Any tips for a newbie to espresso on what to get? I'd like to stay sub $100 if I can but it looks like my choices are Krups... or Krups =\
Any help?
You can usually get a low-level gaggia pump machine for under $100 on eBay. If you are spending less than $300 for your espresso machine, the quality of the grinder is far more important. With a good grinder [one that gives
consistent particle size], you can make better coffee with a stovetop MokaPot than you can with a $250 Saeco or Starbucks machine and a cheap burr grinder or whirlyblade.
If I was limited to $100, I would get the $10 3-demitasse mokapot and a Baratza Maestro burr mill.
If you shop around, you can probably find a real nice burr grinder (Mazzer, Astoria, Macap, etc) in used condition at a second-hand restaurant supply or on eBay for $150. That way you will never need another grinder, even when you move from mokapot ($10) to vibratory pump ($50-300) to rotary pump ($400-up) machine.
One caution on the mokapot - roast up 3# of an inexpensive DP Brazil to FC+ or light vienna, and practice getting the loading right. After you get consistent at loading and have a good idea of how to get a ~35 to 45 second extraction (from the start of flow to the end), you will already have a better beverage than you can buy at 90% of the espresso stands in town. It takes some practice, and if you don't sit down and get that practice in one or two sessions pulling multiple shots, you will probably get disappointed and disillusioned with the mokapot. It takes practice to get a good method. Just make sure that the safety valve doesn't get scaled over, and don't overload or overtamp.