Hi,
I love coffee, looking to get into new hobby. The grinder was relatively easy, I will be getting a Compak K10 Fresh. But the espresso machine is a bit of a challenge. From what I've read I don't need a double boiler, but right now I'm looking at the Expobar - Brewtus IV-R for the following reasons: Rotary pump (less noise); consistency (coffee temperature at PID). Plumbing or 110/220 is not a problem either way for me. Opinions would be appreciated.

Arnold

This question comes up a lot. You can search or check out the latest discussion of the tradeoffs in Newbie Introduction to Espresso - Heat Exchanger vs. Double Boiler Espresso Machines.

I would definitely go for the double boiler if it's within your budget. I own an HX (Expobar Office Lever), and while I've "tamed it" and it's a great machine, all of the song and dance required to manage temp control on an HX just seems like an unnecessary pain to me now. There are lots of HB members who argue that HX temp management is simple, and I think it's true that once you learn it it's not very hard, but still, there are tons of discussion threads on this site about managing HX temp (flush-and-go, flush-and-wait, dragon vs. "non-dragon", thermosyphon stall, etc.), so if it were so simple it seems to me all of that discussion wouldn't be necessary. The complexity looks that much worse compared to a PIDed double boiler, where the discussion is basically "press a button and go." My office has a double boiler machine (Breville DB), so since I use both an HX and DB on a daily basis, the comparison to me is pretty stark: it's way easier to use the DB.

If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would definitely spend the extra cash up front and get a double boiler at home.