Brief backstory, 10+ year owner of Elektra A3 and La Cimbali Junior Max grinder. Building a new house and have the opportunity to plan a nice espresso bar space, plumbed in, sink, etc. All good. Except Elektra seems to be going. I will be honest, unlike many posters on this forum, I am not religious about cleaning maintenance etc. Just falls low on priority scale. So in the move I get the bonus of acquiring a new machine and grinder! Yay me!

My question for opinions, I would like a machine that is simple enough and bullet proof enough that the times I am not there the wife can just dose, tamp and go with little thought on flow, pressure, grind, etc and get a reasonably decent shot. Think "I fill this thingy by pushing this button and put it in there and push this button?" type operation. To know her is to love her, but she has no patience nor interest in learning the ritual and delicacies of dialing in a shot, she just wants her damn coffee with steamed milk. So one might say, why not just get some super automatic like a Jura and be done. But I enjoy the ritual and want to be able to experiment with different profiles and my latte art, etc. So the machine also has to have that capability. Did I mention I am not religious about maintenance? I mean I am pretty good about back flush, but that's about it. So machine ideally is solid. I live in a college town so repair is at best a 4 hour drive away at worst a pack on pallet job.

Searching the forum for "wife espresso" I have found a thread or two that basically talks about how we have work-arounds with our wives for this situation, prefilling PF, drawing grinds in advance etc. I know there are folks that are in the same dilemma as me, wife loves the coffee we make for them, but as soon as we are not there, "why did you buy this expensive toy, I cant make coffee in this, im too intimidated, I dont understand, etc"

The DE1+ looks intriguing given its simple interface and push button approach, feature set and price point. But new tech? IDK, happy to hear any opinions, horror stories or encouragement. Oh and fortunately money is not too much of a concern, I mean hard to justify 8k on machine so I guess that is the upper bound lol. Thanks!

I'm one of those thread-makers about the wife making espresso.

I think I'll get a Decent soon and think it will be great for me to play on and her to just hit a button. Here are some of my thoughts:

-Grinder may be most important, since it's a key factor in being able to dose, tamp, go. Yes, almost all of us will play with getting the distribution just right, but a good grinder can make it so you don't HAVE to do all that to still get a decent flow of espresso. Hopper and reliable timed/weighed dosing also helps her feel confident and that it's quick and easy (even if when I use it I still double check the weight, she doesn't really have to). My wife wasn't pleased with my thoughts of changing grinders to something more hands-on.

-Volumetrics in whatever form, seem to be the most important thing for my wife to feel comfortable with the espresso machine. If she can just hit a button and put the cup under it's great. She's not going to worry about setting the scale there and thinking enough to stop the flow at a certain weight or time. I even have one button set for the cooling flush. (But this gets more confusing as I have to tell her which button is for what, but still, it's good).

-The final factor I'd say is forgivability... Maybe hard to guess if one machine has it over another but the slower initial flow can help make a bad puck still work ok. Or I hope the Decent's ability to adjust on the fly by itself to keep the right flow might help her if she didn't prepare the basket just perfectly. My e-61 certainly does better than the Silvia in this regard.

I guess some coffees are easier than others too... so you may have to just stick with easier ones. Idk.

Thanks! I agree, the more I have thought about it, getting the right grinder is probably just as if not more important. Its been so long since I have looked at grinders, any suggestions?

Any thoughts on machines other than Decent? Ah nice to feel not alone on the spousal factor

Fwiw I've found that using a distributor instead of a tamper was easier for my girlfriend and all i do is dial in the grinder. She uses the scale and a funnel to get the coffee into the portafilter and then uses the distributor to level. We use a vario to single dose and an older breville dual boiler with a timer set to 30 seconds. She's in the same boat as your wife with wanting a good latte in the morning but without having to deal with the fuss of dialing in.

I don't have a recommendation for machines but for workflow you could go for the lyn weber bean cellars or go diy with a block of wood and some test tubes. No need for the non primary user to weigh out the doses. One less thing to think about for everyone's routine.

I have the DE1, but my wife had not quite dared try it yet. But, for perspective, I am old enough that I learned programming on punch cards and have used computers ever since. You can set the DE up to be very pushbutton. Steaming is easy and great.

A Vivaldi might be a potential too. Great coffee, and you can program the single and double volumes to make it really predictable. I had a Vivaldi for about 8 years and my wife was very comfortable with it.

You can take a look at the Lelit Elizabeth or the Breville Dual Boiler. They both have programmable buttons for timing.

This should make the wife happy. I am looking to upgrade from a Barista Express and both are on my short list and the price is really good for Dual Boiler machines.

I would for sure get a double boiler. You might consider a Vivaldi or a good E61 machine (like Profitec 700), both of which are fairly bulletproof. Buy it form a vendor who will give you good service and support (Chris Coffee and Clive both come to mind). The Profitec looks to be very easy to work on/fix things if the need arises. Regarding a grinder, look at the Niche which is stellar for the price or possibly the Eureka mignon line. Both are excellent for single dosing.

Too many of us are in this same boat!

I think people are still thinking in the minds of enthusiasts with the single dosers. People not engrossed in the hobby could care less about single dosing, even if it's in a premeasured tube.

My suggestion for grinder would be something hopper/timed dosing. K30, peak, e37S, atom line, etc.. lots of good options out there.

For the machine, something with volumetric option would be helpful. GS3 AV, La Spaziale Vivaldi, Breville DB, or maybe a decent. Like you said, she wants to push as few buttons as possible to get good coffee. That way you can set it up for easy workflow, and she will make coffee without too much fuss.

Since you are building a house and will have it plumbed in\out, take full advantage of that with some of the higher end options mentioned. You might give a few vendors a call to discuss as well. Clive, Prima and Chris Coffee all have great customer service without being pushy or salesy.

Best of luck to you and your wife!

I'll echo what others have said. Get volumetric dosing. Pre-infusion is nice too. My rotary pump is much more forgiving since I updated the control board for pre-infusion.
I've got a Vivaldi S1 and had my brother making shots when he came to visit in about 5 minutes. I was going to be gone while my parents were visiting for a week and taught my dad to make americanos for themselves and lattes for my wife in about 10 mins.

As others have said, the grinder is also important. I'm not suggesting a certain grinder, but with the Vivaldi and a Sette I have super super easy workflow. I hold the portafilter holder low and move it in a circle to fill, then level flat. Gives me spot on 17g every time. My workflow wouldn't work well for experimenting with different SO beans, but for the 5lb bags of house/comfort blend I use it is great. No scales, no WTD, no water sprits. Picking a grinder that allows for minimal basket prep is as important as the machine in terms of being "wife ready".