I want to get an espresso maker for my home. Any suggestions?
[quote]koots wrote:
I want to get an espresso maker for my home. Any suggestions?[/quote]
generally speaking under $2,000 and you’re buying a pump that will wear out in a matter of a year or two. depending on usage… a couple of shots every morning and i’d give it a year and a half. 4 or 5 shots a day and it might not last 6 months.
that said you can buy the la pavoni pro for $600-800 and it will last forever. thing is using it is an art that will take a good deal of time to learn…if you really dig espresso it will be worth it because if you can pull a good shot with this machine you know that in this moment you’re about to consume one of the best shots of coffee on earth. bar none. that’s a rush, but i only pull an awesome shot like that about 3 out of ten times…when i first got the machine i made totally shitty coffee with it and thought it sucked. a friend gave me this link which has alot of great info and helped me to understand how to approach the machine and figure out the variables.
lastly, i got my pavoni @ the good will for $25,. likely it was donated by someone who thought it completely sucked, as i did, becasue they didn’t understand how to wield it. honestly i never would’ve spent the money for it new. but now that i have it, and after a few months have learned how to get good coffee out of it, i totally feel the value and would easily shell out the cash if i didn’t have one already.
btw your grind and your dose are at least as important as your machine…probably more so because you can get decent shots out of shitty machines with a good grind and proper dose but not the other way around no matter what machine you have.
http://www.espressoparts.com/category/01espressomachinesgrinder.mazzerespressogrinders/
I think you can get a good espresso machine for under $2000 that won’t break. I like the Andreja Premium. Swivel is right that the grinder is very important… some say the most important. Spend some time over at coffeegeek, homebarrista, and their forums.
It also depends on how much effort you’re willing to put in to making a cup of espresso/cappuccino. If you aren’t too discerning, a pod machine will be OK. You can also get an inexpensive Capresso that you can make “espresso” with just to see if you’ll use it. A superautomatic is more expensive, but takes care of the grinding, tamping, and dispensing for you. It won’t give you the purest cup, but gives you the easiest. They also tend to have more maintenance costs.
If you can give me a price range I can make some good suggestions, I worked at a coffee house for several years so I know good coffee 
Haha to pimp my company I suggest a Bosch Espresso Maker.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
I think you can get a good espresso machine for under $2000 that won’t break. I like the Andreja Premium. Swivel is right that the grinder is very important… some say the most important. Spend some time over at coffeegeek, homebarrista, and their forums.
It also depends on how much effort you’re willing to put in to making a cup of espresso/cappuccino. If you aren’t too discerning, a pod machine will be OK. You can also get an inexpensive Capresso that you can make “espresso” with just to see if you’ll use it. A superautomatic is more expensive, but takes care of the grinding, tamping, and dispensing for you. It won’t give you the purest cup, but gives you the easiest. They also tend to have more maintenance costs.
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I’m going to throw in that cleaning the machine and how well you tamp the grind are very important!
If you use too much pressure you’ll have a very strong and burnt tasting shot of espresso. Too little and it will be weak and watery.
Cleaning the machine regularly also takes out any burnt tasting or left over milk in the frothing spout.
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
If you use too much pressure you’ll have a very strong and burnt tasting shot of espresso. Too little and it will be weak and watery.
Cleaning the machine regularly also takes out any burnt tasting or left over milk in the frothing spout. [/quote]
A good tamper and consistent tamp is very important. I bought a bathroom scale to measure the pressure of my tamp.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
If you use too much pressure you’ll have a very strong and burnt tasting shot of espresso. Too little and it will be weak and watery.
Cleaning the machine regularly also takes out any burnt tasting or left over milk in the frothing spout.
A good tamper and consistent tamp is very important. I bought a bathroom scale to measure the pressure of my tamp.[/quote]
You can also time it takes to make the two shots. 15-20 seconds is in the good range…i think I’ll go back and double check. It’s been a few years since I worked with a manual machine!
[quote]CrewPierce wrote:
You can also time it takes to make the two shots. 15-20 seconds is in the good range…i think I’ll go back and double check. It’s been a few years since I worked with a manual machine![/quote]
That’s about right. I use a stopwatch to time my shots. But there are way too many details to go through on this thread… I definitely think the OP needs to check out forums dedicated to this topic.
I bought a Starbucks Barista in Boston in 1993. It’s a pump machine. I used it to make 2-4 shots a day and steam about a cup of two of milk a day. I think I spent $200. The pump died in 2003. I brought it into the Starbucks in Portsmouth, NH. They exchanged it for another for no cost, no hassle, no problems whatsoever. Machine #2 has been performing flawlessly ever since. I feed it a steady diet of Cafe Pilon espresso coffee.
