I've been thinking about this and have a different take. Apologies in advance as this is an answer to the OP but there is a positional rant in here too.
Tell him to get the most superauto he can find for $1,500.
I've started this thread 4 times and deleted it because I'm not sure yet how to support the rest of my idea but the gist of it is this:
If somebody suddenly finds a budget to get an espresso set up but does not know what to get or actually much about coffee other than they like it a lot and have some money to put into it at the hobby level.. a superauto very well might be the best thing they could buy. They are not going to chase shots, roast, track down specific beans work like lunatics in order to find some tiny hitch in their routine that is causing some minor something to happen. They could get a superauto and just go straight to enjoying their coffee and learning to appreciate what the machine produces.
I go into a lot of peoples houses and most people just have a Mr. coffee. On occasion they have a cone or French press..rarely but sometimes they have a grinder to boot.
Sometimes they have a Kureg or something and on rare occasions they have an espresso set up. I'd say 75% of those are superautos.
An interesting thing I've learned is that if somebody takes one step up from Mr. Coffee they are excited as all get out about their coffee. If all they do is drop Starbucks house blend in a French press they are loving what they get in the cup.
In all of my convo's (and you know I start asking probing questions) I know one guy that roasts on a freshroast and 2 people that order coffee from Intelly and Illy. Everybody else is buying coffee from either Starbucks or from grocery store bins.
Last week I talked to some people that had a superauto they were running decaf Starbucks blend in and they had some non dairy creamer on the counter.... they loved the coffee they were getting. What $1,500 or even $3K set up can we recommend them to pull starbucks decaf and non dairy creamer that they are going to enjoy the cup more from?
I have a customer with a Kureg that brags the thing up so much I almost wanted to buy one myself. I had a cup of Kona from it once.
So....
What good is it to advise somebody to get an intricate set up that requires thousands of hours of work (to learn how to use to the best of it's potential), tie them into something that requires obsessive levels of attention and hands on practice to master...when they can get a one button push machine that will actually give them everything
they want immediately?
I just can't help but wonder how much better the coffee would be to them over a time line with a mediocre superauto vs. years of poor shot building with inappropriate beans...
Of course if the Step dad, Brother in law, Uncle Bill is interested in getting into the deep end and tossing aside sane behavior in order to chase down elusive shots that is a different story. He will be happy being unhappy learning the way. Otherwise I say superauto brings immediate satisfaction.
John F
