Right hope you all can help… I have a £300 budget for a coffee machine…

What is the best bang for my buck?

Cuisinart.

de Longhi. £50. Lasts 2 years. £300 will see you sorted for 12 years, which is longer than my mate’s £500 Kitchen Aid lasted.

However, I’ve given up with pumps and now have a Pavoni, which should last forever but blows your budget.

Nespresso, £100 or so for the machine then the £200 will get you a very big supply of coffee.

Plus the added panache of being like George Clooney 😉

I looked at those nespresso machines today – i’d need a 2nd mortgage for the capsule’s…or sell one of the kids

Gaggia Classic

Edit: The change will get you most of the way to an Iberital MC2 grinder too

It’s worth spending more on the grinder than on the maker TBH.

Scrape together another £100 and get a Gaggia Titanium – full bean to cup jobbie, and a bit of a bargain for the price.

I looked at those nespresso machines today – i’d need a 2nd mortgage for the capsule’s…or sell one of the kids

i think coffeeduck do a re-usable pod for the Nespresso. I’m thinking about getting one.

My wife loves her Nespresso coffee. The machine is a DeLonghi something.

I was given a £250 DeLonghi Nespresso that someone had bought and then never used.

The capsules don’t seem so badly priced now 😀

I may give the re-usables a go though….

The capsules don’t seem so badly priced now

am I looking in the wrong place then..£5 > £7.50 for 10 capsules seems expensive to me

Not sure about the Coffeeduck – reviews seem a bit mixed

nice edit. Was confused, now just a little shocked

Nespresso capsules should be no more than 33p max on line (on the Nespresso site that is)

NOT a bean to cup. The tamp is never hard enough.

NOT capsules etc – you want to experiment with the beans

If you have £300 spend 150 on the grinder, 75 on the machine, 20 on the tamper, 20 on a jug, 10 on a themometer. Save the other 25.

cheap but good coffee maker

I’ve always been wary of ‘cartridge’ systems. I figure, if the supplier stops making them, or goes bust, you’re knackered.

Eh? Nespresso Capsules are 28p or 31p each. Thats max 62p for my double cappacino vs £2.75 at Starbucks.

Granted you have to buy the machine. You can get the 200 capsule multipack for £56 so average 28p

Nespresso often launch special editions through the year, loved the Almon coffee last Christmas….

Finally you can bag (supplied free) and send (free collection) the used pods for recycling, so much greener than they used to be.

If you can find a second hand one you can’t go wrong with a Rancilio Silvia.

http://www.italy-outlet.com/en-gbp/i/product667562.html

It’s a real coffee machine so you’ll need to do a bit of learning to work it but they are bomb proof and you can get spares for them. Should keep you going for years.

Oh, and don’t forget you’ll need a real grinder to go with it!

Try lurking on the coffee forums, that’s where I got mine.

At 6.30am a 30p cup of Nespresso is Ok, minimal faff, pretty good coffee.

OK – so not such good deals at Amazon then 😕

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nespresso-Arpeggio-Capsules-Machines-capsules/dp/B004P7RGMY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1320437663&sr=8-5

I’ll look closer at possibly owning one then

Edit – I just scrolled down the page to the reviews 😳

Eh? Nespresso Capsules are 28p or 31p each. Thats max 62p for my double cappacino vs £2.75 at Starbucks.

v’s about 27p for a double shot of coffee with beans from monmouth/hasbean/square mile etc.

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Cuisinart_Espresso_Coffee_Maker.html

+

http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/Cuisinart_Coffee_Burr_Mill.html

+

http://www.animalcoffee.com/products.php?cat=14

(I can’t claim to have tried the combination!)

Thanks for all the input…

Flapjack which Pavoni do you have??

Had a de longhi iconica in daily use for well over a year, no problems at all. They retail at 160, I found them 50% off at currys. Great kit IME, especially if you get one for 80 quid.

