Having persisted with a couple of 'appliance' grade coffee machines for several years and getting increasingly frustrated with the quality of coffee, my wife and I are now finally ready to upgrade to a decent coffee machine.
As per usual whenever I look to research a purchase, I invariably end up with scope creep and what started out as a simple exercise to purchase a relatively good coffee machine has now been subsumed by whether or not I need one with PID, do I go for one with built in grinder or separate. If separate what type of grinder is best value, do I need dual boiler???
So I thought instead of going round in circles, I'd ask some questions here and hopefully the answers will help focus my purchase on some suitable candidates.
I have predominantly been looking at the Lelit range and am trying to determine which is the machine best suiting our needs.
How often would we use the machine- Dual or Single Boiler?
We usually make 2-4 coffees of a Friday evening for my wife and I, and similar on Saturday and Sunday morning and nights. We rarely have guests over, so I've doubted whether dual boiler is necessary. I guess I need to know how big an inconvenience would it be if I only had a single boiler but had to make a round of 6 coffees?
To PID or not to PID?
Whilst my wife is a barista.. I am not. And given she has made it clear she has no desire to be my personal home barista. I am wondering whether with my inexperience a PID is important.
Ease of use
As per above, I am not a barista, and have been using appliance level Sunbeam coffee machines for a long time. Stepping up to a Lelit - for a novice like myself- is it going to be daunting?
Importance of size of group handle?
I hadn't given this a thought until looking at a lot of different models, and noting that even within the Lelit range, it's not until you go up to the dual boiler PL60T(V2) that the group changes from a 57mm to a 58mm? Is this an important feature or not?
Grinder
I am keen to make sure I am not having to replace an expensive grinder every year or 2. Is there a consensus as to what provides the best sweet spot between performance, longevity and value for money?
Overall, whilst covering off on the above, I really want a machine that when looked after well, is going to last for a long time. We don't have the disposable income to end up purchasing something that works great, but is unreliable. To justify what is a large purchase for us, we are really after something that is going to last us a long time
Ideally I'd like to keep whole machine + grinder under $2,000, but not sure really if this is realistic. Would consider going above this price point if it is significant to do so in terms of the queries I've raised above.
Thanks in advance.
As per usual whenever I look to research a purchase, I invariably end up with scope creep and what started out as a simple exercise to purchase a relatively good coffee machine has now been subsumed by whether or not I need one with PID, do I go for one with built in grinder or separate. If separate what type of grinder is best value, do I need dual boiler???
So I thought instead of going round in circles, I'd ask some questions here and hopefully the answers will help focus my purchase on some suitable candidates.
I have predominantly been looking at the Lelit range and am trying to determine which is the machine best suiting our needs.
How often would we use the machine- Dual or Single Boiler?
We usually make 2-4 coffees of a Friday evening for my wife and I, and similar on Saturday and Sunday morning and nights. We rarely have guests over, so I've doubted whether dual boiler is necessary. I guess I need to know how big an inconvenience would it be if I only had a single boiler but had to make a round of 6 coffees?
To PID or not to PID?
Whilst my wife is a barista.. I am not. And given she has made it clear she has no desire to be my personal home barista. I am wondering whether with my inexperience a PID is important.
Ease of use
As per above, I am not a barista, and have been using appliance level Sunbeam coffee machines for a long time. Stepping up to a Lelit - for a novice like myself- is it going to be daunting?
Importance of size of group handle?
I hadn't given this a thought until looking at a lot of different models, and noting that even within the Lelit range, it's not until you go up to the dual boiler PL60T(V2) that the group changes from a 57mm to a 58mm? Is this an important feature or not?
Grinder
I am keen to make sure I am not having to replace an expensive grinder every year or 2. Is there a consensus as to what provides the best sweet spot between performance, longevity and value for money?
Overall, whilst covering off on the above, I really want a machine that when looked after well, is going to last for a long time. We don't have the disposable income to end up purchasing something that works great, but is unreliable. To justify what is a large purchase for us, we are really after something that is going to last us a long time
Ideally I'd like to keep whole machine + grinder under $2,000, but not sure really if this is realistic. Would consider going above this price point if it is significant to do so in terms of the queries I've raised above.
Thanks in advance.
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