I currently have an Dualit Espresso, which was my first machine and had for it roughly 5 months now.. I've been practicing latte art and can just about make a passable rosetta but i've decided to upgrade to a more powerful machine more capable.

I'll have roughly £800 for a new one, would really appreciate it if anyone could suggest the best machine I could get for my money?
Thank you


Also, i like the look of the Isomac Zaffiro http://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=e-isomac

Any comments on it?
Cheers

Hello, Luke

The Zaffiro is a nice machine, but bear in mind it is still a single boiler, and if you are making milk based drinks you will have to wait between pulling the espresso shot(s) and steaming the milk.

There are a number of posts around on either here and/or coffeegeek.com and toomuchcoffee.co.uk about the supplier you link to. I have no personal experience of them, but having read other peoples' experiences, I'd recommend you have a bit of a search before you commit to buying.

If you don't want to wait between brewing coffee and steaming, the only answers are either an HX machine, or a double boiler machine. Personally, I can't get on with domestic sized HX machines, but many people like them. Most of these are above your budget, but you might like to look into the two smaller Fracino HX machines and their (very) new double boiler machine the piccino, both of which go for somewhere around the £600 mark or less I think.

N.B. you won't find much if any info. about them on this forum or on coffeegeek.com as they are a UK based manufacturer and not widely - if at all -distributed in N.America. I don't have any connection with them other than living about 5 miles away from their factory.

They have a very good reputation for service on even their older machines, and you'll find a lot of them in commercial use in the UK.

P.S. Piccino is very new and difficult to find on the web, but you can see and read about it here. It might be an idea to wait until people have bought and reviewed it.

http://www.gocoffee.co.uk/coffee-machin...p-910.html

I put up that link only for information about the machine, not as any recommendation to buy from them. My only experience with that retailer was very unsatisfactory.

PPS - and of course, you'll be told - rightly - to make sure you have a good grinder before splashing out on these types of machine, as they just won't work without one.

Luke,
Contact Claudette at BellaBarista http://www.bellabarista.co.uk/askclaudette.asp or just check out their range. Coffee machines often need technical back-up and you are far better off buying (and paying more if neccessary) from a UK based dealer or Francino who are based in the Midlands.

However, your grinder is more important than the espresso machine so make sure it's up to the task.

Paul.

Also, Francino will be at 2011 Caffe Culture in London in a few weeks. Might be worth going along to ask some questions. I know of oneperson with an old Francino and he's very happy with it.

http://www.caffeculture.com/page.cfm/NewSection=Yes/GoSection=0

I'd like to echo the sentiment about getting a good grinder.

I recently bought the Bacchi stove-top machine without changing my grinder. I practically wept when the shots I was getting were no different to my previous set up.

So I spent £260 on a new grinder and the improvement was obvious immediately. It does take a bit of time to experiment with grind size and dose. The mistake I think I made was to grind as fine as possible expecting that would give the best results. Not so.

But there is no doubt that the consistency of the grind, being able to get into espresso grind "range" and the fine adjustments that can be made with a good grinder are, not just worth it, but essential really.

I should add that I'm pretty new to all of this, but you see the mantra repeated over and over again.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I recently bought this grinder http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cuisinart-Profe...B0007P3LE0
Im guessing this was a waste of money? Only £40 i suppose, and grinders you can recommend?

Im going to phone Ask Claudette now and ask about a machine.. thank you very much everyone

LukeNunn wrote:...grinders you can recommend?

This question comes up very frequently; please browse this forum and search (e.g., "inexpensive grinder" or "budget grinder"). Thanks.

Thankyou
I will try this grinder, and if its not upto much for the time being I will go to the local coffee shop and get them to grind me some

Anyones opinion on the Isomac Rituale?
From the reviews ive read so far its a HX machine.
Thankyou very much for article on HX.. I've looked at the twin boilers, single and HX and i've decided HX would be best for me
Thankyou

Hi Luke

The grinder that I got rid of cost £75 and was a total waste of money. But you live, you learn. Pairing it with an £800 espresso machine will make your brain melt.

As for getting your coffee pre-ground, it will start to lose flavour after about 15 seconds - this will also do terrible things to your psyche.

The machine I opted for was the Eureka Mignon (£260). I'm happy with it, and the general consensus is that it's a good machine.

Right :/ Okay thankyou!
I'll get an espresso and save my pennies for a grinder.. eventually I intend to roast my own beans.. but not untill after uni!
Cheers