I used to work as a Barista and now since moving on I am missing well made coffee. My housemate as a cheap espresso machine which does the job for now, but there is so much wrong with it!

I have a competent grinder which I will look to replace later when I have saved up a bit more, but for now I am just looking to buy the machine

The two that have caught my eye are:

http://www.pumphreys-coffee.co.uk/products/view/591/

http://www.pumphreys-coffee.co.uk/products/view/596/

The first one is obviously cheaper and is less of a hassle to install but it has a vibration pump. Is that a great hindrance? I am worried with only a vibration pump I won't be able to steam milk and pull a double espresso at the same time.

Any views and opinions are most welcome

The main difference between the Vivaldi and the Mini Vivaldi is that the former is a plumb-in model, the latter has a water reservoir. The Mini has a vibratory pump because a rotary pump cannot work without a constant water source (someone chime in here for better explanation). The vibratory pump is a little louder than the rotary, but a whole lot less noisy than any grinder! Haha!

BUT, that has nothing to do with brewing and steaming at the same time. Both units are double boilers and brew/steam simultaneously. I have the exact same Mini Vivaldi and it steams exceptionally well.

That said, I think brewing and steaming at the same time is overrated. When brewing, I'm watching the coffee flow and manually stop the brewing (as opposed to letting the machine stop itself, ala volumetric dosing). So I wait the ~25 seconds to finish the shot before steaming.

The real value (for me anyways) in a double boiler (and heat exchanger), in terms of brewing/steaming, is that you can steam immediately after/before brewing. Single boilers require time for the temperature to change from brew temp to steam temp.

Bottom line, if you have any plans for plumbing in, get the Vivaldi. You can get a Flojet system to feed water until you can tap into a permanent water source. But if plumb-in is not an option, get the Mini. I love mine and you'll be surprised how easy it is to make great espresso.

Here's a pic of mine!

The information on La Spaziale Vivaldi that is provided on the page under the links is partially incorrect.

Nothing much to ad to bamaster's excellent post except to agree. If you can plumb in and don't intend to move the machine around then no contest. Any machine that can be plumbed is just so much more convenient in every way.

That said, the Mini is still one of the more outstanding machines on the market. Not exactly a poor second choice.

Well I think i may go for the Mini then.

The plumbed version is obviously much more convenient but at the moment I am still renting so plumbing is not really an option for at least a few years.

I had just heard that vibration pumps were less powerful than the rotary and can struggle to keep a decent pressure up over a whole extraction. But I guess that is just when you only spend £60 on a coffee machine!

I usually steam while I extract because i want to make surte the espresso stays as fresh as possible. Nothing worse than leaving a pulled espresso out to spoil!

At the moment my housemate's is just painful. The steamer has a "cappuccino" attachment that produces visible bubbles. If i take that off to just use the bare steam wand then the nozzle sometimes pops off, which means i then have to be really careful when pouring to not get the nozzle in my drink! And of course the milk isn't fully steamed. That is of course all couples with the 5 minute wait for the machine to warm up to steaming temperature.

Oh and thank you ever so much for a fantastically written and informative post!

I contacted the supplier for our cafe on advice and they just recommended the La Spaziale S5.

I think because it is the most expensive machine they do! Don't know why they even thought as a home user i would need a 3 group, 2 steam machine!

James,

the Mini is excellent choice.
If you want to have more information on Vivaldi machines check the s1cafe.com forums - also technical information, for the vendor has wrong notes on his pages (regarding the preheating for example) and also mismatched Vivaldi with Mini Vivaldi at one point. I'd suggest you don't ask them for advice nor details but rather make sure they send you the correct machine!

I wasn't planning on definitely buying from that vendor.

The are possibly cheaper ways to get hold of it elsewhere. I was just using them as a convenient link.

I will have to wait till spetember till I will be able to afford it as I have no work over the summer and will need to save what I have.

But Now that I have a decision on machine I have a goal I can work to!

Spacedementia87 wrote:I had just heard that vibration pumps were less powerful than the rotary and can struggle to keep a decent pressure up over a whole extraction. But I guess that is just when you only spend £60 on a coffee machine!

I usually steam while I extract because i want to make surte the espresso stays as fresh as possible. Nothing worse than leaving a pulled espresso out to spoil!
.

I steam and extract doubles at the same time on my Elektra semiauto no problem so the Mini should romp it in.