Thread: Espresso Machine

Looking to get a great machine there are so many any recommendations or ideas or reviews would be great yea I could hit the Internet but this is easier and I trust your guys opinions.

What kind of drinks do you want to prepare? Are you straight espresso person, do you prefer milk based drinks, do you plan on entertaining and need to be able to pull many back to back shots? How much space do you have to hold it, what kind of power do you have available? Do you want to plumb it in and drain it out or a standalone pour over machine?

I write reviews on espresso machines and have a house full. My Espresso kit looks like your razor collection. Don’t forget you will need a good grinder, no whirly blade of death chopper but a real burr mill. Without a top quality grinder, your espresso machine will be useless.

And last but far from least, do you have a budget you would like to work within? Hopefully you won’t get sticker shock.

I would be happy to let you play on some of my kit. I have rotary pump plumbed in, vibe pump pour over, a two group commercial and a couple of old school levers at the ready.

Damnation!
A caffeine junkey..
That's a wonderful amount of stuff plumbed...It must look really cool.
Pm is off to you Dave

Don't ask me all I got is a Moka pot.

Unlike Dave, I was forced into razor/soap/cream/brush/bowl/blade collecting because it's soooo much cheaper than Espresso gear!

The SRP equivalent in the Coffee/Espresso world would be Coffee Geek and I would suggest doing some heavy reading there before making the jump. They have an excellent user review section as well as the more professional reviews, both quicky and long term. It would be nice if you could find a local company that sells/services the local restaurants/coffee shops as well as sell higher end home gear. You can shop on line of course, but if you're like me... you're going to get all fidgety waiting for parts from afar while going without your morning fix!

Personally, there would be no point for me to get expensive gear if I didn't have access to fresh roasted beans from a local roaster who knows what he's doing. There are mail order sources for fresh roasted coffee as well but again, local is much nicer if you can find someone good.

So, a few evenings spent on Coffee Geek, a quick breeze through the Yellow Pages to see what's available locally and a good hard look at your bank account unless funds are not an issue and you should be ready to start narrowing down your search.

Regards

Kaptain "Been there, done that" Zero

Home-Barisa.com would be my recommendation, but i am somewhat biased. CG is good and contains a lot of good information. HB just got a facelift today. The formal reviews are located...

http://www.home-barista.com/reviews.html

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

What kind of drinks do you want to prepare? Are you straight espresso person, do you prefer milk based drinks, do you plan on entertaining and need to be able to pull many back to back shots? How much space do you have to hold it, what kind of power do you have available? Do you want to plumb it in and drain it out or a standalone pour over machine?
Mainly Capps the occasional straight. Yes on the back to backs. Should be good on space. Power 120. Stand alone pour.
I write reviews on espresso machines and have a house full. My Espresso kit looks like your razor collection. Don’t forget you will need a good grinder, no whirly blade of death chopper but a real burr mill. Without a top quality grinder, your espresso machine will be useless.
Recommendations on a grinder?
And last but far from least, do you have a budget you would like to work within? Hopefully you won’t get sticker shock.
Not yet do not now what it will run to get a great one. But value would be better
I would be happy to let you play on some of my kit. I have rotary pump plumbed in, vibe pump pour over, a two group commercial and a couple of old school levers at the ready.

Thank I appreciate any help.

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

Home-Barisa.com would be my recommendation, but i am somewhat biased. CG is good and contains a lot of good information. HB just got a facelift today. The formal reviews are located...

http://www.home-barista.com/reviews.html

Urghl.........

Great link Dave, I need to get excited about coffee again like I need a

Regards

Kaptain "Cash extracted from my wallet in 26 secs at 9 bar pressure" Zero

The Espresso Expenditure Saliva Test:

Go to: http://espressoporn.blogspot.com/

Your espresso kit budget should be directly proportional to the amount of drool now pooling in your keyboard.

Despite the possibility of spending amazing amounts of cash on your home setup it is possible to be quite happy with a fairly simple burr grinder and steam machine if all you want is espresso or americanos.

I have dreams of a silvia grinder and a manual press with an eagle on top but in terms of taste I would say the move from a chopper to a burr grinder was likely the biggest improvement in my home setup.

My cheapo steam machine makes an americano that is just as good as charbucks in flavour.

If you are hoping to win a barista competition and sign your initials with the crema ignore this message in its entirety.

-Bob