Suggest to Me an Espresso Machine

Richard_Dastardly

Christmas is coming up, and I'm tired of buying $40 espresso machines that brew mediocre espresso and start crapping out after a few months to a year. I'm apparently getting neither a Wii nor a sweet ass video card, so I chose a new espresso machine as my pending gift.

I'm looking for something around $200 that brews exceptional espresso and doesn't take 10 minutes to steam milk. Any ideas on what brands and models I should be looking for?

Djeet

My father-in-law has a Saeco that's been robotically making espesso for 10+ years. It's neat, you put in beans and it grinds, measures (you can do double and triple shots), tamps and pulls an espresso for you and dumps the grinds out in a bin in tightly compressed pucks. He doesn't use the frother. I think it tastes like boiled socks, but I think that's cause he's never cleaned it out.

They don't currently sell his model ($800, 10+ yrs ago), and they've forked their product line into consumer and commercial lines. Their consumer line seems a little nicer than a krupps or braun, and buying one that uses manual operation should save you some bucks. The cheapest of these runs $300 (manual).

RUNN1NGMAN

Screw machines--get yourself a Bialetti stove-top percolator. The even have a gift pack that includes a milk frother.

http://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-Express-6-Cup-Stovetop-Percolator/dp/B000CNY6UK

VoodooV

I've never bought anything from these guys except a burr grinder, but these seem pretty high end:

http://www.capresso.com/espresso-machines-espresso-classic-luxe.shtml

mts

we have a krups one that makes good espresso, but i can't vouch for the frother since we don't use it
you should also ask for a good burr grinder, that will make the difference more than the machine

The Cat

Best one I've used was this Sunbeam one, but I don't know if they're sold in the US. It was just one of their $200 low-end ones, but it made a great cup and was really solidly designed. All it really needed was a grinder to be perfect.

Richard_Dastardly

The grinder really makes a big difference? I have a cheap Mr. Coffee grinder, but I sometimes use the one at the store where I buy the beans. I grind it on the espresso setting.

The Cat

Eh, I just like the idea of an all-in-one machine. I've got one at home now, but its not my favourite thing ever. The handle on the... coffee-holding-whatsit... is cracking, and it honestly isn't working very well, even though its only 8 months old. Apart from the grinder, heh. Least I'm not responsible, my flatmate got it off ebay :P

mts

yup. typical grinders can burn the beans, burr grinders don't get as hot and grind better

musanman

I have a Krupps all in one. It brews coffee on the right, espresso on the left. I love it. It is steam powered so it's not ridiculously expensive like some of the ones you can buy. But it makes a damn fine espresso.

I used to work the coffee shop in college, so I'm pretty comfortable tinkering with my recipe. It sounds like you know what you're doing, so I find it hard to believe you couldn't make this thing do what you want.

TheRealBadger

Getting a decent grinder is just as important as getting a decent machine as the consistency of the gind has a huge bearing on how a shot will turn out. For a tight budget I would recommend finding a secondhand Breville Ikon machine and if possible shelling out for a decent grinder - at a pinch the Sunbeam EM0450 will do the trick. Pair these two together with fresh beans and you can get some excellent results.

If you want to go on the cheaper side you might want to look into the Aeropress. I know it looks like a cheesy infomercial but I spend quite a bit of time on the Coffee Snobs forums and some of the posters on there seriously recommend it. On top of that it's portable and easy to clean. Pair it with a reasonable grinder and you'll be set. Not as handy for milk drinks though I guess.