La Pavoni

Check the Jura site. They often have great deals on their factory refurbished machines

quote:

Can one be had for ~$250 or so?

I know nothing of coffee beyond the basics so need a little help here.

I've used a Cuisinart eM-100 for ten years, daily, and it still works like new. I'm not a coffee or espresso expert but I'm satisfied with the crema and flavor it provides. It has a steam wand for frothing milk. Amazon has it for $199. If I remember correctly I got mine from Abes of Maine. I use a Saeco burr grinder set to the finest grind setting.

I spent a bit of time this morning looking into the De'Longhi Dedica. Looks ok, and doesn't blow the OP's budget by much, but, from the reviews I've read of both, I'd be inclined to up my game and go with the Breville Bambino Plus. Looks like a much more capable machine in about the same footprint.

In fact: I like what I've read about the Bambino Plus so much, I think I may ask for that for Christmas (We'll find the counter space somehow.)

You'll need to acquire a separate, capable grinder for either. See also: Search for new electric coffee grinder for current discussion on grinders.

The wife and I splurged after Christmas and picked this up with their 20% discount. I had been living with a Keurig for way too long. Real happy with it so far. Not having any experience with tamping made this decision easy. Even though I already had a grinder. We use it at least 4 times a day working from home during the lock down. No regrets yet.

De'Longhi La Specialista Espresso Machine

There are some good YT reviews of it online.

P.S. The built in grinder and tamper makes it very easy. We set the Keurig on the curb.
-TVz

From my knothole, I would advise to avoid "pump" machines that usually advertise being able to provide 15BAR pressure for extraction.

In my past I went through a number of these things which rarely provided barista quality espresso and failed too quickly. I finally popped for a pro-sumer unit with boiler and E61 portafilter group. Yes more costly but hugely more capable and durable! I've never looked back.

I'd also eschew the all in one jobs. Get a separate grinder and learn how to tamp. Nothing worse than a function dying in one of these supposedly labor saving appliances.

Another recommendation to spend time on CoffeeGeek. Great site!

Updating this thread, rather than start a new one.

Following Hedgelj's plea for Coffee maker help, I was moved to acquire a Breville the Bambino Plus.

I've got a ways to go in nailing-down being able to consistently pull good shots, but I'm getting closer. I'm still using the pressurized portafilter basket, because, it turns out, our Capresso Infinity burr grinder isn't up to the task of properly creating an espresso grind.

The machine is very compact and easy to use. Even with the pressurized portafilter it makes a nice espresso when I get my part right. The milk frother really rocks. I've made several espressos (double shots) and a couple lattes. The shot I pulled last night and the one I did just a little while ago were quite nice, I thought.

The only major downside so far is this: It's got an internal pressure-release valve that opens at the end of shots. The excess water is supposed to end up in the tray, but some of it inevitably escapes. Breville has already replaced the machine once, and the new machine does the same thing. Other Bambino Plus users have experienced the same problem--also with replacement machines, so it's a design flaw. Even more oddly: Sometimes that water is brownish. This wouldn't be much a problem, except some of the water will escape from the underside of the tray onto your counter. So you have to carefully check, and possibly mop up, after each use.

I have my theories as to why this happens, and suspect it won't happen with a standard, non-pressurized portafilter basket. I won't know until I upgrade my grinder. I won't be upgrading the grinder until I know I'm going to stick with the espresso thing. In the meantime: It's a minor annoyance with which I can live. (My only other options are give up on espresso or trade up to a more expensive machine for which we don't have the counter space.)

I can say two things with certainty: The small Breville knock box accompanies the Bambino Plus very nicely, as it stores neatly on the drip tray between uses. And a coffee distributor/tamper tool is a terrific investment.

I have a Flair 58 manual machine coming in June. I currently brew in a number of different ways but all essentially drip and or immersion. The Flair will be my first espresso machine. https://flairespresso.com/flair-58-first-look/

quote:

Originally posted by JohnCourage:
I have a Flair 58 manual machine coming in June.

Make sure to post back to the thread to let us know how it works out.

I may go manual for a grinder. Yesterday I cadged some espresso-ground coffee from a neighbor and tried my Bambino with the non-pressurized portafilter basket. No pressure release at the end of the pull and no water under the tray, so my hypothesis was correct.

Plus, despite that coffee having been ground God-knows-how-long-ago (he buys it ground), it was a tastier shot than any I've produced with the pressurized basket. So I've got to find myself an adequate espresso grinder. Problem is: All the electric ones I've found are too big.

I wish somebody made something the size of the Capresso Infinity or so, but that did an adequate espresso grind.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by JohnCourage:
I have a Flair 58 manual machine coming in June.

