Best espresso-only machine for $700 or less?

[onlyespresso]

So after reading a lot of things here and other places, and most recently a newbie post here. I have a question. I am new to this and want to buy my first machine for home. Though I am not an espresso maker, I am a finicky drinker, and have a better coffee palate than most people I know.

Which of the Silvia PID or Bezzera BZ02S are better for a flat out crema filled espresso? I will make milk drinks for guests maybe 2 times a year, so steaming is not that important. Also, the learning curve, which machine will make me look good as a beginner? $700 is the top of my range and I am planning on getting the Mazzer mini in addition to one of the machines above. If you have another suggestion let me know.

Any advice is appreciated.


Thanks

shannon

[HB]

Shannon,

I noted your cross-post on CG of the same question. Although cross-posting is strongly discouraged, yours is a good question since we frequently overlook the espresso-only crowd. The thread Espresso Advice for Newbie touched on some of the same points, but the only espresso part changes the answer. I'll think on this and return to it later, must get back to work...

What does everyone else think? What's the baddest espresso-only machine on a budget?

[jesawdy]

What does everyone else think? What's the baddest espresso-only machine on a budget?

Well not quite $700, but the Alexia comes to mind.

Or a lever?

I am intrigued by the Bezzera BZ02S..... if it is a Livia 90 in sheep's clothing, it oughta be nice.

What is the general opinion of using boiler water versus heat exchanger water for straight espresso? Make any difference to have that "fresher" water from the reservoir versus the single boiler machine? Can one taste that difference?

[timo888]

What does everyone else think? What's the baddest espresso-only machine on a budget?

Ponte Vecchio Lusso.

Regards
Timo

[HB]

Lever espresso machines are a good choice for low volume use and a Zen-like experience. But I hesitate to recommend one because of Shannon's comment:

Also, the learning curve, which machine will make me look good as a beginner?

I own two lever espresso machines (Elektra Microcasa a Leva, Olympia Cremina) and neither has an easy learning curve. On the other hand, despite my modest lever skills, it's hard to miss with the Gaggia Achille, as Dave and I found during research on The Bench. Someone suggested that this may reflect our prior experience with presumably similar semi-commercial and commercial machines, but I don't think so. Perhaps the better "forgiveness factor" is similar for commercial levers versus home levers?

Back to Shannon's original question: What's the best espresso-only machine for $700 or less? The traditional value-winner is the Expobar Pulser. But that's an HX, which entails temperature management issues, and its steam on demand feature is of little value to Shannon, leading me to look for single boiler machines.

Hmm-m. I PID'd an Isomac Amica. Nice espresso machine and easy to use, but a turnkey solution like the previously mentioned PID'd Quickmill Alexia is over her price point... Other suggestions?

PS: The thread on the Ponte Vecchio Lusso has more details on the machine's performance. I understand how it avoids overheating as quickly as other levers by mounting the grouphead off the boiler, but I assume it will still exhibit classical boiler-driven temperature rise over a series of shots. The good news it should naturally "reset" on idle, unlike most home lever machines that just get hotter and hotter.

[HB]

What is the general opinion of using boiler water versus heat exchanger water for straight espresso? Make any difference to have that "fresher" water from the reservoir versus the single boiler machine? Can one taste that difference?

That came up in Can water go stale? and again in Tasted Your Reservoir Water Lately?. I proposed a simple test:

...to determine if a double boiler imparts a taste would be to flush down the boiler completely, refill it, wait until the boiler stabilizes at brew temperature, and then draw a sample. Then leave the machine idle for 24 hours and draw another sample. Taste the two samples at the same temperature (room temperature or heated to say 150F).

Any big double boiler owners care to try it? For what it's worth, in the months that I evaluated the Expobar Brewtus, I didn't notice any off tastes. Then again, I was pulling a lot of shots, flushing frequently, and flushing down the boiler every other day.

