Buying a Coffee machine

Tweaked_Bat_

So at my office there are these 2 really great coffee machines. Full proper commercial ones, that are really powerful/kickass.

Now, I would love to buy one for the home. Obviously something not so large/expensive as the ones at work... But it still has to have the ability to pull a good shot of espresso, and I want the steamer/frother (whatever that thing is called) to be a solid one, with good pressure etc, so I can make decent milk from it. EDIT: I don't really care about the bells and whistles and automatic features... I'm not buying a machine to make me coffee automatically, I want something that focuses on the quality of the steamer/frother/boiler etc.

Anyone got any recommendations for a solid home coffee machine? Like I said, something pretty decent, probably almost a small cafe/restaurant quality one. I am willing to spend a reasonable amount of money for one, as it will be used very frequently - probably around $800-1000 AU - is this too little for what I've described?

Feel free to shoot me some ideas, or recommendations, or experiences with good/bad machines and brands. I'm doing some research myself, but any words of experience and things to look out for would be great!

Also, I'm guessing the boiler in the machines at work is filled automatically from a water source, as I've never seen anyone manually filling the boiler with water... I'm presuming the smaller home brands need to be filled manually? Or are there ones that connect to your piping/plumbing? If so, what is the difficulty in setting this up? I really am not sure if this is how they work, like I said, it's just an assumption. Feel free to correct me in this area.

Cheers.

Vater5B

Remember one thing, the coffee grinder is thrice as important as the espresso machine. To get good espresso you need at least $200 (US, I don't know AUS) for a grinder. However, good machines can be found for pretty cheap if you know where to look.

This article here covers everything pretty well:

http://coffeegeek.com/guides/howtobuyanespressomachine

It's a bit lengthy, but if you're spending that much money I say it's worth a look.

[edit] I have to jet to work right now, but I'll post some recommendations later this evening.

Vater5B

Okay... so according to my calculations, you looking to spend up to $845 US... If that's how much you really want to go for, most people will point you in the direction off the Rancilio Miss Sylvia Machine with a Rocky Grinder:



This is a pretty sweet set-up, and it will cost you about $840 US. The Rancilio Rocky is an excellent grinder for home use because it was designed for light commercial purposes, so it has the small footprint of a lesser grinder with the innards of a nicer commercial grinder. The Sylvia machine on the other hand, is pretty much the cream of the crop in home machines as far as single boiler, non-heat exchanging units go. The problem with this set-up though is it will leave you without things such as a nice tamper, milk pitcher, knockbox, etc... things that people really need to consider when starting a home espresso bar but don't. We'll get to those things later.

First, we'll move to a different machine.... The Gaggia Espresso:




Ugly as sin isn't it? As true as that might be, the Gaggia Espresso seems to be one of the most under-appreciated home espresso machines out there. For $199 (or much less if you catch one on eBay), you can get the same Gaggia quality that you would find in their $400 machines. Really, the interior on all of the models is virtually identical. If you throw that up with the Rocky, you're looking at great home espresso for only $535ish. Not bad... Or you can pair this lower machine up with a "real man's" grinder like the Mazzer Mini:



and spend closer to $675 but enjoy much better espresso.

Vater5B

Then there's always the option of going all out... ah yes, the satisfaction of starting a new hobby with the best toys and your fingertips. And in order to do that, you are going to want a machine with either a dual-boiler or a heat exchanger. What do these do? basically what it sounds like. In dual-boiler machines you have a dedicated boiler for steam and another for brewing, while heat exchangers (or HX machines) allow the best of both worlds.

Really dual boilers are completely unnecessary in my opinion unless you are running a small café, but the amount of time you save by frothing milk and pulling shots at the same time is well worth a little bit more cash in my opinion. For the price, the Expobar Office, I think, is a great deal:



The Office Pulser will cost about $800 on its own. I know it seems like a lot, but if you do get into espresso as a hobby, you will want to upgrade sooner or later anyway, might as well start out right. It's an HX machine, and has a nice build quality.

So I know I kind of just threw information out everywhere, so let me sum it up better.

For a grinder, you should look for these models:

Best Performance - Mazzer Mini - $429 New

Great Performance - Rancilio Rocky - $295 new

Good Performance - Cunill/Astra Tranquilo - $225ish new - I know I didn't mention this one earlier as it doesn't quite have the brand recognition the others do, but for the price it is actually a solid grinder. However, it is pretty ugly and has a mostly plastic construction if memory serves. It is a capable grinder if aesthetics don't bug you, or if you don't mind having to look for parts as much.

For a machine:

Best Performance - Expobar Office Pulser - $799 New

Great Performance - Rancilio Sylvia - $535 new

Also Great Performance - Gaggia Espresso - $199 new

However, keep in mind that home espresso is a big thing that can't really be summarized in just a few posts. I highly recommend heading over to CoffeeGeek.com and spending some time gathering knowledge or even asking for advice. Also remember there are a few things that you need to purchase along with your machine and grinder:

A tamper


A good one. Throw away whatever plastic piece of crap comes with your machine and buy something that has a little heft to it. You need the proper pressure to form a good puck in the portafilter, a using a cheap tamp will only hinder you. Look to spend between $30-60 on one.

A knock-box


That used espresso needs to go somewhere, and knockboxes are convenient ways of getting those grounds out of the portafilter in an efficient manner.

Milk pitcher


Milk pitchers come in several shapes and sizes... If you are just staring out, avoid bell shaped pitchers like the plague. You can grab a nice Update pitcher online for $8-10. I recommend starting out with a 12 oz. pitcher.

Milk thermometer


Scalded milk is bad.



Anyhow, that about covers it.. Well as best as I can without writing a book. Seriously though, read that guide in the first post and check out the following websites for everything you need to know:

http://www.coffeegeek.com
http://www.home-barista.com
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/

Good luck!

Tweaked_Bat_

Thanks a bunch dude!

Really helpful stuff here, thanks again!

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Vater5B knows what he's talking about, as I too have an espresso nut friend who would say similar things.