Why did you buy that machine...?

Rider

C-man wrote:

my S24 just came along at a rock bargain price, I am sure I will upgrade some day, but it does the job for now.

Craig, Given what you have undertaken with your house I think most of us are amazed that you found time and budget to get yourself an S24. Keep going on the house and when you are done, machine included, I am sure everyone would love to hear why you chose that machine. As I have said in the other thread, dude, hats off, you are doing something amazing. Loving watching the evolution. See you back here when the machine fits that awesome house you are doing. Rider

Brett_H

Rider wrote:

So Jupiter212, what do you have and why? Rider

Exactly.

C-man

Thanks Rider, If not for the coffee station nothing would get done.

Rider wrote:

Craig, Given what you have undertaken with your house I think most of us are amazed that you found time and budget to get yourself an S24. Keep going on the house and when you are done, machine included, I am sure everyone would love to hear why you chose that machine. As I have said in the other thread, dude, hats off, you are doing something amazing. Loving watching the evolution. See you back here when the machine fits that awesome house you are doing. Rider

Rider

C-man wrote:

Thanks Rider, If not for the coffee station nothing would get done.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Can imagine!!

Jupiter212

I have Gaggia Baby Class + Ascaso grinder at home. I'm not a barista so this set is suitable for my domestic use. Ascaso is blade grinder, small, light weight and easy to use. Gaggia Baby Class have metal finish, firm structure, powerful pump so it can make good espresso.

Brett_H

Jupiter212 wrote:

I have Gaggia Baby Class + Ascaso grinder at home. I'm not a barista so this set is suitable for my domestic use. Ascaso is blade grinder, small, light weight and easy to use. Gaggia Baby Class have metal finish, firm structure, powerful pump so it can make good espresso.

Great stuff mate. I would imagine that less than 5% of our membership are Baristi but all of them can no doubt make a great coffee. Your Ascaso, is it a planar or conical? These micro-metric grinders are great and even their domestic models offer a choice of planar or conical (small form factor)!

sasha123

I own a La Marzocco GS/3 Espresso Machine and it costs almost $6,700.00. Where I am a big fan of coffee and you know it is pricey. Even though it's commercial features will balance it's cost.where it have Dual stainless steel boilers, powerful steaming functionality, PID temperature control, volumetric pump and variable hot water temperature regulation to name a few. So my choice will be always this machine.

Kevohere

sasha123 wrote:

So my choice will be always this machine.

So, where is your "shop"?? 😡 Must check if I have a tin of "Spam" in stock for lunch. :head:

Brett_H

Kevohere wrote:

So, where is your "shop"?? 😡 Must check if I have a tin of "Spam" in stock for lunch. :head:

Tinned meat is on special at the moment. Problem is, if I bounced every member who wrote with poor syntax and grammar it'd be pretty lonely here. Also, to avoid being a hypocrite I'd have to bounce myself first. Thanks for the heads-up. You never know... May be legit ...

C-man

sasha123 wrote:

I own a La Marzocco GS/3 Espresso Machine and it costs almost $6,700.00. Where I am a big fan of coffee and you know it is pricey. Even though it's commercial features will balance it's cost.where it have Dual stainless steel boilers, powerful steaming functionality, PID temperature control, volumetric pump and variable hot water temperature regulation to name a few. So my choice will be always this machine.

Sasha- that machine sounds super, could you suggest a good place to get a deal on one? thanks C-

UNM

had kinda forgotten this thread. Regular readers will know that I have been through a few espresso machines. Current weapon of choice is an Arrarex Caravel. Took me a while to decide to invest in this. Partly due to having several machines already. I decided to sell one of my commercial machines and put the money toward something smaller. My real goal was to get a machine that was designed to make espresso coffee, with no compromise, no extra bits and bobs to go wrong. Having something small and user friendly was important too. The sticking point was that I could not actually try before buying, so I had to take a leap of faith and trust others recommendations on this. I figured if it didn't work out, I wouldn't lose much as these machines are quite popular. The fact it is near enough the same age as me is kinda nice - perhaps we can grow old together as it is definitely a keeper. As I use it, I am learning that different beans feel different during the extraction as the flow rate/pressure changes - you can only get that feedback with a manual (non-spring) lever (or are there other machines with that level of feedback and pressure control?). It is a very different experience to a pump driven machine. The caravel is quite literally a hands-on machine and I enjoy that. It does have the limitation that it is a small (15g) filter basket, so only single shots.