[timo888]

A spring lever is no more difficult to master than a pump machine. Get the grind, dose, and tamp correct and you're well on your way to pulling a good shot. You pull the lever and the spring does the rest. A manual lever like the Achille, or the Cremina, or the Pavoni, on the other hand, does require the acquisition of an additional skill--learning how to translate your arm strength into brew pressure. Not a difficult skill, but enough perhaps to discourage the neophyte. The Achille also has the disadvantage of the HX design, the rigmarole of the cooling flush required to bring the overheated machine down to temperature for the first shot. The manual Achille is not a clearly better choice for a budding barista. The Achille's learning curve is steeper than the Lusso's and so is its price. The Achille costs $1000 or more.

Another advantage of the Ponte Vecchio is that it does not have a 58mm basket. The Lusso has a smaller diameter basket with a more forgiving height-to-width ratio, which means it will be easier to pull singles on the Lusso than on the Achille or on any 58mm basket, for that matter. 58mm single baskets are relatively shallow and given to perimeter channeling, which ruins the espresso. <BLECH EMOTICON> Even accomplished baristas find it a challenge to pull good singles on a 58mm basket. If you like the experience of drinking an espresso, singles let you drink twice the number of cups of espresso throughout the day.

Regards
Timo

[HB]

A spring lever is no more difficult to master than a pump machine. Get the grind, dose, and tamp correct and you're well on your way to pulling a good shot.

That hasn't been my experience with the only spring lever I've tried, the Elektra Microcasa a Leva.

The Achille's learning curve is steeper than the Lusso's and so is its price... Another advantage of the Ponte Vecchio is that it does not have a 58mm basket.

I cannot comment on the Lusso since I've never used it. However, the Achille certainly has one of the more modest learning curves of the machines I've used, non-levers included.

Online discussions are replete with assertions that "machine has X, therefore it behaves like Y" from those who have no hands-on experience (me among them ). Frequently they're right, but not always, proving the designer's adage, "The Devil is in the details." The Elektra A3 was my clearest firsthand experience with the risks of inference from specifications. Based on the lack of preinfusion / immediate pressure ramp and rotary pump, I expected it to be a difficult espresso machine to master, similar to the La Marzocco Lineas with large gicleurs I used before. Alas, I was surprised to be pulling very good shots with little effort on the first day.

Jim documented a similar experience with the Elektra Semiautomatica, which I would expect to perform horribly based on its temperature profile. From Why is the Elektra Semiautomatica So Good?:

The consensus of North American espresso experts since Schomer is that the quality of a machine is mostly determined by how stable and adjustable its temperature and pressure are. My experience with the Semiautomatica convinces me that this is not even close to the whole story. It is not particularly stable on temperature and way off on pressure, yet it produces shots that spank many machines with far better temperature and pressure performance. Moreover, after I added pressure controls and got very painstaking on temperature, the shots did not improve, although it allowed for more latitude. Finally, I get interesting and tasty flavor variations by changing dose and grind. In contrast, changing any of the variables on many other machines reveals that the shots are lousy outside of a tight "sweetspot" range.

The conclusion to this is obvious. There is a factor to espresso extraction that we are hardly aware of, and that the Semiautomatica does a lot better than most other machines on the market.

I've given up asserting performance from spec sheets or similarly designed models. The carefully prepared temperature and pressure profiles you'll find posted on HB are interesting, but again, I no longer believe they have strong inference value to the result in the cup, rather they "support" the conclusions we've already drawn from tasting.

[timo888]

The beginning barista must learn first and foremost about grind/dose/tamp and then about the effects of temperature. Temperature knowledge doesn't have to be too nuanced at this stage. The beginning barista is like Goldilocks testing the porridge: too hot, too cold, just right. Pressure is not usually under the barista's control, with the exception of manual levers.

Almost any decent espresso machine will provide ample opportunity for the beginning barista to learn about grind/dose/tamp. The challenge of selection comes into the play when the beginner's goal is to pull shots for friends and guests, three, four, five, six in a row. Few domestic machines made today selling for under $700 can handle that challenge very well; they tend to overheat. Owners of the Lusso claim it can handle four shots in a row with grace.

