Coffee Drinkers Anonymous

leitch

Feelin' a bit rrranty
@Tubbsy go the Linea Mini or a GS3. Otherwise go for a comparable dual boiler+rotary pump model from ECM et al. If you want something that looks fucking baller, go for a KVDW Speedster.

At this level, serviceability is going to be the main differential. Coffeesnobs heroes will say you need a Slayer for pressure profiling etc but it's a total wank, a completely uncontrollable variable, and you will not miss it one bit. What you will miss is being able to make coffee at home when your made-in-Portland-by-a-drunk-hippie machine shreds the 5th group head pin seal and is unusable for another 3 months.

La Marzoccos are reliable as hell and on the odd occasion that something goes wrong (and usually it's the steam wand tap because it's been used every day for the last 10 years), parts are readily available and they're easy to work on. Same goes for the various E61 machines.

Think of it like a bike, you wouldn't spend $6k something boutique and unproven with patchy support like a Deviate, would you? :p
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
What do you have @Oddjob ?
I've got a Lelit Anna (pl41temd) with the pid and a Compak A8 grinder.

It's a single boiler so it's not precious about water and heats up in 5 mins. The downside is that you still need to temperature surf with multiple cups but it's easy with the pid display. The grinder is a 83mm planar beast that does shot on demand or pre-doses.

When my new house is built I'll get a DE1XL plumbed in and probably keep the grinder.

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Tubbsy

Packin' a small bird
Staff member
@Tubbsy go the Linea Mini or a GS3. Otherwise go for a comparable dual boiler+rotary pump model from ECM et al. If you want something that looks fucking baller, go for a KVDW Speedster.

At this level, serviceability is going to be the main differential. Coffeesnobs heroes will say you need a Slayer for pressure profiling etc but it's a total wank, a completely uncontrollable variable, and you will not miss it one bit. What you will miss is being able to make coffee at home when your made-in-Portland-by-a-drunk-hippie machine shreds the 5th group head pin seal and is unusable for another 3 months.

La Marzoccos are reliable as hell and on the odd occasion that something goes wrong (and usually it's the steam wand tap because it's been used every day for the last 10 years), parts are readily available and they're easy to work on. Same goes for the various E61 machines.

Think of it like a bike, you wouldn't spend $6k something boutique and unproven with patchy support like a Deviate, would you? :p
All of this pretty much where my thinking is.

Not going to be getting into pressure profiling or anything too analytical (I don't weigh my shot etc) - with the La Pavoni I now don't even have to think about what I'm doing, as long as the beans are quality it's all muscle memory after years and thousands of coffees.

Speedster looks bonkers, but the Linea aesthetic goes best with what we're doing with the house and it's absolutely at the hard upper limit of the appliance budget.

Servicability definitely a factor, knowing that I can get another 15 years out of this one otherwise the cost makes not sense.

Probs not going to get 15 years out of the Deviate haha.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
If you want something that looks baller but is rock solid, get something single boiler, e61 head and a rotary pump. Something like a ECM, Isomac, Bezzera or Crem One. The ECM will have the best build quality but they all use standard parts and will just keep on trucking with semi regular maintenance.

Hx and dual boilers are pains in the ass for a home setting.

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pink poodle

気が狂っている男
You will f you don't ride it...


Pretty much every commercial coffee technician will be able to fix the linea if you need it. So as long as you keep up your end of the bargain by loving it you'll get a lot of use.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
I was ready to buy an ECM Sync before I bought the Breville. Mate has has just bought the ECM, it does the same job as my Breville... my grinder makes 99% 9f the delta up.
 

leitch

Feelin' a bit rrranty
I was ready to buy an ECM Sync before I bought the Breville. Mate has has just bought the ECM, it does the same job as my Breville... my grinder makes 99% 9f the delta up.
Yeah look... Breville dual boiler suits 99% of home user applications. But so does a Giant Trance 2.
 

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
...But so does a Giant Trance 2.
I tried that, coffee was shit.

Breville out of the box was hopeless, luckily I have my own poodle who adjusted the crap out of it and brought his mazzer grinder to set it up. So I bought the same grinder. It does as good a job as 80% of the coffees I buy and better than half.
 

Rorschach

Didnt pay $250 for this custom title
My SAB Nobel and Mignon grinder does better coffee than I buy most places, and I've never weighed a shot or adjusted the grinder
Cost about 2.5k for the whole set-up and has only cost me consumables since, although it is now due for a service after 5 years of abuse.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
I tried that, coffee was shit.

Breville out of the box was hopeless, luckily I have my own poodle who adjusted the crap out of it and brought his mazzer grinder to set it up. So I bought the same grinder. It does as good a job as 80% of the coffees I buy and better than half.
I just use my mid priced Breville machine the way it came out of the box...it is plenty old and hardly gets used these days, but it's almost always given me what I need. Bodum grinder that was a gift from a girl about 10 years ago is still kicking too, though only just at the moment. The soft touch finish is all manky and shit to look at.
 

Fred Nurk

No custom title here
After much time away from home coffee machines (had an Imat Combi, now Lelit for a few years some time ago) and some animated discussion about how we'd operate a coffee machine, we ended up with an Expobar Office Control, and a Breville grinder.

It has been surprisingly easy and consistent after having to learn to deal with the inconsistencies of the very small single boiler Imat, and the dosing of both the grind and shot has been far better than even I expected.

Expenditure on fresh roasted beans has, of course, increased significantly, but hopefully that'll plateau once we get back into the actually attending work premises thing...
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
If you want something that looks baller but is rock solid, get something single boiler, e61 head and a rotary pump. Something like a ECM, Isomac, Bezzera or Crem One. The ECM will have the best build quality but they all use standard parts and will just keep on trucking with semi regular maintenance.

Hx and dual boilers are pains in the ass for a home setting.

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Just another note on why dual boilers and hx machines are annoying in a home setting.

Unless you have 3+ stage water treatment set up at home, you will have serious scale build up in your machine. See https://dibartoli.com.au/di-bartoli...our-tap-water-is-harming-your-coffee-machine/

At best you will have to de-scale regularly, at worst you will be distilling acid sulphate which leaches into the water supply from the soil. The acid sulphate will eat your boiler and your guts.

Single boiler machines side step this issue more or less by constantly being flushed with fresh water. Although in Perth my Silvia still needed the odd de-scale.

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I have a Delonghi Dedica, had it for three years now, at peak demand its probably asked to do 6 coffees in a day (weekends).

Cost me $150 (seems there must be a new one coz they are about $450 now), teamed it up with a sunbeam grinder.

The reviews bag it, doesn't make real eXpresso, blah blah blah. I will be spewing when it finally gives up the ghost, it's a wee ripper for the price.

385562
 

ausdb

Being who he is
I'm in Perth and have a dual boiler machine, a Dalla Corte mini which is a little uncommon. It gets fed Coles or Woolworths bottled water and I haven't noticed any real build up of scale inside it, when I have had it apart for maintenance.
385563
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
I'm in Perth and have a dual boiler machine, a Dalla Corte mini which is a little uncommon. It gets fed Coles or Woolworths bottled water and I haven't noticed any real build up of scale inside it, when I have had it apart for maintenance.
View attachment 385563
That's because you're feeding it treated water. I dare you to put tap water in it.

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