C-man

A Manual lever has more appeal to me rather than one with a spring But I would like a bigger full size one that steams milk too.

UNM

C-man wrote:

A Manual lever has more appeal to me rather than one with a spring But I would like a bigger full size one that steams milk too.

The caravel is full size. Just no bigger than it needs to be for the function it performs. Because 58mm baskets are the commercial de facto standard for non lever machines, we might assume that they are in some way superior. I am not convinced. Would be interesting to examine the geometry of different baskets as this is bound to affect extraction. Steaming milk is unimportant to me, but for those that like coffee flavoured milk beverages, the caravel is not suitable. For espresso though, it avoids the inevitable compromise of running at higher than ideal extraction temperature just to produce unnecessary steam. Multi boiler machines seem to be the best option for those wanting ideal extraction and steam temperatures. More to go wrong though and obviously more cost to make. Everyone has different requirements, but too often someone buys inappropriate appliances and ends up regretting it, or selling and upgrading. I think that's a good reason for this thread as it gives people useful background to purchase decisions. Should probably add notes for a couple of my other purchases.

C-man

Agreed, some good points made there

Journeyman

I have been a coffee drinker (sort of) for decades, but a storm in Columbia way back when started me on the upgrade path. I noted the short supply of coffee meant the Nescaf

Cuir_Beluga

I have a little DeLonghi Icona, an upgrade is just over the horizon 😛. Anyway, Master 16 had been bugging me for a coffee machine for a while having had the pleasure of playing with a commercial Faema during home ec classes at school. Wandering through Target one day I spotted the little Icona for the princely sum of $149 and quickly snaffled it up. The next week I went and bought a Smart Grinder Pro and the rest is history. I know the coffee is no where as good as on the bigger machines but hey, it has to be an infinite improvement on Blend 43 ^-^. So I guess, in short, I bought because Junior had been asking for one and the price was right for an impulse purchase.

FreshCoffee2

Cuir Beluga wrote:

I have a little DeLonghi Icona, an upgrade is just over the horizon..... the price was right for an impulse purchase...

This type of machine serves a useful purpose in different ways. a) it sorts out whether a consumer is prepared (or not) to learn how to use it and persevere with this form of espresso making and b) the consumer will then either give it away (put it in the cupboard along with the bread maker and the rice maker and numerous other previous "good ideas at the time" applicances OR c) will have his/her interest piqued to upgrade to something better. Some of these very low end budget machines work quite well, its just that the "fiddle factor" or "ease" of use is very very fiddly (one of the points that will make some people give it away). Probably the biggest part of the "fiddle factor" is that they are so small and light...you will know what I mean. That said if you persevere the coffee is ok. Those that graduate to a "better" class of machine wont regret it because the coffee isnt the only thing that is "better". The ease of use factor increases significantly through the roof. So, upgrading will usually get you better coffee and its easier to make and therefore also quicker (although in home use speed doesnt need to be a worry)...it doesnt get any better than that 😉

Cuir_Beluga

That it is Fresh Coffee, I don't mind the fiddling when I can just be left alone to do it, no interruptions. It has definitely learned from it so it has been a good little "learning tool" I guess. As for putting her away, at the moment I feel as there will always be a place for her on the bench as long as she is running. Of course that could change but she will always have a special place in my heart 😛. It definitely is a light weight machine. My interest has been sufficiently piqued enough to move on and search for bigger and better 🙂.

C-man

with a single floor baskit most cheap entry machine will produce a drinkable shot just flavor wise the temp will never be right.

Cuir_Beluga

Hi C-man, it has served me well, it is a bit fiddly and I am forever messing with grinder settings but it was a start. I have depressurised the baskets but then one of the filter gaskets went and ripped on me the other day. I have ordered a replacement but in the meantime I have taken the gasket out of the double basket and put it in the single basket. Problem now is the rubber from the bigger basket is smaller than the one from the single basket so there is now more room in the single basket for coffee. I have 2 choices, add extra coffee to compensate for the lack of rubber in the single basket which is leading to a too strong coffee or put the same amount of coffee in which is leading to messy, soggy pucks. The coffee still tastes ok though :🙂/. Thankfully an upgrade is just a few short weeks away 😛.

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