Maybe the new raft of double-boiler machines in the ~$700 price range might be worth exploring: KitchenAid Professional and the Ascaso Dream, for example. But only if double-boiler. Expobar Cremita is another that might reach these shores this year.

Regards
Timo

[HB]

The challenge of selection comes into the play when the beginner's goal is to pull shots for friends and guests, three, four, five, six in a row. Few domestic machines made today selling for under $700 can handle that challenge very well; they tend to overheat.

I assume you refer to most home lever machines, as that's not true for single boiler machines (e.g., Silvia, Alexia) or any HX machine.

Frequently online discussions revolve around two issues: Temperature management and crema production. And yet I believe they are the least challenging problems for most baristas beyond one months' practice. Diagnosing extraction problems and correlating desired flavor profiles with dosing and grind setting, for example, are far more difficult. A machine that has forgiving extraction characteristics benefits the new owner and the experienced owner alike, hence why it influences two Buyer's Guide scores (i.e., the exceptional espresso and "morning after" score).

To be honest, it's difficult to answer Shannon's question because her chosen price point straddles two classes of espresso machines (high-entry and semi-commercial). The good news is that although top-end espresso equipment isn't cheap, the prices flatten out faster than many consumer products (e.g., stereo equipment, TV, sports equipment like golf clubs, bicycles, etc.).

[timo888]

I assume you refer to most home lever machines, as that's not true for single boiler machines (e.g., Silvia, Alexia) or any HX machine.

I was actually thinking of the HX machines that tend to run hot because the thermo flow in the group is too generous, resulting in the need for cooling flushes between shots. Not all HXes are created equal. But you're right, with the right design, HX handles the multiple-shot overheat issue.

If you steam, Silvia and the two-temp single boilers require more temp surfing than I have patience for, but that's a matter of personal temperament.

Regards
Timo

[another_jim]

One of the problems in giving advice is that people's satisfaction depends on lots of little things. In most cases, when people do a modicum of research, they are happy with their purchases. So the trick is analysing when people are dissatisfied after doing their research.

One is simple upgradeitis. There is no way to avoid this. Initially people are uncertain whether they will make a hobby out of coffee; when they find out that they have the passion, they devote more time and money to it. This is a good thing; and people looking for the last machine or grinder they will ever buy are kidding themselves. They'll either find it's not their thing, and will have overspent; or they'll find it is, and will have underspent.

The next is the geek factor: "I read this machine is stable to 0.1F, and this piece of garbage is varying by 2F." I have little sympathy for this complaint, unless its by Sean, Lino, Greg or Andy, who promptly proceeded to build something better. Rest assured, absolutely no machine ever has performed as well on objective tests as its supporters claimed. If this bothers you, get a wheelbarrow of cash and get Synesso, or one of the aforementioned worthies, to put something together for you.

This brings me the most important reason people are unhappy with well researched purchases -- the killing little annoyances. Every machine has them; and if it's one that yanks your chain, it won't matter how good the machine is, it'll get to you. There's a raft of unsatisfied E61 owners who found having to flush 5 to 8 ounces a complete imposition. I find the torque required by the Silvia's PF a similar major league annoyance -- I want to give the PF a nonchalant tap, and not arm-wrestle it. For other people it's emptying driptrays, or droning pumps, or PF sneeze.

There's always annoyances with machines; but usually they aren't ones that push your buttons. My minor annoyances with the Tea were that the polished stainless was a magnet for water stains, and that the automatic boiler fill messed up shots - the Elektra's clearcoat is a lot easier to shine, and the manual boiler fill is clearly a better idea for vibe pump machines. However, these weren't so bad that I got rid of the machine; my move to the Elektra was prompted mostly by aesthetics after having moved to a nicer apartment with high cabinets. The Innova conical, on the other hand, was a very good grinder, probably better than most commercial flat burrs; but after a month, I couldn't stand the noise it made.

I'm not sure if this helps people when selecting machines. It's hard to predict what will get your goat. But you'll be spending a lot of time with the machine; and it's quality time, where you focus on what's in front of you, and step away from the noisy chaos of everyday life. If you think about doing that; it may be easier to figure what would spoil it for you, and avoid any machine that does it.

