Espresso Machines

[mrgreenbean]

In your opinion and experience what do you consider to be the Cadillac espresso machine for the home user? All opinions welcome. Im sure most everyone has an answer for this. Give it your best shot. Just asking because some day I will purchase a good one and want to hear from the in-house experts here.

[milowebailey]

Today... either a Speedster or Synesso single group.... unless you want a lever.

[mrgreenbean]

And if you wanted lever action, what would it be?

[milowebailey]

either a Bosco or a Kees Van Der Westen AKA a Mirage

[mrgreenbean]

And what is the approximate market price for these machines if known?

[Ascholten]

If you have to ask.......   

I would say probably close to 2k or more but Ill let one of the experts answer that one.

Aaron

[milowebailey]

If you have to ask.......   

I would say probably close to 2k or more but Ill let one of the experts answer that one.

Aaron

Quadruple that price.... and you'll be closer

[John F]

Probably the Tin Foil Bamboo but because it's almost imposible to get I'll agree with Milo and go with the Kees.   

[mrgreenbean]

The Speester is a wild looking device, but who distributes here in the U.S?

[mrgreenbean]

After looking at these I should restate the question, what is the best home unit available that has U.S. distribution?

[Tex]

IMO, levers are great for the mad scientist types who are into the vagaries of extreme shot pulling, and super-expensive DB's are great eye candy, but for me it's about pulling the same shot today using the same beans I used yesterday, while using the same techniques.

For this, I prefer a good commercial E61 HX; great heat stability with a big boiler & 15 lb group combo. Since I'm getting lazier by the year it should also have volumetric controls. For this paragon of espresso excellence I wouldn't expect to pay more than $4500 for a brand new single group commercial HX.

[peter]

Tex's answer is heading in the direction of how I'd answer;

How do you envision using your Cadillac machine; every day? how many shots? how steep a learning curve can you tolerate? what's your budget, including grinder? have you had any killer shots that you can use to calibrate your efforts against?

Those (and more) questions would be more apt to find you a machine than the questions you've asked so far.  Tex has a machine in mind that would work best in his world, but not in mine or staylor's; I have a machine in mind that works best for me, but not for Tex or staylor, and Shaun has a machine in mind that works best in his world, but for Tex or me.  You get my drift, yes?

Even if you had $8K to spend on US-made machine, and liked the looks of it, it may not be what's best for how you do espresso.

[John F]

Peter just killed the thread.

There will be no better answer.

[grinderz]

So we're back to the universal answer to every question: "It depends."   

Signature line stuff, here.

[peter]

No!  Don't die, Thread!  Get up Thread... Get UP!

I still want to hear Mr. Bean's answers and thoughts.