Delonghi Dedica Silver EC 680.M

Cuir_Beluga

Geeze, I thought I had logged into the wrong forum for a minute 😛. Jokes aside, they may not be up to scratch for some, but for many they are a starting point as my Icona has been for me. In my, far from, professional opinion they are a vast improvement on the old Blend 43, then again the Blend 43 has it's place ;D. Clearly I ain't that fussy ^-^.

Lacehim

It's part of a journey IMO. You start thinking I want something better than Nescafe or Pod. You look at a $3k machine and go... wow, they must be bonkers. You buy a sunbeam or breville base model, or a silvia style single boiler machine. You make bad coffee, but you learn and the coffee gets better. You try a few models out and spend more money, and the coffee gets better. One day like BrettH you have the best machine you could possibly want, and your happy (but you still keep looking for something better!). Does that about sum it up?

Cuir_Beluga

To a T Lacehim, I was going to do the Silvia/Baby Gaggia thing and I realised I would be satisfied for all of 5 minutes. I am skipping the middle man, so to speak, and just getting what I really want- and what the budget allows 😛.

Dry_bean

Unsure of how to respond to the replies to my OP, certainly hasn't taken the direction I thought it would. What I was attempting to underscore was the extreme limitations in durability, usability and coffee quality of this level of machine, they don't come within a bulls roar of a Silvia or Lelit, let alone an E61 machine. :-| The evolution of a coffee neophyte is another topic entirely. Fresh Coffee got it in one. :thumb:

Cuir_Beluga

I was only razzing you Db, sorry if you took it any other way 🙂. I do know what you mean. I guess it is a bit like a Commodore owner, me, say I have the best car but a Volvo owner knowing different, iykwim. Maybe to someone a cheaper machine makes the best coffee, taste being subjective and all. Who knows! All is good 🙂.

Moon

I started with a hand me down old $80 Krups machine. Thought it made great coffee .. even when I found out I was drinking calcified milky watered down 'coffee' Then a $200 new Sunbeam .. fantastic coffee Then a Gaggia Baby ... thought I was in Coffee Heaven. Each time I upgraded I loved the coffee. I skipped the dream Silvia and got a lever .. only no doubt would have thought the coffee from the Silvia was fantastic. Along the journey of upgrading .. I found it all good. Different story if you downgrade I'd imagine. What I don't get .. is that my Sister had a good 6910 Sunbeam .. and yet still drank Nescafe for the first few years of owning it. I mean .. after a decent coffee from the 6910 .. how can you still like to drink Instant? :🙂

Dry_bean

Must say its great to see a thread draw some interest and response. :thumb: Would be even better to see more of the same/similar. Put your thinking caps on people. All good Sue. 🙂

FreshCoffee2

Just got back from putting the chickens to bed (Mr fox thinks an open chicken coop door is an invitation, and I dont want to lose 30 chickens of various ages and 10 beautiful ducklings and their mum!) ..to find all this flurry! One of the most common comments I have heard in years of machine sales from people that have upgraded (in whatever form), is how much *easier* the upgraded machine is to use or to get a good cuppa. One of the hardest machines to learn is the Silvia. However once mastered it makes making coffee with a semi-commercial really "easy". the semi commercials are mnuch more forgiving of user technique. There is a progression through the groups of machines, but you dont have to follow it and it is permissible by all means to go straight from the bottom to the top. One of my dear friends (now departed unfortunately) had a $99.00 Sunbeam Cafe Aroma, one of the most basic pump driven espresso machines ever made. And if you knew how to work it, it made a reasonable cuppa. The modus operandi however was horrific, the classic example of what Dry Bean mentioned above, light, tiny, fiddly to use, blow on it andit would fall off the edge of the bench. But a reasonable coffee it did make if you learned it. Use the same principles learned on an upgrade machine, and you can be in coffee making heaven simply because the more you spend and the more solid and bigger the machine is, trust me, the easier (significantly) it is to use to good effect. Any increase in user satisfaction is a hige bonus. Hope that helps, A

Cuir_Beluga

Dry bean. wrote:

Must say its great to see a thread draw some interest and response. :thumb: Would be even better to see more of the same/similar. Put your thinking caps on people. All good Sue. 🙂

:thumb:

Brett_H

Love this thread and thank you Lacheim for the mention... I'm still happy after this afternoon's coffees. I had the ubiquitous Silvia and loved it! When I traded up the the Unico Splendor I was to keep the Silvia as a traveler or second machine for downstairs. One week experiencing the comparative ease and simplicity of a the Splendor and I sold the Silvia. With the Silvia one in every 5 was a truly great shot and coffee. With the Splendor, one in every 25 wasn't (it had lots of visitors in its first weeks)! I have a Pavoni lever to satisfy my penchant for fiddle-factor but if it was my only machine I'd be on the upgrade path. You see, great coffee is really about the coffee, not the fiddling with all of the variables. I love great coffee!

FreshCoffee2

Brett H wrote:

....great coffee is really about the coffee, not the fiddling with all of the variables. I love great coffee!

I tend to agree and have no time for fiddly equipment, however I am happy to admit that this is very much in my case, caused by years of being in coffee roasting and coffee machine business. I cannot stand fiddly coffee machines...I just want to get to the coffee in the cup by the easiest quickest possible route. That said, others have to start where they can, and build up from there. Today I was given a packet of a competitors coffee and I wanted to check it for roasting quality and cup the result (I didnt need to do that...I just wanted to,.... Certainly high end equipment and years of know how had the coffee cupped very well at the second attempt (set grinder and go from there). The machine....same as yours a BFC Junior Extra (Dual Boiler) PID, and a Ditting commercial grinder. Not everyone has access to that type of thing and has to start somewhere, given many of the sentiments expressed above.