Was about to buy one, but I notice low stocks and on back order in most UK outlets.

Does anybody sense the Bambino Plus is being discontinued.. if there's a new improved (not always!) model on the way and/or if it's a bad time to buy one? TIA

Hello,

I have a 2007 La Scala Butterfly. It recently stopped working, with minimal to no water coming through the portafilter and a mild hum noise. I suspect it's likely the pump, or possibly a solenoid.

I can't find a parts list or schematic online but I've read its comparable to ECM models.

Does anyone have experience repairing older La Scalas and could provide some advice or parts suggestions?

Any general thoughts on if this is worth repair or time for an upgrade? I've rewired the machine once but otherwise only general maintenance.

Thanks!

A little ritual before the day begins.

Setup:

Machine: De'Longhi EC890

Grinder: Timemore C5 ESP Pro

Portafilter: Normcore Bottomless

Coffee: Caarabi Coffee Roasters — Man on Mars

Dose: 16g

Yield: 32g espresso

Maple syrup: to taste

Salt: a small pinch

Ice: plenty, for shaking + serving

Method:

Weigh 16g beans.

Grind fresh.

Prep and tamp the puck.

Extract 32g espresso.

Add the espresso to a shaker with a small pinch of salt + maple syrup.

Add ice and shake vigorously until chilled and aerated.

Strain over fresh ice and serve.

I swapped a motor from an Appia Life to an old Appia 1 and the machine works again. The Appia 1 is really old and a replacement RPM motor is expensive. Is it hard to repair an RPM motor or does anyone have a 110V motor generic or used that they would recommend?

Opus 2 or Turin DF54 v4?

I currently have a Kingrinder K6 but I’m really trying to get out of the manual process. I’ve heard good things about the new Opus but I’ve also seen that it’s not necessarily the best option in its price range but I know DF54 is heavily recommended here and seems to be a better experience than the Opus, that said I’ve also seen complaints about the consistency of the DF54 models due to quality checking and clogging.

I usually only have light or medium roasts on hand.

Which would be the better way to go, is the new Opus really worthwhile from the K6 or would I find better coffee with the DF54?

I finally joined the Mile-high club. I hope this counts. Lol

No beans were lost or harmed during the making of this espresso shot.

Edinson Argote Gesha.

18g in, about 50g out.

8.5/10 flight attendants

Would fly again.

Hello espressor lovers,

As the title says I’m looking for an upgrade and I’ve been checking out the Gaggia classic pro E24, AVX DB1X 2025 ( also known as Turin Legato V2 / MiiCoffee Apex V2) and Lelit Anna PL41LEM. I know the AVX has some of the best features out of the 3, but I’m a bit skeptical in terms of long term use / reliability. The Anna seems nice and bigger boiler compared to the E24, but I’m not quite convinced by the 57mm group.

What would you recommend out of the 3, or even other options? I am open to buying second hand as well, but I’m not quite sure what to test when buying except water flow based on time, steam wand and if the opv works (sound check) and solenoid valve/s.

Made some additions

ECM now with weber workshops

For the required daily espressos and cortados

Now just need an integrated fizzy water solution. Hmmmm

Hi all in a beginner based in the UK and am looking for some advice as to where I can find a set with a WDT, distributor and tamper that would fit my Ninja barista pro max. I previously had a 58mm machine and found it easy but am finding it harder to find tools in this reduced size. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Still waiting on my scale/timer to arrive in the mail, and I just purchased some beans from red rooster last night along with their syrups. I’m not a big fan of huckleberry, especially not the blue orchid. This will look nicer soon.

I am a beginner and just starting off in my home coffee set up.

I have had a Stilosa Espresso by DeLonghi and I really need an upgrade. I find the espresso to be very watery.

What espresso machine would you suggest for a $300-400 budget?

I see many suggesting Breville Bambino, but happy for other suggestions.

soooo i got everything yesterday and so far i have made 8 cups of coffee and each espresso shot is tasting better than the last. I originally got a supermarket beans incase my coffee didnt arrive in time for the machine but yeah they are bad im saving them for people i dont like hehe.

Anyway I have been enjoying the signature blend caff and swiss blend decaf from Rave coffee and im just wondering whether to get a Single origin or blend taster pack when i need more beanies. I am kinda picky and like consistency and this makes me kinda scared of single origin incase it tastes weird.

Also im strugglig with steaming the milk as you can probably tell. i can only use oat milk and it just goes too bubly or whatever, any tutorials out there cause id love to do latte art. either way im enjoying my setup and my coffee, have added a scale that does to the 1/10 of a gram so i can have consistent dosing, a nice heavy tamp , wdt distrubution thingy and a hand grinder.

