as above, preferably powder, maybe frother as well?
<edit for spelling....oops>
Chat Forum
[closed]
BEST ESPRESSO MACHINE?
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Posted 2 years ago #
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Whats your budget? STW folk like Gaggia Classic..
Posted 2 years ago # -
200 sheckles or there abouts
Posted 2 years ago # -
Espresso not expresso.
Posted 2 years ago # -
its espresso, grrr
Posted 2 years ago # -
I've got a Dualit Espressivo, works very well, if a little noisy - about £170.
[/pedant on] it's eSpresso, not eXpresso BTW! [/pedant off]
Posted 2 years ago # -
for the love of god how helpful..the man asked a question, go align your bloody tyres with the valves
look at getting a 2nd hand or refurbished gaggia..
Posted 2 years ago # -
go align your bloody tyres with the valves
Already have thanks.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I've got a gaggia cubika - its agricultural and noisy but works very well.
They're a good manufacturer to deal with - mine went wrong 3 years into owning it. I rang to ask their advice and they said send it back and we'll have a look. It came back 10 days later fully working at no charge.
Posted 2 years ago # -
i got a baby gaggia off their uk site and i'm well pleased with it
Posted 2 years ago # -
Gaggia Classic is excellent, but now got Gaggia Baby Class and is even better. Looks nicer, has better water filling and drip tray and seems to have a bit more useable pressure although both rated the same
Posted 2 years ago # -
Best?? None of the above mentioned machines would I call best. La Marzocco GS3 . Now this... well this maybe.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I bought a Nespresso machine because I'm lazy.
<gets coat>
Posted 2 years ago # -
Just read this thread, and then went and made an espresso with my nespresso.
Am also lazy and will get my coat...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Best?? None of the above mentioned machines would I call best. La Marzocco GS3 . Now this... well this maybe.
if you can find me one for £200 then let me know
Posted 2 years ago # -
If I can find one for 200£ then I keeping it myself :p
Sorry missed completely the second post of the OP about the budget.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted 2 years ago # -
I like them but I find the espresso a bit harsher than even one coming from a low end (200£ budget) espresso maker.
BTW just to answer seriously to the OP, first question you should be asking yourself is do you have a decent grinder (ie no 10£ blade Tesco grinder) but a good proper burr grinder. If you don't up your budget by at least another 100£ and look for something like this Iberital MC2
Then any of the above mentioned machines will give you a decent espresso once you get the hang of them.
Also the grinder is a good investment for any type of coffee you want to make. Properly ground coffee is the second most important thing for making a good cup of coffee. The first of course is freshly roasted whole beans.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I got a La Pavoni Europiccola De Luxe off Ebay for £80 - similar to the Gaggia Classic. Makes fab coffee - andI've just bought a burr grinder off the classifieds today! The La Pav ones seem to go for slightly less as the Gaggia is the big name which everyone knows.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I agree that a grinder and fresh beans makes better coffee. It also means that the extra faff will result in me making fewer cups.
I use packets of ground black lavazza in a gaggia classic most times.
I guess the Nespresso (or any capsule jobbies) might be as good (although at a slightly higher cost per cup
Posted 2 years ago # -
This link tells you a little more about the nespresso option.
Posted 2 years ago # -
This link tells you a little more about the nespresso option.
well kind of....its not right to compare Nespresso machines to POD machines though, a POD is a tea-bag filled with coffee, thus impossible to seal. A Capsule is sealed therefore the possibility to gaurd the flavour & freshness.
It also has nothing to do with Nescafé...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Gaggia Classic +1.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Personally, and also the opinion of a friend of mine who's family business is coffee, Is that unless you've got 500 quid plus for a machine, and get it plumbed in directly you're better off with a stovetop. the pressure on home machines is terrible, and as they're all single boilers by the time the milks ready to go the coffee is getting cold.
I've never found a home espresso machine that produces anything other than weak, watery espresso.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I've never found a home espresso machine that produces anything other than weak, watery espresso.
thats quite a claim! you must've tested a heck of alot of machines then...
Posted 2 years ago # -
as I said my mates family business is coffee, and he sells them, so yeah I have tried quite a few. and before you say I wasn't doing it right, he's a top barista, and he pulled them. every single one was disgustng
Posted 2 years ago # -
Disgusting? Lol! There's as much bs spouted about coffee on here as about bike frames.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'd tend to agree with the comment about the milk - I don't use the frother on mine - I wack the milk in the microwave and then use a Bodum squisher.
Each to his own ref the other comment though
Posted 2 years ago # -
Disgusting? Lol! There's as much bs spouted about coffee on here as about bike frames
Just saying what I think, and you obviously know more than a man who has been involved with coffee daily for all his working life, and his family for 100 or so years! and yeah the coffee produced from those 200 quid machines is pretty rank I'm afraid
Posted 2 years ago # -
I'm sure he knows way more than me. However to suggest that anything other than the very best is disgusting is just silly. No question that coffee made with good beans and a top of the range machine is fantastic and better than you can easily make at home without similar equipment but that's not the same thing. Just as riding a top of the range bike doesn't make every other cheaper bike rubbish.
Posted 2 years ago # -
The temperature and pressure have to be perfect to make a good espresso, home machines do not produce that temp or pressure. also the majority of home machines won't be properly cleaned, and I bet most of them have water sitting in them for days on end, all in all making for a pretty nasty coffee. sorry but its just what I think and have experienced.
I'm not saying anything other than the very best is disgusting, as a top of the range espresso machine is many thousands of pounds and I mentioned a figure of 500 quid...
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think thats a bit silly saying gaggia are crap they are clearly not, I doubt I have the palette to tell between a £200 machine and a £500 machine, in fact I reckon less than 1% of the worlds population could. I use a stove top mainly as it is small, convenient and cheap although there is as much chance of the seals on those degrading as there is on a gaggia. Besides whats a coffee expert putting milk in his cup.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Are you a wine snob too?
I have a wine expert friend (the kind that actually does know about wine - sounds like the wine equivalent of your friend actually) that says any wine costing less than around £30 a bottle is disgusting. I reckon I'm justified in telling him that he's talking b******s... I've been lucky enough to have fantastic coffee in various places around the world and yet somehow still don't find coffee from £200ish machines to be disgusting and strangely neither do most others. Less good but perfectly palateable.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think thats a bit silly saying gaggia are crap they are clearly not
When did I say that?
Personally I use a stove top too, quick and less hassle than a machine...
Posted 2 years ago # -
This is mine
"That's a pretty ****' good coffee." is Pulp Fiction style.
Posted 2 years ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
