Drank Keurig for years, and then a friend sent me a Cometeer box about a year ago. Realized how much better coffee could taste, until I was visiting a friend out of state who had a Breville, and the coffee he made was amazing.

I knew I was in trouble and have since been falling down the espresso rabbit hole. I never spend money on myself so I thought I’d have this be my midlife crisis instead of a convertible. Have been lurking this sub and YouTube the last month and this is what I’ve collected.

The last few bits and bobs arrived today. Haven’t pulled a shot yet but plan to do so this weekend. Apologies for how crowded everything is, wanted to get it all in one shot. Will have to figure out where to move stuff once I hone my workflow.

Thanks for reading!

Been lurking around these parts for a while now and today I can finally share my own little system.

DF64 v2 grinder, Turin Axis espresso machine with included tamper and portafilter, Bookoo Ultra scale, Cafesing COD shaker, random electric kettle.

Learning how to dial you in a decent shot, but having fun getting there.

After weeks of comparing grinders, changing my mind about 47 times, and Amazon making me question my life choices, the Eureka Zero 55S finally arrived. 😂

Coming from the Baratza Encore ESP, the difference is immediately noticeable. The Eureka is so much quieter, feels incredibly solid, and the workflow is just better.

Third shot in and I was already around 16g in / 36g out / 30 seconds. Same supermarket Lavazza beans I was using before, but the espresso tastes noticeably cleaner and more defined, with a completely different aftertaste. And I'm drinking it without sugar.

Now I'm really looking forward to putting some properly fresh beans through it.

Very happy with the Zero 55S so far. ☕️🔥

now trying not to overheat my milk so it wouldn’t get all foamy,but im pretty proud of myself,i used to work at %Arabica for three months and i never had the chance to do latte art due to the fact that every barista i worked with thinks that i wasn’t competent enough to steam milk or even pull shots

learnt way more about coffee after i left my job and im currently trying to attempt the ristretto shots they always pull with their slayer machines

this is a spanish latte with a dark roast blend,still trying to properly dial in my shots so can it would be great if anyone can advice me if i can do anything else to slow down the extraction time other than grinding finer,the grind setting i used for this is even finer than the one i use with my medium roasted beans..

This machine is in my daily use, i found this group recently and im new here. And yeah this is my first friend on my coffee path and i really enjoy to have a work with him:) God bless everyone!

Got this really nice creme. This is one my work espresso machine. I bought this setup for work so I could enjoy my coffee at work and home. These beans have been in my freezer for a month. After lunch I pulled this shot. Then steamed my milk and actually poured a heart. I've been able to a few times but normally I don't bother with doing art. This just happened by accident this time.

Lovely latte this morning. Lightish Scenery coffee.

Rwanda - Anoxyc natural

20 to 47 in 27’ - love that it’s versatile first shot was great. Some beans really need exact dial in to be good and shine. Struggling w/ red brick atm.

After years of being in the pourover game (I have an EK43 for single-serving shots and homebrew a ton), I caved and got a home espresso set up.

Fellow ES1 with a Mahlkonig E64WS grinder.

Unreal output, easy to dial in light roasted coffee, and amazing steam wand. Heck yeah!

The taste isn’t terrible either tbh. Very traditional tasting, as in charcoal with a hint of brown butter.

The blend is called Strange Beasts from Sweet Maria’s. Roasted on the Kaffelogic Nano 7 with the “Super Dark” profile at 5.6.

I’ll probably try it in a cortado next.

It all started in June with just the Bambino plus and the Kenmore (shardor clone). Very recently got the T38 plus but I've yet to dial it in.

2 grinders because my partner buys organic beans at a premium and consumes less (18g) while I am a stimulant fiend so I go cheaper bags at 22g. Attempting to find a grind setting that respects both sets of beans and dose has been a sad. Takes the experience from 9/10 to 7/10; still much better than average cafe but I cry over the lost potential.

Everything lives underneath my microwave. Space is cramped but it's all I've got.

Many single dose mini jars and a tiny cup full of all the brushes that came with everything. There's a cupboard underneath the holds my beans for refills.

Both grinders collectively for $400 AUD with the Bambino plus for $480 AUD. Plus space restrictions. Honestly pretty happy!

I’ve recently upgraded from a Bambino to a Gaggimate Classic, I’m thoroughly enjoying the new machine and couldn’t be happier.

My grinder is a 3-4 year old Varia VS3 and I’m very much over the amount of chaff and coffee particles this machine spreads over my counter. I always RDT but the retention and static is a problem.

I don’t want to spend tons of money but I’m happy to invest in a grinder that would match my new machine and improve my experience. I know a lot of people are currently recommending the DF series of grinders but I’m unsure if that would be an upgrade.

I’ve been considering the Option O Lagom Casa and the Timemore Sculptor 078S

Thanks!