Cool, thanks to everyone - you guys really know your coffee. I’ll start by checking out some of the coffee forums you all mentioned.
Maybe I’ll check out eBay to see if someone is trying to offload a good machine they don’t know how to use!
I’m surprised no one mentioned this espresso maker ; )
(May Atomic Dog be proud!)
[quote]nephorm wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
If you use too much pressure you’ll have a very strong and burnt tasting shot of espresso. Too little and it will be weak and watery.
Cleaning the machine regularly also takes out any burnt tasting or left over milk in the frothing spout.
A good tamper and consistent tamp is very important. I bought a bathroom scale to measure the pressure of my tamp.[/quote]
Neph, any experience with a naked portafilter? With all this discussion about machines, I took mine apart to clean and descale it. While reassembling the portafilter I broke a little piton that that’s part of the pressure valve. While searching for parts I determined (a) the pressure valve assembly is unnecessary, and (b) a naked portafilter may be useful to bring my skills up a notch.
nephorm’s right and i was totally exaggerating with the $2000 figure. i also tend to take a somewhat un-healthy perfectionist perspective when this topic comes around and most of my normal friends are completely unimpressed when i serve them up a shot of liquid gold.
Holy shit you guys take your cofee seriously.
I just eat it out the tub when I do occasionally have some.
[quote]rsg wrote:
Holy shit you guys take your cofee seriously.
I just eat it out the tub when I do occasionally have some.[/quote]
RSG I know what you mean. These American Bro’s take coffee real seriously. I thought I’d had some good stuff until I visited S France recently and discovered coffee that felt like I’d been doing Meth Amphetamine for a week after the first cup.
I have a lot to learn.
[quote]Loose Tool wrote:
nephorm wrote:
CrewPierce wrote:
If you use too much pressure you’ll have a very strong and burnt tasting shot of espresso. Too little and it will be weak and watery.
Cleaning the machine regularly also takes out any burnt tasting or left over milk in the frothing spout.
A good tamper and consistent tamp is very important. I bought a bathroom scale to measure the pressure of my tamp.
Neph, any experience with a naked portafilter? With all this discussion about machines, I took mine apart to clean and descale it. While reassembling the portafilter I broke a little piton that that’s part of the pressure valve. While searching for parts I determined (a) the pressure valve assembly is unnecessary, and (b) a naked portafilter may be useful to bring my skills up a notch.
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LooseTool naked pf is THE way to go. instant visual feedback and i find it easier to keep a sense of evenness and balance when working the pf if it’s flat. the visual was the key for me though. without it you are working blind…and it’s so fucking deliciously beautiful when it all comes together.
[quote]swivel wrote:
LooseTool naked pf is THE way to go. instant visual feedback and i find it easier to keep a sense of evenness and balance when working the pf if it’s flat. the visual was the key for me though. without it you are working blind…and it’s so fucking deliciously beautiful when it all comes together. [/quote]
So, naked pf, 40 lbs of tamp and 25 seconds of pull. I can’t decide whether it sounds erotic or explosive.
[quote]Loose Tool wrote:
So, naked pf, 40 lbs of tamp and 25 seconds of pull. I can’t decide whether it sounds erotic or explosive.
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well…be careful. i might go 40lb tamp if running around 18g of powder, but 30lbs is generally safer with the more common 12g load. remember powder quality and distribution, not tamp, are the real keys to setting up uniform and balanced expansion required for pressure and emulsion within the chamber. as always, be sure to pre-heat and pre-infuse. 
[quote]Loose Tool wrote:
Neph, any experience with a naked portafilter? With all this discussion about machines, I took mine apart to clean and descale it. While reassembling the portafilter I broke a little piton that that’s part of the pressure valve. While searching for parts I determined (a) the pressure valve assembly is unnecessary, and (b) a naked portafilter may be useful to bring my skills up a notch.
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Sorry, this slipped off the front page before I noticed there were new posts. I use a naked portafilter exclusively. The only reason I would ever NOT use one if I were very crunched for time and wanted to serve two singles. The only caveat is that if you have any channeling on the side of your puck, the naked portafilter has a tendency to spray a thin stream.
As swivel pointed out, dosing and distribution is key… I always make sure to stir my grinds before dosing into the portafilter to break up static clumps, distribute it as best I can from the cup, and then use my finger to make the grind concave, evenly distributed, and with no visible gaps on the side of the portafilter.