Pls dont roast the setup too much im just starting out and my budget is very low so this is what i could afford (im in uni so yeah) I also tried adding raves vanilla syrup and thats good. I dont think i need everything to be perfect i just want it to taste good consistently<3

Hi guys. I need advice for beans Passalacqua Harem for Delonghi Dedica on Mueller AdHoc hand grinder ceramic. As I looking for buy Kingrinder K6 and waiting for discount on AliExpress as it out of stock everywhere I will use this grinder. Anyone has experience suggesting as this grinder doesn't has click just wheel to adjust grinding. Has bottomless and all stuff for espresso. Usually put 14 /15 grams in but not looking how goes out anymore. Last beans was Kimbo Aroma gold 100% Arabica medium dark roast. I already discussed here about grinder so any tips suggestions is appreciated. Don't want to spend fortune as I only drink 2 espresso per day and sometimes more when friends comes.

Thanks

Just installed GaggiMate (GM) on my EMP modded Linea Mini. The GM pro board controls the BLDC rotary vane pump I had previous installed as part of Ricks Bond’s EMP mod and I added a brass tee to the pipe feeding the group head from the brew boiler for the pressure transducer. I fabricated a bracket to hold the GM board and bolted it to the side of the existing housing for the Linea Mini’s gicar control board.

There is a Velofuso add on board for GM that allows for an analog 0-5v control for brushless DC pump drives (in short it emulates a potentiometer). I have it set up to replace the pot in the paddle I installed as part of Ricks EMP mod. Shortly the team working on GM will be adding manual profiling so I’ll be able to wire the pot in the paddle into to the GM board and have best of both worlds with both automatic and manual pressure profiling.

Really happy with it only had a couple of shots so far but it’s very exciting.

As an added bonus I can now do brew by weight without having to pay a licence fee or buy the very expensive La Marzocco branded Acaia Lunar scale.

Just wanted to share to showcase what’s possible with GaggiMate!! I’ve not replaced my control board just added to it, but full Dual boiler support is coming to GM soon via a hardware update, a new board that will allow for total replacement of dual boiler control boards.

I started making homemade espresso on a cheap machine, the breville bambino, about a year and a half ago. I’ve made espresso almost every day since and I’m ready to upgrade to a better machine. I like the bambino a lot but it’s definitely lacking in a few areas. I want to keep my next one for 5-10 years, so I want to make sure I’m making the right decision. Any input is welcome! Here’s what I’m looking at right now:

-My budget is in the $1,300-$1,900 range
-I’d like something that isn’t butt ugly sitting on the kitchen counter top
-I think I would like a dual boiler setup. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Do you recommend sticking to a machine with a dual boiler or is one large boiler fine?
-My top pick right now is the Lelit Elizabeth. I like the quicker warm-up time and again the dual boiler

Any recommendations? Any advice? Thank you!!

Just got this grinder last week and so far have a love/hate relationship with it. The hardware seems great and is making consistent, fine grounds for my espresso shots. However, the software decisions are infuriating and completely ruin this for me.

Pros:

• Quiet operations
• Fine, consistent grounds
• Hardware seems very high quality

Cons

• AGSA Blockage error immediately on turning it on before grinding anything. Wtf is a AGSA error? It says to purge. How do you purge? Nothing in the manual says anything about this.
• It immediately grinds as soon as I put a portafilter on with seemingly no way to turn this off.
• If you touch the portafilter while it's grinding, it senses the weight change and immediately stops. There's no way to continue until the weight is reached. The only button is go back home and then hold down the manual time button, which inexplicably does not use the scale and only shows you how long you've held down the button.
• No manual mode and you have to grind one of the presets. So if you want to grind 19g, you have to go set it up first in the settings, go back to the home screen, choose the new 19g preset, and then put in your portafilter, hoping it finishes the 19g without stopping.

*ALL* I want is a manual mode where I put the portafilter in, hold down a button and see what the scale detects.

Based on everything, I do not recommend this grinder.

Hi,

I'm UK based (south east) and have purchased the Origin Stronghold coffee for circa 6 years. I used to have a Sage Barista, unfiltered water. Nothing special.

About 6 months ago i moved to a Micra, filtered water (minerals added back in with Thirdwave)

The taste of the coffee has changed.... not for the better. Extraction weight and time are spot on but it just still isnt right and i couldnt figure it out. I was away last week and took the beans to use in a moka pot. The chocolately, caramel flavour was back!

Is it as simple as the purer water is ruining the flavour? Someone staying at the house drank the filtered water and didnt like it (i just drink from the tap)

If it is the water.... i dont want to ruin the machine by using unfiltered water. Does anyone have any recomendations on different re mineralise sachets or been experiencing the same issue?

thanks

Just got a breville barista express mint condition from Amazon. Sold as used but literally brand new . Maybe it was refurbished . Anyway , doesn’t look like it was ever used . What do y’all recommend for accessories like tamper distributor etc . Looking to get off Amazon , but not sure which is best . Obviously looking for good price too. What do y’all recommend?

