A hand grinder and a lever machine are both a silent and very economical way to good espresso st the office.

overdose wrote:I was considering a hand grinder and a pour-over setup or an espresso machine.

A high quality hand grinder like the Lido 2 or 3 will accommodate both espresso and manual brewing methods. It's hard to recommend a lower-cost option as a long-term solution. But there are certainly many entry-level hand grinders from which to choose.

I set up a lever machine at the office last year, but it was a very welcoming environment. If you're not sure how that would go over, I'd start with a brewing setup. The simplest options are probably pour-over (V60 or Kalita Wave), Clever coffee dripper or Aeropress. (Press pot is an option, but clean up might be more of an issue.) If you get something that isn't glass or ceramic, it can double as your travel brewer.

I will check into the Lido. I was considering a bezzera strega for home but that could be good for work as well. I will probably try the pour over setup first. Thanks guys.

dominico wrote:A hand grinder and a lever machine are both a silent and very economical way to good espresso st the office.

This claim kept gnawing at me, so I got out the sound meter and measured. My motorized Versalab makes a lot of noise: 90-95 dB, which is too loud to talk over. The pump machine, LM GS/3 is about 75 dB while making espresso, and 70-75 dB while steaming. But the HG-One is a very far from quiet 85 dB while grinding. That's louder than the insides of most cars on the highway.

Now my sound meter is not calibrated, so there may be a general offset here. But the manual grinder is still about half way between the pump machine (granted, not a loud one) and a motorized grinder.

Best,

Matt

I look forward to more data do comparisons to Pharos and lido db levels

Agreed, maybe the pumps I have used have been just very loud, but I know that my Pharos and Lidos are quieter than any pump I have ever owned. I can grind coffee when my kids are sleeping without a problem. Running my Ascaso Uno most certainly risks waking up kids.

I'm pretty sure the HG-One is at the loud end of manual grinders, given how quickly it eats through 18 grams of coffee. I have a (much slower) Zassenhaus somewhere. If I can find it, I'll take a reading. And vibe pump machines are much louder than rotary, although the rattles from my GS/3 try to make up the difference.

Edit: Found the Zassenhaus. Also 80-85 dB. Looking forward to other measurements!