I never steam milk while pulling a shot either. Is this what a fanboy does?

Bunkmil wrote:+1 I owned a hx machine before my DE1+ and I never took the habit of steaming my milk while pulling a shot. I just like to watch my pours! I would be curious to know what's the proportion of home baristas who actually steam milk while they are pulling shots.

So frothing milk is high on my specs and I don't feel I did the wrong choice when I bought my DE1+. I really like my machine but I wouldn't say that I am a fanboy.

No dog in this fight, but interesting to follow along just because. But I value and appreciate the ability to steam (quickly) while the espresso shot is processed; do it 4-6x every single morning (Slayer). For a temporary set-up I did have a Breville Duo-Temp Pro where, it could be switched to espresso or steam mode; didn't like it. But, to be fair, I think its probably just a personal work-flow priority and probably not a deal breaker for most; except me.

While on subject of exerting my opinion , after trying to manage the output of multiple shots in a row every morning and keep flavor in the cup consistency on target, I wouldn't want to return to an exposed group/e61 style group for the same reason; I would guess the DE1 would have the edge for this application.

I started with the first gen BDB 900. It failed twice and Breville gave me an excellent deal on a BDB 920 XL. It worked well for a year and then needed work. Then it worked well for about 9 months and needed leaking steam valve replacement. Finally got tired of those issues and Breville's refusal to use logic in serving their customer base. Then I bought a Profitec Pro 700 as did a good friend. We were both less than satisfied with the 700's. I sent mine back and bought a Vesuvius II. My friend bought a La Marzocco GS3. We are both very pleased with these machines. Very pleased. My third BDB failed last month after 6 oz steaming rose to 50 secs. It was being used at our desert vacation home. Since we now spend more time in the desert than at our main home, I wanted a quality prosumer machine out there since the Vesuvius will remain at our main home. After testing a Bianca at a coffee shop, and already being very addicted to profiling, the Bianca seemed to be the only prosumer machine for $2500-$3000 that could enable quality profiling while enabling simultaneous 6 oz steaming to 140F. I use recipes of 18/36 or 19/40 using VST 20 oz baskets. While rigging a 920XL to enable profiling is a great option for any current BDB owner, it is still not a solution that even approaches the profiling capabilities of a Vesuvius or a Bianca and after almost two years of profiling, I can't even imagine going back to machines that don't offer profiling. I pair the Compak E5 with the Vesuvius and the Baratza Forte AP with the Bianca as they are both great grinders, especially for single dosing challenges.