Espresso Machines

20stone

caliking said:

CTMike said:

Bought this for the wife a few months back when BB&B sent me a 20% coupon - specifically said it couldn’t be used on Breville but they took it anyhow. She is very happy with the lattes I make her. Thermopen comes in handy when heating/frothing milk. 

I don’t drink coffee - can’t stand the taste, but love the smell. Being a Chief in the Navy, this caused me to be seen as “weird.” I use it to heat/froth milk to make Chai lattes for myself.

I've been eyeing that one for some time. Caliqueen is not quite on board,  as she likes the convenience of the superautomatic we have. And we don't have the counter space for both. 

But I'm gonna  play the birthday card, or the Chrismahannukwanzawali card this year, and it'll show up at the door one day 

As far as I can tell, there is only one thing you can't get her to sign off on.

GrateEggspectations

20stone said:

caliking said:

CTMike said:

Bought this for the wife a few months back when BB&B sent me a 20% coupon - specifically said it couldn’t be used on Breville but they took it anyhow. She is very happy with the lattes I make her. Thermopen comes in handy when heating/frothing milk. 

I don’t drink coffee - can’t stand the taste, but love the smell. Being a Chief in the Navy, this caused me to be seen as “weird.” I use it to heat/froth milk to make Chai lattes for myself.

I've been eyeing that one for some time. Caliqueen is not quite on board,  as she likes the convenience of the superautomatic we have. And we don't have the counter space for both. 

But I'm gonna  play the birthday card, or the Chrismahannukwanzawali card this year, and it'll show up at the door one day 

As far as I can tell, there is only one thing you can't get her to sign off on.

The chugging of bourbon slushies?

caliking

GrateEggspectations said:

20stone said:

caliking said:

CTMike said:

Bought this for the wife a few months back when BB&B sent me a 20% coupon - specifically said it couldn’t be used on Breville but they took it anyhow. She is very happy with the lattes I make her. Thermopen comes in handy when heating/frothing milk. 

I don’t drink coffee - can’t stand the taste, but love the smell. Being a Chief in the Navy, this caused me to be seen as “weird.” I use it to heat/froth milk to make Chai lattes for myself.

I've been eyeing that one for some time. Caliqueen is not quite on board,  as she likes the convenience of the superautomatic we have. And we don't have the counter space for both. 

But I'm gonna  play the birthday card, or the Chrismahannukwanzawali card this year, and it'll show up at the door one day 

As far as I can tell, there is only one thing you can't get her to sign off on.

The chugging of bourbon slushies?

@20stone - that issue was deftly circumvented by purchasing an InstantPot. Used most often for making... rice!!

@GrateEggspectations - weirdly enough, I don’t think she knows about that escapade. 

northGAcock

caliking said:

GrateEggspectations said:

20stone said:

caliking said:

CTMike said:

Bought this for the wife a few months back when BB&B sent me a 20% coupon - specifically said it couldn’t be used on Breville but they took it anyhow. She is very happy with the lattes I make her. Thermopen comes in handy when heating/frothing milk. 

I don’t drink coffee - can’t stand the taste, but love the smell. Being a Chief in the Navy, this caused me to be seen as “weird.” I use it to heat/froth milk to make Chai lattes for myself.

I've been eyeing that one for some time. Caliqueen is not quite on board,  as she likes the convenience of the superautomatic we have. And we don't have the counter space for both. 

But I'm gonna  play the birthday card, or the Chrismahannukwanzawali card this year, and it'll show up at the door one day 

As far as I can tell, there is only one thing you can't get her to sign off on.

The chugging of bourbon 

@GrateEggspectations - weirdly enough, I don’t think she knows about that escapade. 

What happens around a raging campfire.....stays at said fire. 

20stone

As you climb down the rabbit hole and watch videos, etc, you’ll realize that you want a scale to measure both your grounds and your shot. 

I like this one - https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/brewista-smart-scale-ii

It has a mode where it autotares your cup, and starts a timer when it senses the weight of the shot starting. As you try to adjust your grind/tamp to get a 27 second shot (or whatever), it’s a useful tool. 

KiterTodd

20stone said:

As you climb down the rabbit hole and watch videos, etc, you’ll realize that you want a scale to measure both your grounds and your shot. 

I like this one...

It has a mode where it autotares your cup, and starts a timer when it senses the weight of the shot starting. As you try to adjust your grind/tamp to get a 27 second shot (or whatever), it’s a useful tool.

