Hi everyone.
This is my first time to post here. Heaps of good info on the site but I'm struggling to find an answer that suits my situation:
I've had a Breville Cafe Roma for about 18 months. I bought it 2nd hand off a friend in as new condition for the princely sum of $20. It has given my wife and I many good coffees; not great, but good. It gets used to make around 2-4 cups/day on average. Almost always milk drinks.
We started out with pre-ground coffee which we thought was a huge improvement over instant and I have since bought a Sunbeam EM0480 which we have been using for about 6 months with fresh beans and getting some fairly good results. I am not considering changing the grinder at any time soon.
The Cafe Roma has had a few parts fail, I replaced the group head seal and the locking collar a while ago because it cracked and leaked. Now it is leaking again, so I think it is time to upgrade the machine.
I have been considering a few options but can't make up my mind. I have narrowed it down to three contenders:
1. Sunbeam Cafe Series EM7000 ~$860.00
PID twin thermoblock
Commercial size portafilter (not sure on actual size) with single wall filters
Pre-infusion
Hot water tap
Pressure and milk temp gauge
Quiet
Matches the grinder
2. Breville Infuser BES840 ~$520.00
PID single thermoblock
54mm portafilter with single and dual wall filters
Pre-infusion
Hot water tap
Pressure gauge
3. Rancillio Silivia V3 ~$650.00
Single boiler
Commercial size portafilter
No pre-infusion
No PID
No hot water
Loud
We would like to make coffees efficiently for up to about 5-6 people some times, but not very frequently. Is the Sunbeam worth the extra money over the Breville?
I'm pretty much discounting the Silvia because, although I think I would persevere with it to try to make great coffee, my wife and others will find it too frustrating and hard to use.
Please feel free to offer advice and opinions, or even throw some other options in there if I've missed some.
Thanks in advance
krusty
This is my first time to post here. Heaps of good info on the site but I'm struggling to find an answer that suits my situation:
I've had a Breville Cafe Roma for about 18 months. I bought it 2nd hand off a friend in as new condition for the princely sum of $20. It has given my wife and I many good coffees; not great, but good. It gets used to make around 2-4 cups/day on average. Almost always milk drinks.
We started out with pre-ground coffee which we thought was a huge improvement over instant and I have since bought a Sunbeam EM0480 which we have been using for about 6 months with fresh beans and getting some fairly good results. I am not considering changing the grinder at any time soon.
The Cafe Roma has had a few parts fail, I replaced the group head seal and the locking collar a while ago because it cracked and leaked. Now it is leaking again, so I think it is time to upgrade the machine.
I have been considering a few options but can't make up my mind. I have narrowed it down to three contenders:
1. Sunbeam Cafe Series EM7000 ~$860.00
PID twin thermoblock
Commercial size portafilter (not sure on actual size) with single wall filters
Pre-infusion
Hot water tap
Pressure and milk temp gauge
Quiet
Matches the grinder
2. Breville Infuser BES840 ~$520.00
PID single thermoblock
54mm portafilter with single and dual wall filters
Pre-infusion
Hot water tap
Pressure gauge
3. Rancillio Silivia V3 ~$650.00
Single boiler
Commercial size portafilter
No pre-infusion
No PID
No hot water
Loud
We would like to make coffees efficiently for up to about 5-6 people some times, but not very frequently. Is the Sunbeam worth the extra money over the Breville?
I'm pretty much discounting the Silvia because, although I think I would persevere with it to try to make great coffee, my wife and others will find it too frustrating and hard to use.
Please feel free to offer advice and opinions, or even throw some other options in there if I've missed some.
Thanks in advance
krusty

. In addition to that, parts are easy to come by and if you want to go down the modification route (PID etc.) there are quite a few aftermarket kits and installers out there. Speaking as the owner of a Silvia V3, the one drawback (that is, if you really want the machine to live up to it's coffee making potential) is that banging out more than 2 coffees does take a little longer and is quite involved (do a search on temp surfing in a Silvia). I cannot speak for the other machines (although I did consider them prior to the Silvia) but if you have the patience to learn about the brewing and frothing, with good beans, you can reproduce near cafe-quality coffee for the Silvia and definitely better than the Cafe Roma (which I owned prior to the Silvia).
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