Hi guys, good news. It's my 35th birthday and i've just received from my wonderful wife authorization to retire the ol' Angeli single boiler machine. I'm in the market for a prosumer machine baby!

Here's my profile...

I do mostly milk drinks. Two cappas in the morning, another one after supper and a few straight shots in between during the week. I favour light roasted espresso blends, some SO's once in a while. I like my coffee on the bright side of things. I've been using 49th parallels epic espresso and a SO from a local roaster in saint-henri montreal lately. Honestly, i gives me a hard time but when i get it right, hmmm, tasty.

I have a mazzer mini, digital scale and WDT instruments. The only thing i haven't given in to yet if weighing my shots post brewing. So, i think i'm pretty much anal about getting my shots right.

Of course, i've been reading for months all the reviews and threads on this site and others as well. I am looking today for your personal gut feeling on the following choices:

Quickmill Andreja Premium (my first choice so far)
Pros
- a local shop sells it so it might help for service later on
- reputed as very reliable
- looks pretty nice
Cons
- brewing at a given temperature is less easy, requires Eric's thermometer and some experimenting

Expobar Brewtus IV
Pros
- seems like a great value
- double boiler with PID
Cons
- How's the reliability? (if anyone can chime in with their Brewtus III experiences...)
- It ain't pretty

Rocket Giotto Evoluzione
Pros
- i'll go ahead and say it: it just looks great
- rotary pump
Cons
- you pay for the solenoids and reservoir/plumb in switch (i don't have plans to plumb in the machine so this feature is not useful to me)
- How's the reliability? (Rocket users, set me straight!)
- temperature thing again

I'm not sure if being able to set the temperature with a PID really make an important difference compared to a practiced flush with Eric's thermometer. I have no experience with this so i am open to your thoughts. Personally, i am attracted to the simplicity of the HX design compared to double boilers. In the end, i know all these machines can make a great shot and i guess my concern is then having a reliable machine that i can count on. God knows what i would do with not coffee in the morning.

out of topic but what's the single origin you use as an espresso from SHMiT?

On topic: I would take a dual boiler PID like the expobar. But with anyone of these you would make great espresso and great milk drinks.

ps: why do you say brewtus is ugly?

All your choices are E61 groups, so espresso performance will not be a deciding factor. The HX vs. double boiler debate comes up regularly, so I won't bother to repeat the advantages/disadvantages (Can I brew at exact temperatures with HX espresso machines? is one such thread). If it's important to you, the steaming capacity of the two HXs you are considering is greater than the Brewtus (see the tables in reviews 1 and 2). Another popular double boiler is the La Spaziale Vivaldi III. It's among the site reviews.

Hi,
I am a satisfied recent purchaser of the European 240V Expobar Brewtus IV (the model that you can use tanked or plumbed in).
I use it tanked and I add a longer silicon tube from the T next to the opv to the tank so not to waste water that otherwise would end into the drip tray.

Below my pros and cons

Pro:
- temp stable
- repeatability of good shots
- where I purchased it on line it's sold with 2 commercial portafilters, good quality
- good steaming power
- quick to reach water temperature and temp stable
- little power absorption (1050W) to me very valuable because in Italy we use to have max 3,000 W +10% available at home
- steam boiler switch
- improved internal cable routing, well assembled internals
- small, just 26cm width
- huge dip tray

Cons
- vibe pump noise, I minimized vibration adding rubber from bicycle tube in some places but still to figure out how to reduce vibe and internal cavitation noise
- portafilters has not the same handle, one is missing back plug
- hot water handle is not no burn (as the steam one is)
- aesthetics
- boiler insulations mat could be better, it works but to save energy I would have preferred a better material
- missing brew boiler drain valve to descale, I soon will add a micro-ball drain valve removing the drain plug in the brew boiler
- brew pressure gauge is soldered to the relevant copper tube so replace (when needed) require soldering skills


Overall I think it is the machine to purchase, if I would have more space available in the kitchen and money probably I would have gone for an Izzo Alex Duetto II but I should have reprogrammed it for less power absorption.
I think Expobar brewtus could last long time and it seems to me easy to fix by myself if anything break. I also check spare parts part in Spain where I can easily source them and they are cheap on top of easily replaceable with italian non oem parts if needed

Marc,

i had saved the empty bag of SO bought from Café Saint-Henri in order to remember the origin but... i lost it and can't recall what it was. It was not meant for espresso, i bought it for drip, but i ran out of 49th's Epic blend and used it in a shot. It was quite bright but surprisingly enjoyable. I've also been know to use some SO's from 49th in my shots as well. It's probably a waste to use such delicate coffee in the ol' espresso machine but hey, i can't start the day without a shot or a capp.

I work as an engineer in an industrial design firm so i have a bias for the look and feel of products. The Expobar to me is too blocky and unrefined when compared to the lines of Andreja or the Rocket. Mind you it's purely aesthetics and quite subjective!

Anyway, i'm heading to Cafe Union tomorrow to check out the Andreja Premium. I can't seem to bring myself to buy online and risk a long distance relationship if something breaks (shipping 50 pounds of machine is a PITA and costs money). I just like the idea of going to see a human being to get things fixed. I just hope the techs at Cafe Union are up to snuff on Quickmill equipment

Dan,

was looking at the Spaz for a while but for some reason the 53mm portafilter AND the presence of a nut that holds the dispersion screen bug me. I seem to recall posts where this machine was said to be more prone to channeling than the E61's due to the geometry of the puck (smaller diameter and more deep) and the fact that the nut may disturb the puck surface at higher doses.

Are these just ramblings? The whole reason i was looking at E61 machines only is their reputation for being forgiving.

Espresso machines are hand-made, low volume machines that are not as reliable as million-selling brown or white goods. My 4 year old Andreja Premium has suffered the following failures:
3 limit stats
1 pressure stat
1 water tank low level sensor
2 OPVs
and finally an auto-fill solenoid.

All of these I've been able to fix myself apart for the last. When talking to the engineer who fixed it he said that Andreja Premiums are no worse for reliability than any other. Maybe I've got a poor example but my point is that having reliable access to spare parts and someone who knows what they are doing is worth a great deal when you're sitting there with a broken machine and no coffee. All three will produce great coffee - you can read reviews on BellaBarista.co.uk. I also decided on the Andreja, over a Vivi, based purely on aesthetics.

P.B wrote:Espresso machines are hand-made, low volume machines that are not as reliable as million-selling brown or white goods. My 4 year old Andreja Premium has suffered the following failures:

Buy a home machine with commercial components or even better a good commercial machine. If taken care of, it will last longer than all of us who write on this web site. I had a Rancilio from the 70's, with a mercury pressurestat still working as a new one even after 40 years. Most 'regular' home machine tends to have components that will break almost yearly just after a few years.

Alain,

It is my understanding that the Andreja Premium is a home machine with commercial components for the most part. P.B. has had quite a few problems it seems but from what i read, if you want to do better than the Andreja you have to go into full commercial machines.

I'm not there yet, as i don't want to deal with huge boilers, multi-groups and flojet equipped bottles hiding under the counter. Also, i have a limited budget, 2000$ CAN is pretty much all i can spend on this machine

Ok, I was just wondering which kind of SO came up well as an espresso.

Cafe union seems to have nice tech guys, but for parts and repair, Faema is a good place too. They sell some machine also.