Hi all,
I'm another new member with a burning interest and a lot of uncertainty in how to go best about beginning my home setup. I was raised Mormon and never tasted coffee until about 6 months ago when my world exploded and now I can't get enough of good coffee. Apologies for adding to the gamut of new brewer equipment help posts - it must be frustrating to answer the same sorts of things over and over.
For the past 3 months I've been using an EM5000 from gumtree with a hand grinder, which at the time was magical to have at home. Now I am deeply eager to improve what I have - I feel like I need to catch up on all those years of good coffee I missed! I have since upgraded to a mazzer super jolly (gumtree!) and now want something to match it in the espresso machine department.
I am lucky enough to not worry unduly about finances, but given it's my first foray into home espresso I feel uneasy about spending large (>$1000) for an espresso machine without having explored it as a passion first. The last thing I want is to spend big before realising I'm not interested in the cleaning and maintenance required to truly make the most of my equipment.
I would likely make 2-4 milk based drinks daily for myself and wife, unlikely to see much more use with any regularity.
Having read at length many of the other (probably very repetitive for you all) posts of those in similar circumstances, the overall sentiment I get is that quality components, durability and resale are of great merit which makes perfect sense to me. As a result, I'm most interested in the italian/non appliance machines. My concern comes because I feel like to get one of those machines would require me to look second hand most likely, and my relative inexperience in machine maintenance would mean that when I purchase one I would have zero idea whether it's close to failure vs a good deal. The risk profile is high because I lack the capacity to recognise a dud.
Here are my options (as I see them):
1) New appliance-style machine
- Ie Breville (~350-400 for a new Infuser) to get a better sense of my wants/interests, and for ease of use (no temp surfing, wife able to use without requiring education, etc)
2) Used Italian single boiler (~300-700 depending on model/opportunity)
- Ie Silvia/Gaggia/Lelit
- Classics, well regarded, frustrating to make multiple milk drinks, temp surfing/machine play required
3) Used Hx machine
- Ie seen a few La Cimbali m21s for 800-1200, expobar office auto ~700, La Nuova Era Cuadra ~800
- More expensive (and thus more risky) used purchases.
4) New italian single boiler (gaggia/silvia/lelit) for ~1k
- Safer option, quite appealing and can be done with warranty and support from a site sponsor.
If I were asked to say what I wanted right now I think I would grab a lelit 41TEM based on what I've read, but the prospect of a high quality, maintainable used Hx machine is tantalising.
Would be delighted to be given any opinions on how you more expert home brewers would approach the situation, and even more delighted to be told about other options I hadn't considered fully (or at all)
If you were in my shoes, with my sort of considerations, how might you proceed and why?
I'm another new member with a burning interest and a lot of uncertainty in how to go best about beginning my home setup. I was raised Mormon and never tasted coffee until about 6 months ago when my world exploded and now I can't get enough of good coffee. Apologies for adding to the gamut of new brewer equipment help posts - it must be frustrating to answer the same sorts of things over and over.
For the past 3 months I've been using an EM5000 from gumtree with a hand grinder, which at the time was magical to have at home. Now I am deeply eager to improve what I have - I feel like I need to catch up on all those years of good coffee I missed! I have since upgraded to a mazzer super jolly (gumtree!) and now want something to match it in the espresso machine department.
I am lucky enough to not worry unduly about finances, but given it's my first foray into home espresso I feel uneasy about spending large (>$1000) for an espresso machine without having explored it as a passion first. The last thing I want is to spend big before realising I'm not interested in the cleaning and maintenance required to truly make the most of my equipment.
I would likely make 2-4 milk based drinks daily for myself and wife, unlikely to see much more use with any regularity.
Having read at length many of the other (probably very repetitive for you all) posts of those in similar circumstances, the overall sentiment I get is that quality components, durability and resale are of great merit which makes perfect sense to me. As a result, I'm most interested in the italian/non appliance machines. My concern comes because I feel like to get one of those machines would require me to look second hand most likely, and my relative inexperience in machine maintenance would mean that when I purchase one I would have zero idea whether it's close to failure vs a good deal. The risk profile is high because I lack the capacity to recognise a dud.
Here are my options (as I see them):
1) New appliance-style machine
- Ie Breville (~350-400 for a new Infuser) to get a better sense of my wants/interests, and for ease of use (no temp surfing, wife able to use without requiring education, etc)
2) Used Italian single boiler (~300-700 depending on model/opportunity)
- Ie Silvia/Gaggia/Lelit
- Classics, well regarded, frustrating to make multiple milk drinks, temp surfing/machine play required
3) Used Hx machine
- Ie seen a few La Cimbali m21s for 800-1200, expobar office auto ~700, La Nuova Era Cuadra ~800
- More expensive (and thus more risky) used purchases.
4) New italian single boiler (gaggia/silvia/lelit) for ~1k
- Safer option, quite appealing and can be done with warranty and support from a site sponsor.
If I were asked to say what I wanted right now I think I would grab a lelit 41TEM based on what I've read, but the prospect of a high quality, maintainable used Hx machine is tantalising.
Would be delighted to be given any opinions on how you more expert home brewers would approach the situation, and even more delighted to be told about other options I hadn't considered fully (or at all)
If you were in my shoes, with my sort of considerations, how might you proceed and why?

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