I was very happy with my Carezza, but not until I got a Mazzer Mini. Before that I tried a $100 Breville grinder, and later a Rancilio Rocky. Acceptable results, but not "good" until the Mazzer. Later I upgraded the Carezza to one of the hulking E61 machines everyone talks about around here. Guess what, it's more fun to use but the coffee did not drastically improve (compared to the grinder upgrade).

Now... onto the barista skills and coffee. You are fortunate to live in Southern California... if I were you I would make the 2 hour drive out to Venice Beach and go to the Intelligentsia shop there. You can watch the baristas do their thing, try some great espresso, buy some great beans, and even take a barista training class. Check it out.

If you do all of those things, you can probably leap forward several months in your espresso understanding.

Also, don't miss Klatch Roasting in the San Dimas area -- they also do training (not sure how much it costs or whether it is oriented to consumers), they have some great espresso blends, and they are closer to you than Intelligentsia.

Hey thanks Ryan. Those are some awesome resources. Mazzer mini huh? Well i'll see what I can do. Its certainly encouraging to hear that the carezza is not a complete POS.

Klatch roasting looks pretty awesome too. Have you taken classes? Were they useful? Seems like the site provides more than enough info although hands on is always nice.

After reviewing all the info I'm probably going to start looking for a Mazzer mini. Sounds like this is the best way to go and will actually give me some ability to control variables

Carezza has the same guts - boiler, grouphead, PF, pump etc. as the more expensive Gaggia models like the Classic and the Baby. It lacks the three way solenoid valve meaning you need to wait a bit for pressure to go down before pulling off PF handle after a shot but it's capable of making great shots. Many of us who eventually migrated to more expensive machines started with Gaggia (me included) and can attest.

Getting coffee ground by the shop to espresso grind won't really help. It won't stay fresh enough for long enough and the grind may be a bit different than what you end up needing. Here's another vote for "get a decent grinder". At a minimum you need a Solis Maestro but a Zass hand grinder will give a slightly better grind for less $$ if you find a decent used one. Or jump to the $200 price point and you'll have plenty more options.

Hey, looking at some grinders I found a used one called "Mr. Espresso grinder". It looks legit and high quality from the specs.

http://www.mrespresso.com/mach_espgrinder.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/nco/bfs/1309483647.html

What do you guys think of this? I think its a Bregant DSQ. Thoughts?

I think you should head over to ebay, and search for Mazzer. You can almost always find a used mazzer super jolly or major for around 300-500 bucks. Add a new set of burrs and its good to go. If its looks beat up, you can paint it, but you dont have to. They are built like tanks and last forever, and are arguably, the best of the best. Ive got a Major and absolutley love the thing. Its my baby, and it never, EVER, lets me down. Beautiful, delicious, consisteny shots, every time. Mini's pop up on ebay too, and are smaller sized so are more "home-friendly", but if you can get a major, or even a superjolly, Id get one of them. The Mini is good, no doubt about that, but the super jolly is better, and the major is one more step better. Its pretty hard to have "too much grinder". Most of us have grinders that are "too much", and yet, continue to want bigger and better ones.

What if told you i found that Bregant for $85 ? And I have been looking on ebay for those mazzers.

There's a thread on it here

http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machines/390421

This issue has been well discussed here but just to add one more note, I use the $89 Capresso Infinity with my Carezza and it makes fantastic crema with a bit of preheating and temp surfing. You may not be able to dial in the Infinity quite as fine as some of the stepless grinders but once you find the right roast and the right step you're good to go. I agree with all posters about fresh roasted coffee - I buy my espresso beans from a local coffee shop. It goes stale within about a week so I buy their minimum which is a half pound. Any longer and it doesn't produce good crema.

+1.

Joe, welcome to Home Barista! Your comment about crema is all well and good, but it's a bit like those posts with a picture of a great looking espresso, and asking how it tastes . . . one taste is worth a thousand pictures.

Now before you think I am picking on you -- I'm not -- bear in mind that there have recently been some threads about crema and the role it plays in espresso. Most notable is the thread entitled "Crema is Rubbish" . . . it's worth taking a look at. I actually disagree with the conclusion, or at least the results of my "taste tests" were different, but I do find it an intriguing concept.

Cheers,
Jason

Agreed, I felt that the topic was pretty well covered here, just trying to make the point that you can make some version of great espresso with an inexpensive grinder but not without the right roast and fresh beans. Personally, I can't get good extraction and the range of flavors that I'm looking for without producing good crema. I can burn or overextract some shots and still get crema that appears good - that's the nature of the game, especially with a cheap machine.