charlesaf3 wrote:He and I used to love Joe, but he no longer feels it's worth going to... The original Joe was outstanding.

I really only go to the Joe on 13th Street behind the New School. Quality always high; they've never had a large beverage menu; fabulous cardamom cake.

charlesaf3 wrote:I confess I'm not a fan of the Illy capsules, a friend of mine has that machine and I don't find it as good as Nespresso. (!) It might be his machine though, I didn't know there was a difference.

The capsule's a plastic portafilter basket with 7gm of espresso sealed in nitrogen (or whatever). Did your friend's machine do pre-infusion? The Illy site divides their machines up into "espresso" and "multi-beverage", but essentially the Francis-Francis espresso machines would be what you want.

HTH

charlesaf3 wrote:Not for me - I make my espresso on a Linea/Compak. But a good friend of mine can no longer get good espresso anywhere near him in the West Village of New York (Yes, mind boggling and sad). He's drinking Nespresso as a result. In his words, and I'd agree, Nespresso is a 6/10 if you get the right pod.

For various reasons he can't do a proper espresso set up. Is there a superautomatic that will actually be better than his Nespresso? I haven't used a superauto in 20 years. I guess I've had some mediocre espresso from the built in Miele, but it was made for me by the owner, and it would be unfair to judge the Miele under that context.

This guy actually introduced me to good coffee back in the 90s. It pains my soul he is living on Nespresso.

If your mate is willing to "meet halfway" re superauto, he might be satisfied with an Oracle. There is a portafilter, yes. But you take the portafilter and slip it into the grinder forks. It will grind AND tamp for him. Then move it over to lock it into the group. It will pull the shot. It also has a one-touch Americano button where it will automatically dispense water from the spigot into the cup after (or during?) the shot. And if he likes milk drinks all he has to do is put the pitcher under the wand. It will steam the milk and microfoam it (nicely from what I hear) to the temperature of his choice. And then it will auto-purge itself when you remove the pitcher.

So not fully automatic. But all he has to do is place the portafilter, cup, and milk pitcher. The machine does the rest. There is a touch screen version and a knob selector version that is cheaper.

-Peter

I had a Saeco back in 2010 or so. I thought it was better than superautomatics generally get credit for. If you find a coffee that works well with its somewhat limited adjustment range, you can get pretty decent results. At that time I was using Metropolis redline and making very drinkable lattes.

Chris Coffee has a new super auto they say works surprisingly well.

New Super Automatic

I haven't looked for a few years, but I haven't really heard of anything beating the Quick Mill Monza until one gets into Thermoplan/Eversys machines.

thanks for the information all