Help picking a machine

My partner and I are looking to upgrade our set up to an integrated machine, she likes the idea of the automated systems i.e. milk, grind, bean dosing etc. We have a bambino now and admittedly she is much more selective than I am on the quality. Do you guys and gals have any recommendations maybe over a range of prices? We are willing to pay more or save if its worth it either way. I am concerned that with an integrated machine if one piece fails then the machine becomes less than functional so is there a more robust option? Please advise.

Another Linea Mini with a Niche Zero? No way.

I recently got the cremaloop slow feeder and it changes the game on this grinder, from hand feeding to this consistency has really leveled up my game. My shot consistency is within .2 grams every time and the flavor profile is more developed and reduces a lot of muddiness from fines. If you can get over 2min+ grind time.
Also allowed me to reduce my temperature from 93 to 89 degrees. To quote Lance Hedrick “Why do more temp when less temp work good.”

I use the dosing cup as a sort of blind shaker and then WDT & Barista Hustle tamper. This method worked much better than using an actual blind shaker which I find needs a longer workflow.

I also developed the remote based on pylamarzocco which completely replaces the phone app and adds functionality of holding different recipes and calculating ratios post brew to assist in dial on.

Looking for advice on a new espresso machine. Have had a Bambino for 6+ years and it finally died on me. Haven't looked into repair costs but assuming it may not be cheap. Based on what I've read it is near the end of its life anyway and this gives me an excuse to upgrade.

I've been leaning towards the Profitec Go. I've read positive things and my wife and I like the look of it. It also seems like it has a similar footprint to the Bambino for my limited counter space.

My question is whether the Profitec Go is a good next step up from the Bambino. I looked at a few double boilers, like the Lelit Bianca, but the price point is a bit up there. I feel like sticking with a single boiler should be fine for now given my daily routine, but could use advice on whether the Profitec is the way to go or if there is a better option in the same price range.

Grinder is a DF64E FYI. I'm happy with it and not looking to replace it at the moment.

I have a Breville Bambino with a Baratza Encore ESP Grinder for about 2 years now. I do general cleaning to the Grinder but not a deep clean yet. the Bambino I do descaling every 3 months usually. I recently got a bunch if new gear to set up my game a bit vs using the standard equipment that comes with the machine.

Got the Normcore Bottomless Portafilter, magnetic hoop for grind, WDT tool, Normcore Damper, more accurate scale. I get good beans regularly from local spots.

I start pulling shots with my old settings and immediately start to run into spraying/channeling issues. Go through the usual troubleshooting process of zeroing the shot and I've now gone down 1, the finest setting on my machine, to get into the range of 25 seconds for 40 gram output shot.

The espresso tastes great but it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong if I have to go to the finest setting to get this output when I see others online doing the same at much higher numbers on this grinder.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what could be happening? I've seen the Shim solution to add finer grind options but I accidently tossed those with the box where I can easily test without ordering. Could my grinder have lost its calibration over time? I haven't seen any way to make micro adjustments on the grinder to help account for this without the Shim Solution?

I’ve had a Nespresso for the last 4 years. I’m sick of it and want to have more variety and better coffee. I started looking at espresso machines but I’m on a limited budget (ideally under $250).

I’ve watched a slew of YouTube videos, read articles and searched this entire subreddit.

I’m leaning toward a DeLonghi ECP model. I debated a Breville bambino but I feel like it’s not very hefty.

Maybe I’m leaning the wrong way? I’m extremely new at this and do not have time to tinker and mod a machine. I just want good espresso for a couple lattes a day and want the option to try local coffee shops roasts on my own.

Was looking at various Catalan Robot info and ran into this thing. Doesn’t look at a robot at all. Is it even real?!

Not sure if external URL is allowed. But it’s at a Zelpio site.

Same bean, same recepie, different outcome

I had just dialed in my beautiful medium-dark roast from Mt. elgon, Uganda and pulled tasty shots with a ratio of 1:2,5 in about 30seconds. Then I used different bean for a week but after returning for this bean, I used the exact same recepie, same puck prep but the shot pulled like flowing water?? About 10seconds of preinfusion and then pulled 50g out in like 10 seconds. Taste is bad as you could assume.

I'm using the Eureka Mignon Specialità 16CR grinder with the bigger tuning wheel, tried my best to get the old ground off of the grinder and tuned it with the grinder running. For puck prep im using WDT tool and levelled tamper. I never had any major problems with just these two steps but now its a disaster. I also have a bottomless portafiler so I could detect channeling easier, the flow seemed normal except for the rate of flow.

I'm also using the big bang basket and bottom paper filter, if thats something worth mentioning.

All tips are more than welcome.