If I may ask a related question, what does one do if the water is indeed too hard and a water softener is out of the question? I live in a small condo with no way to install a household water softener. Is bottled water the only option, or are there smaller softeners out there? As in

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions! I found one more variable I forgot to take into account: Barista Incompitance After poking around yesterday, I looked at the "Espresso Machines 101" and "Espresso Machines 201" ... and found a huge mistake. I'd been assuming the steam switch just enabled...

Hi all! Newbie here, I've had my machine for only a few weeks now. I'm using a DeLonghi EC140, a Breville BCG450XL conical burr grinder, and a RSVP Terry's Tamper. I've been mostly lurking, and trying to refine my technique. I'm not really getting anywhere though, and seemed to take a large step bac...