Anyone know a thing or two about espresso machines?

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vshah

Lifer
Sep 20, 2003
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24
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all i know is stay away from saeco. my dad has one of the fully automatic saeco's and i've had to take it apart to repair stuff 3 times already. bad seals/leaks/loss of pressure etc.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,426
7,613
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My daughter has a Cheapo Mr Coffee machine, and it's been very reliable. I'm sure big time Espresso/cappuccino drinkers would find fault with it, but it works, and it was about $30. That might not be a bad way to go until your sure you want to deal with the hassle of a maker. They require a fair amount of maintenance considering the amount of liquid they make.

Edit:
This is the machine she has...

http://www.talkaboutcoffee.com/mr-coffee-steam-espresso-and-cappuccino-maker-ecm150.html
 
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scott916

Platinum Member
Mar 2, 2005
2,906
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I usually get beans from Costco or Trader Joes. As for an espresso machine, I just use my Aeropress.
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
28,799
359
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What type of grinder do you have? Is it a burr grinder? Brand?

If you've had espresso before but just never had a home machine, there's things you need to pay attention to.

How fine (versus coarse) the ground beans are
How much you tamp (pack) the grounds into the portafilter

For machines, the biggest thing is temperature and water pressure. As always, it's about how much you want to spend. Machines that are completely proven to have the proper pressure and temp control (with stable boiler heating systems) are not cheap, especially compared to a Mr Coffee drip brewer.
 

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,630
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The one in the OP looks good. You can read a lot of info and reviews at www.coffeegeek.com. Be sure to drive one that's pump-driven (like in the OP) and not steam-driven (like lxskllr posted). With a steam-driven machine, you're just making really strong coffee and not espresso. You might as well save money and use your drip pot with lots of finely ground coffee.

Also, be sure to pair it up with a good conical burr grinder like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Saeco-GT-1-Tit.../dp/B000V64IRO. I have an older model of that, and it's been great for several years. If you use a blade grinder (or even worse, getting your beans pre-ground) with a nice espresso machine, you're doing yourself a disservice. You don't have to buy it right away, but when you do buy one, pick out a good one. I spent more on my grinder than on my espresso machine, but part of that is because I got my espresso machine on ebay and the other part is that I do a lot of french-press coffee and needed a good grinder for that.

Also, don't let one person's problems with one Saeco espresso machine shy you away from the entire brand. That one product might not be good, or she might've just gotten a lemon. I'm sure there's one person out there for every single product in existence that could come on here and post that they had all sorts of problems with it, so stay away from them. That's not a good thing to base decisions on. You should look to professional reviews and many personal examples to get a good feel for a product.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,413
1,570
126
Re: above

it's a burr style grinder (that's the one that doesn't suck balls right? Cuz that's the one I have)
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,597
29,231
146
I know that the fancy pants $1k+ machine we have in the lab is a big steaming turd after 1 year of use.

Could be that it needed more regular care beyond simple cleaning (the post-doc who was unofficially in charge of maintenance vacated nearly 4 months after it was purchased, and no one really took over), but it's suddenly gone through repair after repair.
 
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