Why did you buy that machine...?

MoffeeCoff

It's really a tough job to choose the best coffee machine as per your requirements. But in my views, the internet is an excellent place to find a brand new coffee maker.

soloespresso

My Rancilio S24 is red, which matched my grinder, so I bought it.

Paolo5

Around 10 years ago I bought a Delonghi (I think) semi-automatic machine. It was $99 on special from Target. I got it home, read the instructions and tried to make a cup. Disastrous results saw me box it back up and return it for a refund. I knew nothing about grind size, dosing etc....a complete newb. About 7 years ago I went to a top cafe in Queensland and tasted a divine long black. The barista there was very giving of his time and told me that I could achieve the same results as in his cafe with a $200 Breville. I bought one when I returned to NSW. Less than 2 months after that, I bought a lightly-used 2 group semi-automatic Futurmat. I had this baby for nearly 4 years and did a few modifications on it. It was a great workhorse that now resides in Dubai. 3 years ago I bought a La Marzocco Linea which has had various modifications done to it. I still have this one. Solid as a rock. Then the lure of the lever hit. Last year I bought a 1987 Cremina on Ebay. I installed a full gasket and seal upgrade (from Orphan Espresso) and replaced the 110v heater element with a proper one. Then I did the same thing all over again with another Cremina (which has found a new home). I love the Cremina so much that I bought a brand new one last September. I can make (and just did) as good a cup with the 1987 Cremina as I can with any machine, including the 2011 Cremina. Throw a Rossa with a gauge in there...and a Mypressi twist or two and that's me. In a few weeks I hope to order a Londinium 1. I thought that the Futurmat would be the cure for upgradeitis for me. I have learnt to never say never.

Jupiter212

Personally, there is no machine can be the best for every one, a good espresso/coffee cup is combination of right coffee beans, good roaters, good grinder, exact progress and barista experience....

C-man

my S24 just came along at a rock bargain price, I am sure I will upgrade some day, but it does the job for now.

Rider

Jupiter212 wrote:

Personally, there is no machine can be the best for every one, a good espresso/coffee cup is combination of right coffee beans, good roaters, good grinder, exact progress and barista experience....

Exactly. That is why - a: there are so many different machines on the market, from pod to nutjob overkill, and b: the question... We all have roasters or roasted suppliers, good grinders etc etc.... That is SO integral to a good coffee BUT, for SO many people the machine plays a part, myself included. Hence the question...... So Jupiter212, what do you have and why? Rider

Rider

C-man wrote:

my S24 just came along at a rock bargain price, I am sure I will upgrade some day, but it does the job for now.

Craig, Given what you have undertaken with your house I think most of us are amazed that you found time and budget to get yourself an S24. Keep going on the house and when you are done, machine included, I am sure everyone would love to hear why you chose that machine. As I have said in the other thread, dude, hats off, you are doing something amazing. Loving watching the evolution. See you back here when the machine fits that awesome house you are doing. Rider

Brett_H

Rider wrote:

So Jupiter212, what do you have and why? Rider

Exactly.

C-man

Thanks Rider, If not for the coffee station nothing would get done.

Rider wrote:

Craig, Given what you have undertaken with your house I think most of us are amazed that you found time and budget to get yourself an S24. Keep going on the house and when you are done, machine included, I am sure everyone would love to hear why you chose that machine. As I have said in the other thread, dude, hats off, you are doing something amazing. Loving watching the evolution. See you back here when the machine fits that awesome house you are doing. Rider

Rider

C-man wrote:

Thanks Rider, If not for the coffee station nothing would get done.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Can imagine!!

Jupiter212

I have Gaggia Baby Class + Ascaso grinder at home. I'm not a barista so this set is suitable for my domestic use. Ascaso is blade grinder, small, light weight and easy to use. Gaggia Baby Class have metal finish, firm structure, powerful pump so it can make good espresso.

