped giving me crèma as soon as the new one was boxed up and in my car. Sigh.

I ordered another one today, though not without trepidation. I think UPS and/or Amazon may report me to the Espresso Feds. So as of this writing, I’m still crèma-less in Covington.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. You can read more of her writing on her website livingwithgleigh.com, follow her on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh by Gretchen Leigh”or on Twitter @livewithgleigh. Her column is also available at maplevalleyreporter.com under the Life section.