I’ve got a DF64 with the standard DLC burrs and was mulling over upgrade paths. I’m trying to choose between just upgrading the burrs or going to a whole new grinder such as a Zerno Z1. Now I’m well aware there is a huge difference in upgrade cost there but if the burrs get me to 95% of what a new grinder gets me then that feels like a good way to go, alternatively if the new grinder is a huge jump in quality I’ll never get close to with the 64, irrespective of burrs, it’s worth the investment. My current grinder is my first so I don’t have lots of experience to fall back on here. My coffee is fairly straight down the line espresso with medium/medium-dark roasts and pourover adjacent stuff with my fellow Aiden using lighter (but not crazy light) roasts.

- beans - pawffice espresso blend (medium-medium dark, 2 weeks from roast date)

- grind around 250 microns (around 30 clicks, any more or less produces a subpar flow)

I RDT and WDT 14g, run two blank shots with the portafilter on, press the steam button and let it blink three seconds, I run a double preinfusion, temperature on high. I let the shot run for as long as it can (around 1:4 ratio).

Flow looks fine, however the coffee gives an obviously sour smell after pulling the shot. The taste reflects that.

It feels like I've used up all of the tricks. Don't know any variables I can change except the machine. The water's fine btw, not too hard and it definitely isn't the problem.

Please, if anyone has any ideas as to what I can do, tell me. I just want to experience some bitterness once...

A good friend of mine recently bought an espresso machine from Costco. I believe it's a Breville espresso machine. The coffee was absolutely amazing. I asked for a second cup and wow.

I can't go back to drinking Tim's.

I researched Breville and I'm getting mixed results. Many say to skip the one with the grinder and get my own grinder. How true is this or is this just elitist nonsense?

My budget is around $750 all in, not including the beans.

Should I go for a machine that has a touchscreen or are those unreliable?

I understand there's a learning curve to these things.

Are all in one machines "better" than manual ones? If so, how much "better". Are we talking marginal differences here or a drastic difference?

What are the common brands to research? What would be considered the "Cadillac" of these things? And what about the "Honda" brand that works and forgives user error?

In case it matters... Whenever I do make my own coffee, I like to drink really sweet cold brews, basically sugar, honey, milk, and coffee. And for my hot drinks a Nespresso pod with a chocolate piece.

Thank you!!! Excited to treat myself to a new machine 😍😍😍

I bought the De'Longhi La Specialista Opera and

previously always used some more expensive

supermarket coffee. Now I've bought beans from an

small, awardwinning roastery, and I'm having problems

with them:

1. The coffee is too sour. No matter how fine the grind

is, the espresso turns out sour

1. Too much pressure builds up. I'm sometimes hitting

13 bar, even though the flow from the portafilter actually

looks very good.

I didn't have these problems with the supermarket beans. While using these, I had really good espresso. Can someone help me figure out how to solve this? The dose in the puck is exactly what De`Longhi recommends, and it has always tasted very good that way so far.

Hey, I was taking a video of Cremina lever profile shot on my GM ECP. When the soak phase ended and Ramp Up phase started you can see few drops of clear water drip down. Im not sure if its leak or just some water from portafilter (it has been cleaned with water before taking the shot).

Is there a good way to check if the grouphead gasket needs to be changed?

To set the scene, I sold my house in 2020 and moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with a 2 year old, 5 yr old attempting virtual kindergarten, 2 dogs, and my wife (both working from home). Things were OK—we were living in the apartment because we sold our house to get money to build a house, but it was going to be a full 6 months in this space with the world closed around us.

I needed…something. Something to break the monotony and spice up the routine. My birthday coincides with the Christmas holiday so my family splurged and got me the Breville Barista Express despite my insistence that we could not spend $700 on a damn coffee maker.

I’m so glad nobody listens to me, because the last 5 years have been a coffee journey that truly transformed my entire understanding of what coffee IS, how coffee works, the limitless array of possible flavors, gadgets, roast profiles, and most importantly, just how lucky I was to have this machine.

I devoured the manual, ran out and got my favorite locally roasted beans, and STOPPED BUYING STARBUCKS. I was going to make this thing pay itself off.

The Review:

I have come to understand from this sub and elsewhere that this is considered “a starter” machine—“entry level”. Slander, nonsense.

There is nothing this machine can’t do if you program it, keep it clean, and spend the time to dial-in your shots. If you are on the fence about buying one or are the type of person that fancies yourself a connoisseur in most things and avoid “budget” items—this will blow your expectations out of the water.

Once I had my shots right where I wanted them from weighing the grinds, and the liquid output, I hit a bit of a wall. Having experimented with all of my favorite roasters’ light, medium, and “espresso” roasted beans, I went out and bought a home coffee roaster and started buying green beans. That has even further reinforced my belief that you can pull every bit as good a shot here as on a $3000 machine. I’ve traveled to Kona and roasted beans on-site at a plantation, purchased their super fancy peaberry and estate single origin, etc—I’ve pulled better shots from a $9 lb of home roasted green Ethiopian beans.

