Hi All,
I've been stalking this site for a few months now and have finally convinced my better half that the money's worth it, so just thought I'd confirm with the wisdom of coffee snobs before I take the plunge.

Background
We're both complete newbies.
I had a cheap single boiler machine I used to play around with, and even grew and roasted our own beans a couple of times, but the old machine died about the same time we moved (1,700 km) a couple of years back, so my wife liberated her nespresso machine from work and we've been using it since.

I've been missing real coffee and have been working my way up to this for a couple of months. I'll be happy to play to some extent, but things need to be fairly easy if my wife's going to use it.


Wants and Desires
  • We're both currently working from home, so would average eight (8) coffees a day, (four lots of two)
  • It will mainly be cappuccino's, and the occasional machiatto
  • We tend to have people over during the week / weekend, which could be 4-6 milk coffees at a time. (~once a week)


Current Thoughts
I've been reading (and rereading) all the comments for a while, and have basically decided on an Oscar II from casaespresso with the OPV fitted.

The other option on the short list was the Breville BES920.

I did like the look of some of the other recommended machines, and while I'm both handy enough and interested enough to fit my own PID or other mods, it really needs to be simple enough for my wife to use, and preferably without having to change 'modes' between espresso and milk for instance.


So am I making the right decision, or what am I missing ?

Thanks,
- New guy looking for reassurance ;-)