Make sure to post back to the thread to let us know how it works out.

I may go manual for a grinder. Yesterday I cadged some espresso-ground coffee from a neighbor and tried my Bambino with the non-pressurized portafilter basket. No pressure release at the end of the pull and no water under the tray, so my hypothesis was correct.

Plus, despite that coffee having been ground God-knows-how-long-ago (he buys it ground), it was a tastier shot than any I've produced with the pressurized basket. So I've got to find myself an adequate espresso grinder. Problem is: All the electric ones I've found are too big.

I wish somebody made something the size of the Capresso Infinity or so, but that did an adequate espresso grind.

The Rancilio Rocky is a very good grinder that is reported to do an excellent espresso grind (I have a Rocky, but don't make espresso).

It is a very compact unit given its quality level (and REALLY heavy for its size). It has about the same footprint as the Capresso Infinity but is about 3-4" taller. The Capresso Infinity weighs 3 pounds. The Rancilio Rocky weighs 15 pounds!

It is pretty much a commercial machine downsized for home use.

It comes in both a doser version (where it grinds into a hopper and the hopper has a lever that dumps the appropriate amount of ground coffee into a portafilter) and a doserless version (which just shoots the ground coffee out of a little spout on the front of the machine - there's a removable rack that will hold a portafilter if you want to grind directly into one).

I don't think doser machines make sense outside of a coffee shop. They make the machine bigger and more complex and you end up with extra coffee sitting in the doser going stale.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnCourage:
I have a Flair 58 manual machine coming in June. I currently brew in a number of different ways but all essentially drip and or immersion. The Flair will be my first espresso machine. https://flairespresso.com/flair-58-first-look/

You must be more energetic than I am (and good on you for that). I found this Flair instructional video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/yVzjaWtOZ9k

Looks like a lot of work to me! As a non-energetic guy, I’ll stick with my 19 bar Nespresso Pixie. So easy to get a ristretto, espresso, or lungo.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
The Rancilio Rocky is a very good grinder that is reported to do an excellent espresso grind ...

It is, but, for the way we use a grinder the problems with the Rocky are:

• It's very heavy
  
• There's no single-dose hopper available
  
• It leaves a lot of grind in the out-feed
  
• It's a PITA to change grind settings
  
• It has no timer
  

It's a great grinder for somebody that just wants to load a massive hopper up with one bean; grind at a particular setting; knows just how long to press the grind button; and makes so much coffee, so frequently, the grounds stuck in the out-feed don't go overly stale.

For us, it would be very inconvenient.

Sounds like you need to pony up for this bad boy:

https://weberworkshops.com/products/key-grinder

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
Sounds like you need to pony up for this bad boy:

https://weberworkshops.com/products/key-grinder

Hahaha! I don't think so, Tim

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
Sounds like you need to pony up for this bad boy:

https://weberworkshops.com/products/key-grinder

Hahaha! I don't think so, Tim

Don’t look at the Jura site. That’s cheap. (Open admission, I have a Jura Giga 6 I bought refurbished)

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
Sounds like you need to pony up for this bad boy:

https://weberworkshops.com/products/key-grinder

Hahaha! I don't think so, Tim

Don’t look at the Jura site. That’s cheap. (Open admission, I have a Jura Giga 6 I bought refurbished)

Look again, the linked product is a high-end completely-un-automatic straight-through no-bean-hopper grinder, not an espresso machine.

And at that, it's Weber's cheaper electric grinder. Their flagship (also a completely-un-automatic straight-through no-bean-hopper grinder, but big enough to definitely not fit ensigmatic's size requirement, even as a joke) is $3500.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:
Look again, the linked product is a high-end completely-un-automatic straight-through no-bean-hopper grinder, ...

I think it's a powered adaptation of one of their manual grinders?

Yes, the hand grinder it is based on is also available for the low, low price of $1500.

The Flair58 seems interesting but wonder how different it would be from a Pixie and how much I would really use it (I'm not so much an aficionado that freeze, grind, tap, boil and press is negligible effort; the Pixie pop-n-go is attractive if it the espresso is good enough).

I looked at Pixie years ago (surprised the machines aren't cheaper now). But I see that the machines are still well reviewed and they offer many more coffee pod choices.

Considering pulling the trigger on a Pixie. Just not sure yet still. It's a big chunk of change.....

I need you guys to stop making me buy stuff.

I'm about to go deeper into the rabbit hole. Found our grinder, an all-metal Capresso Infinity, really isn't capable of producing an espresso grind. Found out, by cadging some pre-ground espresso from a neighbor, there's a big difference in the quality of a shot between the pressurized and non-pressurized portafilter basket.

So: About to upgrade the grinder to a Baratza Vario