I'll start by saying I've never owned, touched, or even seen a semi auto machine outside of a cafe. Never drank coffee until i recently moved to Portland and it's quickly become a very fun and satisfying hobby. Currently doing pourovers a couple times a week with my fiancee (v60, Kalita, aergrind). When we go out to cafes it's either traditional cap or pourover. Plant based milks only if that's relevant for steaming needs.

Originally i had decided on the gaggia classic pro, but a family member said they wanted to get us a real nice machine for a wedding gift. So i don't know exact budget yet, but want to at least get some help understanding what i want or should be looking for.

Typical usage will be maybe a shot or two during the week, and a cap for my fiancee and i on the weekends. We don't drink a ton of coffee, just really enjoy it. Speed isn't a huge concern of mine so long as my fiancee isn't sitting there with a cold drink waiting on me. And while i doubt I'll be making a ton of milk drinks for a crowd, it would be nice to be able to pull several shots in a row on the rare occasion we are hosting visitors.

Personally, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and am nervous with getting a machine I'll quickly outgrow. If I'm going to invest in espresso, I want to be able to take advantage of all the amazing single origins I can get locally. And since I don't make drinks often, I want something that's going to be fairly repeatable and easy to dial in. There's also zero percent chance I'll be able to upgrade to a different machine later on unless it's 5-10 years down the road.

I was originally looking at an hx machine with a pid but I've read a lot of back and forth of how much you can really dial in the temp, and it seems that will be super important for lighter single origins? But on the other hand double boilers are starting to get really expensive (except maybe lelit Elizabeth or profitec 300). I'm not sure if a high end SB would work for me or not.

I did notice Clive coffee was local so I'll plan to head over there and see if i can test some machines out or at least see them in person. I'm just trying to get some idea of where to start narrowing my search. I will also say I'm an equipment engineer for a living and have no issues upgrading and modifying eventually if needed. For example if i can get a tc on an hx pid machine and be able to dial in shots very accurately, I'd have no problem messing with that eventually (if that makes sense).

Hey CJ, welcome to HB! (And Portland) This forum and it's members, are a wealth of information on all things coffee!

I'm newish to the espresso scene, got mine a few years ago, so i Can't really recommend a machine. I have a La Spaziale mini Vivaldi II. I bought it used.

I definitely recommend going to Clive. They have lots of machines all setup and ready to pull shots. They are super helpful and knowledgeable. They will answer all your questions, pull shots on the machines, and can give you good info on the various qualities of the different machines.

If you'll only make 3-4 shots a week, why not continue enjoying pour overs at home and enjoy espresso outside the home (and it sounds like you have easy access to great espresso)? It'll be far more convenient?

Welcome to the exciting world of espresso! It's lots of fun and very satisfying when you finally get to the end product you like. My wife and I had been using a semi automatic machine ( De Longhi ) for years and could tell we were getting drinks ( mostly Cappuccinos ) that were better than what we'd gotten at the usual coffee shops. I realized that the machine which had a built in grinder could be bettered so we went shopping at a local coffee repair/seller here ion Los Angeles. He's been around a long time and was very experienced. As we walked around his shop I noticed that their in-house machine was a La Spaziale Dream. I spoke with the staff there and they all said they thought this was quality equipment. It was a bit over my original budget however my wife said wisely " get something you will be happy with over the long haul not something that you will be looking to improve on next year. " She was right of course. We got the La Spaziale Dream T ( the version with the tank i.e. not plumbed ). I also ordered and have been using a Niche Zero grinder. As you will read here and in many other places the grinder is extremely important in getting the most from your machine. Do visit coffee shops and hang around here. Good luck!

An important question is, will you only be doing espresso shots or will you need to heat/texture milk? If the former, and, given your low volume, a good hand lever espresso machine such as the Robot, coupled with a quality espresso-capable hand grinder, such as the 1Zpresso JX-PRO. If you're into milk drinks, then there are tons of additional questions

Nunas wrote:An important question is, will you only be doing espresso shots or will you need to heat/texture milk? If the former, and, given your low volume, a good hand lever espresso machine such as the Robot, coupled with a quality espresso-capable hand grinder, such as the 1Zpresso JX-PRO. If you're into milk drinks, then there are tons of additional questions

Definitely milk drinks for the most part. I'm probably the only one of us two who will drink espresso often. But hosting guests may be a different story. Just a small traditional cappuccino though will be good, i can't ever imagine needing to steam huge lattes.

namelessone wrote:If you'll only make 3-4 shots a week, why not continue enjoying pour overs at home and enjoy espresso outside the home (and it sounds like you have easy access to great espresso)? It'll be far more convenient?

That's not out of the question. Still considering that. I definitely don't drink enough coffee that this thing will pay for itself anytime soon. Maybe in a couple years. I would be getting this more for fun, my own hobby, and when we're hosting or just wanting a decaf cappuccino at night or something. And my other thought was, we'll likely be having kids in a couple years, and a shot of espresso will probably be so much better than the 45 minutes it takes for me to make and then enjoy a pourover.

I would highly recommend this the mini Vivaldi. Check it out at Clive. Double boiler. Super easy to use. Great steam pressure. And hot water spout for tea or americanos.

https://clivecoffee.com/products/la-spa ... o-machine/

Whatever machine you end up with get a bottomless portafilter -- it's the single thing that upped my espresso game as you can see and correct your technique. If you try machines at Clive get them to show you one, and ideally use it. I can't remember the last time I used a spouted portafilter.

You could go with a Breville Dual Boiler and Niche Zero combo. Great bang for your buck, fits your budget and checks all your boxes.

Before going into specific machine recommendations, can anyone help kind of explain or narrow down the search to boiler type?

I know db would be ideal but I'm just not sure it's necessary. I'm nervous with hx and dialing in bean to bean or light roasts in general. Or maybe even sb is still on the table for my low usage?

Or am i wrong that this is really the biggest decision to make for now?