EDIT – it does have a basket for capsules if you are that way inclined..

Europiccalo pro

Love it. Totally unpractical and tempramental, but what style. And wonderful coffee. Awesome steamer too.

Although the £75 de Longhi was nearly as good for flavour (15 bar pump so what can go wrong), but the steamer was pants.

I’m proper addicted to my Mocka pot – the selfish just-the-one double espresso size; just enough for me as I’m the only coffee drinker in the house.

For me the cost is one thing, but with a smallish kitchen the footprint of a machine and a grinder (I just use Lavazza Oro in the Mocka- not sure it makes much difference with “just” a mocka using your own grinder) is as much an issue.

Would I really notice the difference?

It would be a pavoni if I was to change I think.

I love what you get out of a Moka, but it isn’t the same as what you get out of a high pressure system.

IMO it would be worth having a (burr) grinder even with a moka, because it frees you up to use better coffees, and Mokas do make a drink which allows the subtleties to come through.

I give you the Rolls Royce of home Espresso makers: The Rancilio Silvia. Save up another £150 for the grinder.

Until then, buy freshly ground on line from one of the specialists or even your local Whittards. They grind ‘on demand’ and you can buy small enough quants for it not to go stale and you can fiddle with the grind. Not as nice as freshly ground each time but will get you going.

Gaggia? Pods? Puleeeaze… 🙂

Decided to get a pavoni and spend a bit extra!

Fell in love with how cool it looks to!

You can’t go wrong – simple design, parts available, but you need to learn how to use it – plenty of advice on internet. Had mine for 15 years, one small problem in all that time. (They are a pretty safe 2nd hand buy as well I would have thought as not much to go wrong)

Gaggia Classic and a burr grinder as below.

Dont go for a pod thing they are…………. not the best coffee or offer as has been said future selection of specific beans.

Classic at £229!!!!

Grinder £99.00

amazing happy donkey beans £9.00 (order two bags)

Gaggia bottomless filter (a must) £27.00)

Good heavy duty tamper £13.90

shot glass to measure the extraction £2.88

Tamper mat £6.59

All in for £389.00, its all you will ever need for coffee heaven

silvia.. you wont regret the extra spend. hasbean are about the most reliable supplier in the UK

get a decent hand grinder – they do one for about 35 quid that will grind finely enough for espresso

i’ve used the “cheap but good coffee maker” delohngi coffee maker for about 9 months and almost every time i used it there was a slight drop off in the quality of the espresso made, until finally it just was not worth the hassle of using/cleaning it.

Dont go cheap. you get what you pay for when it comes to coffee makers.

Well I gave in to temptation today and bought a Nespresso machine with the milk doodad. Quite an intelligently designed piece of kit (Pixie). The milk brother is all done with magnetised whisker and produces a really good froth in skimmed (for Mr AdamW’s cappuccinos) and John Lewis threw in another 7 pods for free.

Now I have to make sure I don’t drink so much coffee today that I end up awake all night! 😀

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerobie-AeroPress-80R08-Coffee-Maker/dp/B000GXZ2GS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320509641&sr=8-1

So AdamW – how’s the Nespresso machine, recommended/pleased with it?
I guess BIGMAN you don’t have the pavoni yet to report back?

If you are thinking of buying from Cafe Italia just beware they are not in the UK as their website suggests the stuff is shipped from Valencia Italy having said that Both my Isomac Tea and Mhalkonig Pro M came from them without any difficulty don’t know what will happen if I need the warranty.

If you want espresso then Gaggia classic is nice and will leave you some change. Rancilio Silvia is similar, but better. Albeit a little more than your budget. BUT unless you have a good burr grinder already you need to have some cash set aside for one. This grinder would be superb. But one of these would be fine. If you’re not fussed about espresso 😕 then you could try a chemex, kalita or a Cona and get delicious coffee* for less cash.

*subject to freshness of beans and immediacy of grinding.

capsules=stale coffee