[miKe mcKoffee]

The challenge of selection comes into the play when the beginner's goal is to pull shots for friends and guests, three, four, five, six in a row. Few domestic machines made today selling for under $700 can handle that challenge very well; they tend to overheat.

I assume you refer to most home lever machines, as that's not true for single boiler machines (e.g., Silvia, Alexia)...

May be true for Alexia but my Thermofilter testing when I still had Miss Silvia agrees 100% with Timo. Shot temp creep in a series was a reality and with fully hour plus pre-heated PID Silvia. By shot 3 in a series temp up ~5f compared to shot one, by shot 6 or 7 in a series up a whopping ~12f then stabilized. Hence the need for PID rope heater group mod' to stabilize the group shot temp...

[timo888]

One of the problems in giving advice is that people's satisfaction depends on lots of little things.
...

This brings me the most important reason people are unhappy with well researched purchases -- the killing little annoyances. Every machine has them; and if it's one that yanks your chain, it won't matter how good the machine is, it'll get to you. There's a raft of unsatisfied E61 owners who found having to flush 5 to 8 ounces a complete imposition.
...
It's hard to predict what will get your goat ... it's quality time, where you focus on what's in front of you, and step away from the noisy chaos of everyday life. If you think about doing that; it may be easier to figure what would spoil it for you, and avoid any machine that does it.

I agree emphatically with this, especially the part about stepping away from the noisy chaos of everyday life. Silvia's industrial-sounding pump made me feel as though I were in an espresso factory; it would wake my wife upstairs if I wanted to make an early morning cappa. Their silence is one of the reasons I like lever machines. But annoyances and pleasures are subjective. It is said that Anton Dvorak used to compose in the kitchen amid the sound of pots and pans. There are people for whom the pump would be a hypnotic musical drone that would help them filter out the other noises of everyday life. Some people feel quite at home among flickering red LEDs; others would be reminded of the morning alarm clock and feel a twinge of anxiety. To be properly "fit" with an espresso machine, the would-be purchaser should fill out an online Espresso Psycho-Profile. We could develop the first HB-DSM.

Regards
Timo

[Marshall]

May be true for Alexia but my Thermofilter testing when I still had Miss Silvia agrees 100% with Timo. Shot temp creep in a series was a reality and with fully hour plus pre-heated PID Silvia. By shot 3 in a series temp up ~5f compared to shot one, by shot 6 or 7 in a series up a whopping ~12f then stabilized. Hence the need for PID rope heater group mod' to stabilize the group shot temp...

But, in the real world at home, the OP is not going to be serving straight espressos to a line of 5 people whose feelings will be hurt if she is 5F off her ideal.

Since the OP says she almost never makes milk drinks, I doubt that coffee for lots of guests is a major issue. If I were the OP, I'd go with a PID'd Silvia or a Quick Mill Alexia (currently $775 w/free shipping at Chris Coffee). Avoid the heat exchanger, if you're just doing straight espresso, especially, if you are not highly experienced.

[miKe mcKoffee]

But, in the real world at home, the OP is not going to be serving straight espressos to a line of 5 people whose feelings will be hurt if she is 5F off her ideal.

Since the OP says she almost never makes milk drinks, I doubt that coffee for lots of guests is a major issue. If I were the OP, I'd go with a PID'd Silvia or a Quick Mill Alexia (currently $775 w/free shipping at Chris Coffee). Avoid the heat exchanger, if you're just doing straight espresso, especially, if you are not highly experienced.

By the 5th shot in a series with Silvia, whether for straight shot or whatever, it isn't ~5f high but rather closer to ~12f high which can make a HUGE difference even with milked drinks. And it was precisely those couple times a year I entertained a dozen plus that showed Silvia's glaring over heating tendency before I had the use of a Thermofiliter to test and confirm it. The original OP stated would be entertaining a couple times a year so I believe it's a valid consideration.

OTH Alexia would not have the group temp creep tenancies in a series having an E61 group.