Damn, I hope I don't get there. I have the Breville others have posted.  90% of the time I make a great latte.  Sometimes I don't get the tamp right, or I switched to a new bean that throws things off.  But it still takes me 5 minutes, start to finish, to get a cup of joe to my mouth hole in the morning. I don't need any more complexity.

GrateEggspectations

Gotta say, you guys are a bunch of A-holes. All this discussion and these photos of various espresso machines and your setups has now led me to start looking around. 

Saw a nice, lightly used Rocket Evoluzione V2 and grinder about a 4.5hr drive from here and I must say I am tempted.

platypusrex

GrateEggspectations said:

Gotta say, you guys are a bunch of A-holes. All this discussion and these photos of various espresso machines and your setups has now led me to start looking around. 

Saw a nice, lightly used Rocket Evoluzione V2 and grinder about a 4.5hr drive from here and I must say I am tempted.

If the shoe fits...

Sipping what I hope will be my least Nespresso right now, my Gaggia Classic Pro and Rancilio grinder arrive today from Whole latte love. Go for it!

SonVolt

I highly recommend a coffee bean subscription with a well-known roaster once you get up and going. The Lavazza stuff is "good" when you're starting out, but as your tastes develop you'll start wanting to experiment with fresher, higher-quality beans.  Counter Culture out of North Carolina has a great subscription program with flat-rate shipping and is relatively affordable. Their FORTY-SIX Espresso blend is my goto if you like traditional espresso flavor profiles. 

GrateEggspectations

Does anyone here roast their own beans? And if so, have they done it on the Egg? I know I have previously seen posts about roasting beans on the Egg, but I forget who it was. When I looked into buying beans for roasting, the ones I could find were more expensive than the roasted variety. 

caliking

GrateEggspectations said:

Gotta say, you guys are a bunch of A-holes. All this discussion and these photos of various espresso machines and your setups has now led me to start looking around. 

Saw a nice, lightly used Rocket Evoluzione V2 and grinder about a 4.5hr drive from here and I must say I am tempted.

That's what this place is all about. It's like a fvckin' minefield with all the rabbitholes around...

2HB

I am a big fan of espresso. Had several machines over the past 20 years, and without question, the best machine I have owned is the Cafelat Robot. It's a manual machine, so you need to get a separate steaming device if you want to steam milk (I got a Bellman stovetop steamer and it is excellent). Together they are almost impossible to beat at any price, and since they are small and can both be easily lifted and put away into a cupboard, the spousal acceptance factor is through the roof. Here is the Robot in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vLa48j6yk

GrateEggspectations

2HB said:

I am a big fan of espresso. Had several machines over the past 20 years, and without question, the best machine I have owned is the Cafelat Robot. It's a manual machine, so you need to get a separate steaming device if you want to steam milk (I got a Bellman stovetop steamer and it is excellent). Together they are almost impossible to beat at any price, and since they are small and can both be easily lifted and put away into a cupboard, the spousal acceptance factor is through the roof. Here is the Robot in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vLa48j6yk

Interesting. Only $684 CAD for this combo. Will have to look into these. 

caliking

GrateEggspectations said:

Does anyone here roast their own beans? And if so, have they done it on the Egg? I know I have previously seen posts about roasting beans on the Egg, but I forget who it was. When I looked into buying beans for roasting, the ones I could find were more expensive than the roasted variety. 

I very briefly dipped my toes into the bean roasting waters. Sweetmarias.com is a popular starting point for folks. Price of entry was very reasonable. Got a starter pack of a few pounds of different kinds of beans, and an air popper to get going.

tried it a few times, and it was pretty satisfying, but it wasn't another hobby/rabbithole that I needed, so I didn't pursue it much. I'm sure you can roast beans on the egg, but likely need some kind of rotary basket device to roast them evenly. 

I still have some packs of green beans that I've been meaning to roast. Meanwhile, we're enjoying much better popcorn because of the air popper

GrateEggspectations

@caliking

If ever you feel like rekindling that fire, I’d love to see a post on bean roasting. 😊

Mattman3969

Just got my Brera. Initial thoughts are WOW. Incredible difference from my Lavazza machine.  Thanks for the advice @The Cen-Tex Smoker.  

What are some of the beans you guys use? My first order was Lavazza Super Crema because it was what I was getting in the pods.  It’s better of course but looking to explore.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Mattman3969 said:

Just got my Brera. Initial thoughts are WOW. Incredible difference from my Lavazza machine.  Thanks for the advice @The Cen-Tex Smoker.  

What are some of the beans you guys use? My first order was Lavazza Super Crema because it was what I was getting in the pods.  It’s better of course but looking to explore.  

