Heat exchanger espresso machine with volumetric dosing and quick warm up - Page 3

Recommendations for buyers and upgraders from the site's members.
nsuster
Posts: 56
Joined: 3 years ago

#21: Post by nsuster »

HeatXchanger wrote:Thanks for your detailed response. I'm going to be doing a lot of research and reading over the next couple weeks. I thought I knew what I wanted, I'm not so sure anymore :lol:
I definitely encourage you to read everything you can out there to make your decision. I did a lot of research 3 years ago when I decided on a Pro 500.

One additional thought...

You might want to consider going with a slightly cheaper option that has less bells and whistles to start. A person with very little experience with espresso might get overwhelmed by all the options on something like a Decent. You will no doubt have more options moving forward as you progress but you might be tempted to change too many things around early which could impact your learning curve. It took me 3 years on the Pro 500 to feel like I'm finally slightly limited by a HX type of machine. I've learned a ton just by tracking flushing times/temps, how ratios and volumetric control can impact the taste of the shot, shot time, etc. with the HX since it's more of a manual machine.

An analogy is I was going to get my first fancy bike a couple years ago and wanted to jump right into a custom made bike...top of the line since I didn't want to upgrade later. But my local bike shop had great advice...this was a bad idea because I didn't spend enough time on a couple bikes yet to figure out exactly what geometry I would like and how I would prefer the bike to ride. I see the same parallels with my espresso learnings.

HeatXchanger (original poster)
Posts: 9
Joined: 3 years ago

#22: Post by HeatXchanger (original poster) »

Wise words, I appreciate your recommendation.

I have had the Breville infuser for the past year and I'm not an "expert" by any means but I know that espresso is something I'll be sticking with.

I did a fair amount of research and after taking in the input from this forum, I did decided to go with a dual boiler rather than a heat exchanger machine. I finally took the plunge and ordered...

Bezzera Duo DE. I liked it because its got a
- dual boiler
- volumetric dosing
- electronically heated grouphead for fast warm up
- three PIDs (both boilers and group head) for temperature stability
- looks great (wife approved)
- Bezzera has been around since 1901, current owner is the fourth generation.

Its being processed by WLL and will hopefully ship soon. Cant wait!

Thanks,
Arjun

nsuster
Posts: 56
Joined: 3 years ago

#23: Post by nsuster »

Good choice! I think you'll be very happy with the DB vs. the HX. I haven't looked to much into the Duo but I will now since I'm searching for a new machine.

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