Fellow Coffee Nerds

[tomO2013]

Nespresso isn’t cutting it for me any more. I’m a coffee-holic. I’m also a little concerned about the waste aspects of my caffeine addiction and the proprietary pods .
A recent stay with a buddy with a dedicated espresso machine has me convinced that it is possible to get cafe quality coffee at home at a quality that I can’t get with my nespresso which truthfully I found too bitter to be honest and had long since made the daily trek to the local coffee house to buy a $6.50 (yes expensive) coffee.

My buddy was using a Breville dual boiler with a fancy grinder but then took me down a rabbit hole looking at rancillio rockets, profitec etc…

So some question for my fellow caffeine addicts who enjoy pulling espresso shots - what’s your take on PID espresso machines?

Is the extra cost of some of those fancier looking Rancillio, Profitec, etc… worth the money over a breville or gaggia?

Are they easier to get parts for? Servicing?

Do you guys have a favourite coffee grinder?

I’m very new to nerding out on this topic and only recently discovered that there is this underground cult of pulling the best espresso shot with lots of gadgets and hardware!

 

[ArgoDuck]

I have used a VBM Domobar Super for many years. It was a huge step up from the modest machines with which i started, achieving flavor and milk steaming quality as good as any cafe.

I‘ve owned several grinders. Many years ago a professional barista advised me to get a Mazzer Mini, which I didn’t do until last year. What an amazing machine: although grind adjustment is a little stiff, grind consistency is outstanding.

There are tools that add a lot to one’s process and quality and consistency of outcome, but first you need to figure out your process or workflow.

Lots of things can and do go wrong in one’s early days, but the journey is well worth it. Rather than the generic results achieved by professional baristas who have to cater to every customer, doing it yourself enables you to ‘dial in’ the brew that suits your taste and that of those in your household and to grow that brew as tastes change.

One warning: visitors can be a problem As it takes several minutes to produce each cup!

 

[Andropov]

I moved away from pods a couple years ago and bought a DeLonghi La Specialista Prestigio. On the flip side, the coffee+milk combination tastes miles better than the pods. A completely different experience. Can't go back from that. On the downside, the build quality of my machine is atrocious. Panel gaps that would make a Tesla owner concerned. Shitty plastic knobs that melted on the summer due to the heat. The milk frothing wand has so little pressure that it takes several attempts to prepare the milk as the auto-turn-off of the wand kicks in before the milk is warm. A gazillion of different pilot lights that randomly light up in the mornings and require long forgotten arcane magic to be fixed. It's like owning a 20kg Tamagotchi.

All things considered, I'm supper happy to own an expresso machine though (and I'll likely buy a new one in the near future), but please don't pick the same brand I did I looked into getting a Rocket Appartamento as my next machine, but the more expensive machines have a longer start up time (for the Rocket Appartamento, that's 20+ minutes) as they use a different heating system, which is a deal breaker for me. So not sure what I'll pick next.

One warning: visitors can be a problem As it takes several minutes to produce each cup!

On my experience, visitors are happy to wait for good coffee

 

[ArgoDuck]

On my experience, visitors are happy to wait for good coffee

Very true… it is me that was unhappy

I did improve my speed a lot when I replaced my aged porta-filter with two bottomless ones and a selection of baskets, enabling me to effectively prepare and make two cups at a time

Wow, what a terrible experience with your DeLonghi . I love my Vibiemme (‘VBM’). Very robust, 12 years to its first service. But really, as a domestic version of their commercial machines it should be!

 

[Buntschwalbe]

I love Coffee from a Portafilter, i have a nice beginner (but more cheap) set with a giada machine and a eureka grinder. But if i had more money i would definitely buy some advanced gear. I like to experiment with different types of beans so you always have a new experience (100% robusta, dark roasts like in Napoli, light roast like a modern espresso is supposed to taste, etc.)

Do you guys have a favourite coffee grinder?

There's a nice grinder from a local brand (i know people who worked for this company), that is definitely worth a try. If money doesn't matter, i would go for the weber workshop.

Same for the machines. I would love to buy a marzocco, nice design and high quality. Only the small water tank is a bit annoying....

 

[Alli]

The best coffee I have ever had is Douwe-Egbert from Netherlands. It is a water brewed process and the smoothest you can find anywhere. The machines are quite expensive, and it doesn’t look like they even sell them in the US anymore. The hotel where we stayed in Amsterdam some years ago had the machine in the lobby, and I was forever getting a cuppa. They also had instant in the room, which was better than most brewed coffee anywhere else.

 

[Yoused]

I used to have an electric Bodum Santos vacuum unit that could brew 12 cups at a time, because I drink a lot. It had a flaw, in that once the carafe was clear, it would cut off and do the draw-down right away, but that led to weak coffee (or using excessive coffee to make it less weak), but I learned that by sticking something under the carafe to tip it just a little caused the run cycle to last 5 minutes or more, which was enough to get a decent brew.

Vacuum-brewed coffee is the best kind of regular coffee. There is nothing quite like it. I do enjoy espresso, but usually straight or "Americano" (iced Americano is wonderful). Putting milk or cream in coffee just seems wrong to me, and sweetener is just right out.

I tried that civet crap coffee (Kope Luwak), but it was not particularly good. A bit bland tasting, really.

 

[Cmaier]

we have a built in miele coffeemaker, which is plumbed. works well, and it’s been reliable for many years. We had another brand built-in before that and it was a disaster. Constantly breaking.