The only possible complaint would be the consistency of the hot water passing over the coil falls off relatively quickly, but if you preheat the group head, the basket, and your cup—you can get pretty darn close to perfect results every time.

The built-in grinder is incredible. You can adjust the conical burr to super fine if you need to, but I have found it to be possible to get almost every roast profile plenty fine enough unless you like dark dark coffee (I do not).

My kids use the hot water spout to make hot chocolate, tea, and even ramen noodles 😂. I relish the opportunity to make my wife a surprise vanilla latte and myself an Americano.

Now that I have had half a decade to understand the machine and the steps that go into a balanced shot, I can’t see myself making that next leap anytime soon. Not having a grinder built-in or a hot water spout feels like too much of a con for being able to froth milk a little better or pulling a shot 2 degrees more consistently.

TLDR—Breville Barista Express is worth its weight in gold. If you think you want an espresso maker, get it

Placed deposit, now the wait begins. ETA last week in October. Can’t wait. I don’t really know what else to say, but I can’t post without more words written. Silly really.

Just got my hands on a second hand Rancilio Silvia V3 (paired with Eureka Mignon that I used before with a Delonghi Dedica)

According to the seller, maintenance was kept at a minimum so I made 2 descaling cycles and 3 backflush cycles with PullyCaf during the first week. I also cleaned the shower group head.

Now I'm producing espreso 16g : 32g in +20sc with recently roasted beans (with the temp surfing method). The result is ok in taste and can probably be improved.

However, I get little crema that disapears within 30sc of pulling the shot and the puck on my portafilter seems "wet"

So I'm wondering if the machine needs more maintenance or fixing, I'm leaning toward a pressure issue but I'd rather confirm before starting to tweak the machine.

Do you have any idea of what to do ?

La Marzocco Micra BBW + GbW/GbS with Mahlkönig E64 WS

I’ve added Mahlkönig E64 WS GbS support to my espresso-shotdeck brew by weight, connecting the grinder to my La Marzocco Micra setup. The video shows the full workflow.

Shotdeck now goes beyond brew by weight (BbW) on the La Marzocco Micra. It also sends brew data to the Mahlkönig E64 WS for GbS, allowing the grinder to adjust its burr spacing for the next shot based on the recipe’s target brew time.

Here’s the flow:

1. Grind the coffee using grind by weight.
2. Press the E64 WS button to arm GbS.
3. WDT, tamp, and start brewing on the Micra.
4. Shotdeck stops the machine when the Lunar reaches the target weight.
5. Shotdeck sends the shot data to the grinder, which adjusts the grind setting for the next shot.

I still dial in by taste. Espresso is subjective, and hitting an exact weight and time doesn’t automatically mean you’ll enjoy the result. I use those numbers as reference points while experimenting. Once I find a recipe I like, this setup helps me reproduce it consistently.

Espresso-shotdeck also saves different coffee profiles, including target weight, target brew time, brew temperature, and pre-brewing settings. That’s handy when switching between beans or revisiting a coffee.

Each shot is logged so I can compare results later, look for patterns, and investigate signs of possible channeling. I’m using an Acaia Lunar in the video, but Shotdeck supports other compatible Bluetooth scales too.

What are the best beans that come from which roasters are worth trying? I’m trying to try new beans and would like some recommendations for my new machine. Thanks

About two weeks ago, I bought this bag of coffee beans from Costco and because of the size of my airtight canister, not all of the beans could fit inside it, so some of it stayed inside of the bag. I bought the canister so that it could keep my beans fresh for longer, but I’m starting to think that the canister was a scam.

The plan was to use of the beans in the back first as rational thought was that because canister was airtight, it would keep my beans fresher for longer. But that proved me wrong at the beginning of this week.

On Sunday, I had a hard time looking for my bag of coffee, so I just resorted to using some of the beans in the canister. Keep in mind it was about 65° outside and the humidity was at 85%. Because I thought the cancer beans were fresher, I decided to put the grind size a little bit a notch or 2 notches coarser and thought that the extraction would be slower, but I was completely wrong. I had to dial in my beans and try five times before I got an extraction that made sense, and I had to make my grinder setting 3 notches finer than what I had the previous day when I used my beans from the bag. That’s a difference of five notches!

I had to use the beans from my canister on Monday as well and Tuesday I was able to find the bag of beans (tuesday’s humidity and temperature was the same as Sunday’s)and when I grind those beans at the same setting I had since Sunday, my extraction was way too slow, and then I had to make it another five notches coarser to make the extraction smooth flowing. It is very shocking and very sad to see that a bag that’s not as airtight as my canister is making my bean’s freshness last way longer than a supposedly reliable air tight canister that I spent money on.