Here's a shot of my new grinder. I haven't tried it yet, but I can tell you it's going to be a beast. I'm impressed, and that's NOT the word to describe my wife. She'll get used to it (i hope) They forgot to send me the shorter bean hopper, and I think that will help on the "WOW.... That's a biga$$ grinder" You can see the kitchenaid looks like a shrimp compared to the macap.

Now all I need is to make up my mind on which espresso machine to get. I've narrowed it down between the Mini Vivaldi II by La Spaziale or Alex Duetto II by Izzo. It has to be a pour over model. Maybe I can get some input from some of you folks.

Nice grinder! In the picture, it looks like there's a turkey sticking out of the hopper. Very seasonal.

As for which machine you should buy, either one would serve you well. There seem to be a lot of happy Vivaldi owners here and on the Vivaldi forum. Also, with the automatic dosing feature the Vivaldi should be easier for your wife to use, if that's a consideration. Just based on the track record of reliability and ease of use, I'd go with the Vivaldi. But that's just my personal choice, and it's not my money that's on the line.

Black Grinder? Vivaldi fer shoor

I was in a hurry to snap a few shots, and didn't look at the surroundings that much. The turkey is actually a cling on the glass panel of the cabinet door. I think I will go ahead and go with the Vivaldi. I originally didn't like all the plastic on the Vivaldi. But trying to find real life issues with it or the larger model is for the most part non existent. I really like the water reservor location on the mini, easy to get to. Does anyone know if the water softener is really necessary for bottled water? What kind of bottled water? Walmart spring water? Distilled water? All I have is the grinder, which is a good start, what else will I need? What kind of tamper? Flat or convex? Bottomless port-a-filter? Btw.. What will a bottomless port-a-filter do for me? Milk pitcher size? Too many questions.... I know

Search is your friend. Searching on accessories found:

What accessories does every home setup need?
What are "must have" accessories for new espresso machine

Searching on bottomless portafilter found:

Bottomless Portafilter: Diagnosing Espresso Extraction Problems
Using a bottomless portafilter good or bad?

Searching on bottled water found:

Water treatment options for plumbed in espresso machine
How to correctly measure water hardness using test strips

As for tampers, searching on convex or flat tampers yielded:

Tamper bottoms: Flat or convex?
Convex corrects errors better than flat tampers?

To pick only two of each. See forum search tips for more suggestions.

I apologize Dan. Nothing short of being lazy on my end. I guess going specifically with the Vivaldi mini, maybe I needed some specialized accessories. I'll watch it in the future. Thank you for the search results.

I understand it's an overwhelming amount of information.

Perusing the Buyer's Guide to the La Spaziale Vivaldi II may be the best place to start since it covers the specifics. Members of the s1cafe will certainly have other specifics to share. For example, I prefer 12 ounce pitchers, but some are partial to 20 ounces to slow things down on the Vivaldi; others prefer the slower 4-hole 0.9mm tip that was discussed here.

Lonny wrote:I originally didn't like all the plastic on the Vivaldi.

Keeping the polished stainless steel looking nice and shiny is a real pain. My next machine will probably be a Vivaldi, and the plastic sides is one of the the reasons I like that machine.

chipman wrote:Keeping the polished stainless steel looking nice and shiny is a real pain. My next machine will probably be a Vivaldi, and the plastic sides is one of the the reasons I like that machine.

My first machine was a plastic body Solis SL-90. The Viv was on the upgrade short list until I saw its plastic body for real.

The plating quality can affect a stainless machine. After almost 5 years, other than a few marks on the drip tray, the Vibiemmes look brand new. A simple wipe down with a soft towel is all the maintenance required.

The 0.9 mm tip is now standard on the Mini I believe. Having used the same wand on my Anita, I can tell you it makes getting microfoam incredibly fast and easy.

I always use Crystal Geyser bottled water in my machine, based on Jim's insanely long water FAQ. Apparently it has the right amount of minerals to allow the machine to work properly and still avoid excessive scale buildup. But I still descale once a year anyway, just to be sure.

I don't think you can go wrong with the Mini. Enjoy your new machine, whichever one you end up getting.