Awesome! Glad you like it. We use a local espresso roast that we love (Ruta Maya). Coffee and espresso are such a personal taste I recommend buying small amounts of 3-4, tweak the settings a little with each one and see what you like. Once we hit on Ruta Maya we were done. Haven’t run a shot of anything else through there since. The flavors from fresh beans can be wildly different from each other so you are just going to have to play around until you find “the one”. 

plumbfir01

rocket r58 double boiler, mahlkonig ek43s. I can run about 10 shots and milk drinks before I have to wait for reheat Temps. I profile my espresso shots daily for the single origin beans I have. I can't do most coffee shops and def not Starbucks. 

GrateEggspectations

@plumbfir01

Love that setup. After looking at units extensively, I feel like the Rockets are the ones that I want!

SonVolt

plumbfir01 said:

rocket r58 double boiler, mahlkonig ek43s. I can run about 10 shots and milk drinks before I have to wait for reheat Temps. I profile my espresso shots daily for the single origin beans I have. I can't do most coffee shops and def not Starbucks. 

You win on the grinder alone. 

SonVolt

GrateEggspectations said:

@plumbfir01

Love that setup. After looking at units extensively, I feel like the Rockets are the ones that I want!

Rockets are great, definitely one of the most attractive machines on the market. Also you may want to check into ECM/Profitec range. I liked that they offered their boilers in stainless steel instead of copper, had larger capacity reservoirs and drip trays (less filling & dumping) and have a built-in dual PID controller (the integrated shot timer was mandatory for me). I believe with the Rocket it's a dongle you have to attach separately.  Any comparison of E61 machines in this price range is picking nits tho, so you can't go wrong with any of them!

Here's great comparison of what I feel are the 2 best double-boilers on the market. 

https://www.home-barista.com/advice/rocket-r58-v2-vs-profitec-pro-700-t42274.html

Whole Latte Love's comparisons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utMkSJD8WcI&feature=emb_title

plumbfir01

Spend the money on a higher quality grinder. It's way more important then the machine. I'm invested in a local coffee company here in Colorado that has done top 10 roasters in the US as well as barista competitions. I have learned alot from them in the last 4 years in my coffee endeavors. I will get a la marzocca linea mini next to match my ek43 grinder setup. I considered the profetic and a could others but I'm happy with the rockets. Check out home-barista forum  for some good info also!

caliking

I will just say now...that I hate all y'all.

Resisted the coffee rabbithole for a good while, but have somewhat succumbed, as of today.

Mattman3969

And you’re welcome @caliking   I’m sure I owe you a few dollars spent.  Lol 

GrateEggspectations

caliking said:

I will just say now...that I hate all y'all.

Resisted the coffee rabbithole for a good while, but have somewhat succumbed, as of today.

Sounds like we’re very much on the same page. 

Tell you what.... shall we race to a dual-boiler? 😉

caliking

Mattman3969 said:

And you’re welcome @caliking   I’m sure I owe you a few dollars spent.  Lol 

Thanks for nothing!

caliking

GrateEggspectations said:

caliking said:

I will just say now...that I hate all y'all.

Resisted the coffee rabbithole for a good while, but have somewhat succumbed, as of today.

Sounds like we’re very much on the same page. 

Tell you what.... shall we race to a dual-boiler? 😉

Oh man. I think it was Tuesday that I talked myself back from the edge of the dual boiler machine cliff. Didn't think my marriage would survive it. 

Doesn't mean I won't end up with one though

2HB

This is a golden age for espresso machines. Most of the semi-automatic machines out there are excellent. One thing to consider is the water that you will be running through the machine. Tap water will deposit scale in any machine, and the e61 group heads (including many other internal parts, such as the boilers and restrictor valves) of many semi-autos have chromed parts. Running descaler through these machines will strip the chrome, which will break off in tiny bits and make a huge mess. Scale build-up is the mortal enemy of any espresso machine. You can't use reverse osmosis or distilled water because the espresso will be under-extracted (sour, salty, and unpleasant), so you have to use water that has been treated to have enough minerals to properly extract the espresso and not cause scale in the machine. 

Start with a good grinder. Something like a Baratza Vario is an excellent inexpensive option.

BlueRidgeSmokers

If you have hard water (like me - 180-200 ppm TDS), you can use bottled drinking water, which all seems to be adjusted to around 30ppm TDS, or, like I do, I combine ZeroWater (RO) water with carbon-filtered tap water to ~50ppm TDS, which is less expensive than either.

SonVolt

I make my own water by remineralizing gallon jugs of distilled water with Epsom Salt and Baking Soda. Fairly simple, cheap and I have complete control over hardness with theoretically no scale.