Background

Started off with a French press and ground coffee. Heard a coworker grinding beans every morning and caught the bug. Decided to purchase a Mypressi Twist and a Hario Slim 3 years ago. The shots were very inconsistent. In retrospect, I don't know see how the grinder can make anything decent. Opted to spring for a Pharos with voodoodaddy mods. Night and day. Kept reading about tamping, WDT, extraction times and practice, practice, practice.


Current

Been making 1-2 drinks daily (mostly with milk) for the SO. Typically stick with beans from Stumptown, Joe, Cafe Grumpy, Ninth Street Espresso, etc. Recently wondering if a real machine would be better than the current setup of Pharos, Twist, hot water from the Zojirushi and a frother. Noticed that the gas isn't coming out of the Twist like it used to. I often have to hold the trigger for 20 seconds before any air comes out (even without the bowl attached). Looks like I may need a replacement soon.

Began researching different options but getting overwhelmed by the choices, features and unfamiliarity with the brands.

Buy a low end ($500-800), potentially fiddly, machine and risk upgraditis?
Buy a higher end machine ($1-2k) and suffer the financial penalty for a borderline hobby?
Get a replacement Twist despite the uncertain status of the company and questions about suitability for daily use?
Other suggestions?


Concerns

Is a steamer significantly better than using a frother?
What is the typical warm up time since I'm used to pulling shots in less than ten minutes?
Am I going to miss being able to put everything away in a drawer when I'm done? I have limited counter space.
Electrical outlet changes?
Am I insane for considering the pricier units? I don't even drink coffee(!)

residue wrote:Am I insane for considering the pricier units? I don't even drink coffee(!)

Ummm... Yeah, you are crazy, so you might just fit in here.

First off... If you aren't going to drink espresso I'm wondering if you'll keep with it.
I don't generally drink "coffee" either, but good espresso is a whole other world! Hopefully you'll find a balance you like eventually.

You seem quite open to the world of manual machines, so you could consider a small lever machine. Generally levers and a few of the smaller spring levers are going to take up the smallest amount of counter space. Many include a steam wand, which is better than any "frother" I've seen.

My daily machine is a La Pavoni Professional: heat up time is about 10 minutes, great espresso once you get the hang of the machine, modified steam tip works well for steaming microfoam milk, boiler is exposed and a very hot surface, pretty & shiny!
My other machine is a Nuova Simonelli Oscar, and heat up time for that is about 30-40 minutes, easy to use and make good espresso, super steam on that machine, and it's 3x the counter space of the La Pavoni.

The higher end machines will eat up counter space quite quickly, so if that's a concern you'll want to check measurements.

To clarify, I've pulled hundreds of shots with the Mypressi but I'm like the chef that tastes the food but doesn't eat the food. If it keeps the wife happy...

I'm open to levers though the initial reason for the Twist and Pharos is that I wanted better quality and wasn't willing to spend big bucks. I suppose I also thought the more manual process would be a better learning experience and striving for the perfect shot would be a worthy goal even if I wasn't the one consuming.

At first, I researched the low end Gaggias and Silvia, then started looking at the Oscar, La Spaziale, Rocket, Pasquini, ugh.

I'll take a look at the La Pavoni.

If you consider a well-documented used machine and are willing to roll up your sleeves to service it this opens up budget. You can get a well-functioning used machine especially if you buy locally and have the owner demonstrate it to you as part of the sale.

As far as steaming goes, it takes some time to get a feel for it, but then you can do latte art as well as milk drinks that taste good. Can you do latte art with your frother? And if you are almost always making milk drinks, why does the coffee need to be espresso? You can get concentrated coffee that tastes wonderful and achieve temperature control using an AeroPress.

You can also have a look at the Bacchi Espresso. Gives great shots and doesn't take up a lot of room. A small lever would be even better and is more versatile.

There's always the Bezzera BZ07 for $1,199 if you have space concerns. It doesn't get a lot of love around here, but it's only 9.5" wide and is a quality HX. Put it on a $20 appliance timer and you don't have to worry about warm up time.

FWIW to the OP: Another mypressi TWIST rebuild ($49.95+ shippingx2) is on its way back to me...~2-week turn-around (California). I hope this latest iteration of the TWIST lasts more than the typical year...but for <$75 total its worth the $ risk for my portable/camp espresso press.