Brett_H

Jupiter212 wrote:

I have Gaggia Baby Class + Ascaso grinder at home. I'm not a barista so this set is suitable for my domestic use. Ascaso is blade grinder, small, light weight and easy to use. Gaggia Baby Class have metal finish, firm structure, powerful pump so it can make good espresso.

Great stuff mate. I would imagine that less than 5% of our membership are Baristi but all of them can no doubt make a great coffee. Your Ascaso, is it a planar or conical? These micro-metric grinders are great and even their domestic models offer a choice of planar or conical (small form factor)!

sasha123

I own a La Marzocco GS/3 Espresso Machine and it costs almost $6,700.00. Where I am a big fan of coffee and you know it is pricey. Even though it's commercial features will balance it's cost.where it have Dual stainless steel boilers, powerful steaming functionality, PID temperature control, volumetric pump and variable hot water temperature regulation to name a few. So my choice will be always this machine.

Kevohere

sasha123 wrote:

So my choice will be always this machine.

So, where is your "shop"?? 😡 Must check if I have a tin of "Spam" in stock for lunch. :head:

Brett_H

Kevohere wrote:

So, where is your "shop"?? 😡 Must check if I have a tin of "Spam" in stock for lunch. :head:

Tinned meat is on special at the moment. Problem is, if I bounced every member who wrote with poor syntax and grammar it'd be pretty lonely here. Also, to avoid being a hypocrite I'd have to bounce myself first. Thanks for the heads-up. You never know... May be legit ...

C-man

sasha123 wrote:

I own a La Marzocco GS/3 Espresso Machine and it costs almost $6,700.00. Where I am a big fan of coffee and you know it is pricey. Even though it's commercial features will balance it's cost.where it have Dual stainless steel boilers, powerful steaming functionality, PID temperature control, volumetric pump and variable hot water temperature regulation to name a few. So my choice will be always this machine.

Sasha- that machine sounds super, could you suggest a good place to get a deal on one? thanks C-

UNM

had kinda forgotten this thread. Regular readers will know that I have been through a few espresso machines. Current weapon of choice is an Arrarex Caravel. Took me a while to decide to invest in this. Partly due to having several machines already. I decided to sell one of my commercial machines and put the money toward something smaller. My real goal was to get a machine that was designed to make espresso coffee, with no compromise, no extra bits and bobs to go wrong. Having something small and user friendly was important too. The sticking point was that I could not actually try before buying, so I had to take a leap of faith and trust others recommendations on this. I figured if it didn't work out, I wouldn't lose much as these machines are quite popular. The fact it is near enough the same age as me is kinda nice - perhaps we can grow old together as it is definitely a keeper. As I use it, I am learning that different beans feel different during the extraction as the flow rate/pressure changes - you can only get that feedback with a manual (non-spring) lever (or are there other machines with that level of feedback and pressure control?). It is a very different experience to a pump driven machine. The caravel is quite literally a hands-on machine and I enjoy that. It does have the limitation that it is a small (15g) filter basket, so only single shots.

C-man

A Manual lever has more appeal to me rather than one with a spring But I would like a bigger full size one that steams milk too.

UNM

C-man wrote:

A Manual lever has more appeal to me rather than one with a spring But I would like a bigger full size one that steams milk too.

The caravel is full size. Just no bigger than it needs to be for the function it performs. Because 58mm baskets are the commercial de facto standard for non lever machines, we might assume that they are in some way superior. I am not convinced. Would be interesting to examine the geometry of different baskets as this is bound to affect extraction. Steaming milk is unimportant to me, but for those that like coffee flavoured milk beverages, the caravel is not suitable. For espresso though, it avoids the inevitable compromise of running at higher than ideal extraction temperature just to produce unnecessary steam. Multi boiler machines seem to be the best option for those wanting ideal extraction and steam temperatures. More to go wrong though and obviously more cost to make. Everyone has different requirements, but too often someone buys inappropriate appliances and ends up regretting it, or selling and upgrading. I think that's a good reason for this thread as it gives people useful background to purchase decisions. Should probably add notes for a couple of my other purchases.

C-man

Agreed, some good points made there

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