Espresso Machines

[Charles Turner]

Hi Guys,

Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.

I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.

Many thanks in advance.


Charles Turner

[R***@gmail.com]

Post by Charles Turner
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so).......

I assume you are based in the UK. If so, whilst it is no longer online,
House of Fraser were selling a Gaggia Selecta Deluxe (essentially a
Gaggia Coffee in the casing of a Gaggia Classic) for £135. If you
google for it you can probably find a Cached version of the HoF page.
Worth checking instore, or phoning the online sales in case they still
have stock, inventory reference number was 630558136.

Or if you are in the SE England then Bentalls Kingston had a Gaggia
Baby on offer at £125 and a Evolution for £99. I think by all
accounts any of these machines would make an excellent espresso
machine.

BUT.... don't expect any significant improvement over the Krups without
investing in a grinder.

I recently did exactly the same upgrading from a Krups (Vivo 15 Bar) to
a Gaggia Selecta and whilst the machine sits nicely on the worksurface
and I can now burn my hand on the PF, I don't think I am getting any
better espresso. Lavazza pre-ground gets pee-ed though as if not there,
even with heavy tamping. Illy pre-ground produces reasonable results,
but has a "burnt" taste to it I'm not too keen on. Whittards - freshly
roasted beans ground to "for a good espresso machine" chokes the Gaggia
dead if I put in more than 10g in to a double basket, or attempt any
tamping other than the lightest of touches.

I know I *have* to get a grinder, and have it at the very top of my
Christmas list and if Santa doesn't bring something soon I'll be forced
to visit Starbucks!

Half the fun of espresso is finding good beans and dialing in the grind
to match your machine. I have yet to embark on this journey, but with
hindsight I would have been better off investing my £150 in a good
grinder and keeping the Krups until I could afford to improve it.
However the HofF offer was just too good a deal to miss out on!

YMMV - Rufus.

[Stuart Hudson]

Post by R***@gmail.com
Half the fun of espresso is finding good beans and dialing in the grind
to match your machine. I have yet to embark on this journey, but with
hindsight I would have been better off investing my £150 in a good
grinder and keeping the Krups until I could afford to improve it.
However the HofF offer was just too good a deal to miss out on!
YMMV - Rufus.

Unfortunatley this is true. For fresh beans I can recommend

http://www.hillandvalleycoffee.co.uk/

Stuart Hudson

[Charles Turner]

I have actually got a Krups Burr Grinder which produces very fine grinds.

Unfortunately this seems to be too fine for the Krups machine.

I have been considering a Gaggia Cubika which I think Comet do for £149.99
but House of Fraser are doing for £129.99, so Comet should better their
price.

Anyone any experience of this machine?

Post by Charles Turner
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so).......

I assume you are based in the UK. If so, whilst it is no longer online,
House of Fraser were selling a Gaggia Selecta Deluxe (essentially a
Gaggia Coffee in the casing of a Gaggia Classic) for £135. If you
google for it you can probably find a Cached version of the HoF page.
Worth checking instore, or phoning the online sales in case they still
have stock, inventory reference number was 630558136.

Or if you are in the SE England then Bentalls Kingston had a Gaggia
Baby on offer at £125 and a Evolution for £99. I think by all
accounts any of these machines would make an excellent espresso
machine.

BUT.... don't expect any significant improvement over the Krups without
investing in a grinder.

I recently did exactly the same upgrading from a Krups (Vivo 15 Bar) to
a Gaggia Selecta and whilst the machine sits nicely on the worksurface
and I can now burn my hand on the PF, I don't think I am getting any
better espresso. Lavazza pre-ground gets pee-ed though as if not there,
even with heavy tamping. Illy pre-ground produces reasonable results,
but has a "burnt" taste to it I'm not too keen on. Whittards - freshly
roasted beans ground to "for a good espresso machine" chokes the Gaggia
dead if I put in more than 10g in to a double basket, or attempt any
tamping other than the lightest of touches.

I know I *have* to get a grinder, and have it at the very top of my
Christmas list and if Santa doesn't bring something soon I'll be forced
to visit Starbucks!

Half the fun of espresso is finding good beans and dialing in the grind
to match your machine. I have yet to embark on this journey, but with
hindsight I would have been better off investing my £150 in a good
grinder and keeping the Krups until I could afford to improve it.
However the HofF offer was just too good a deal to miss out on!

YMMV - Rufus.

[Danny]

Post by Charles Turner
I have actually got a Krups Burr Grinder which produces very fine grinds.
Unfortunately this seems to be too fine for the Krups machine.
I have been considering a Gaggia Cubika which I think Comet do for £149.99
but House of Fraser are doing for £129.99, so Comet should better their
price.
Anyone any experience of this machine?

It's not the fineness, it's the quality. Cheaper grinders produce too
much dust, which just clogs. You need a reasonably uniform grind, say
a little finer than salt, with some particle size variance, but no powder.

[Dan]

Post by Danny

Post by Charles Turner
I have actually got a Krups Burr Grinder which produces very fine grinds.
Unfortunately this seems to be too fine for the Krups machine.
I have been considering a Gaggia Cubika which I think Comet do for £149.99
but House of Fraser are doing for £129.99, so Comet should better their
price.
Anyone any experience of this machine?

It's not the fineness, it's the quality. Cheaper grinders produce too
much dust, which just clogs. You need a reasonably uniform grind, say
a little finer than salt, with some particle size variance, but no powder.

to second this, I ground some nice beans on the fine setting on a cheap
burr grinder - it resulted in a 25-30 second pour, but no crema and a
taste like dishwater. Same beans on the MDF and yumyum!

[daveb]

AVOID ALL KRUPS!


cheers, DAve
179

Post by Charles Turner
Hi Guys,
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.
Many thanks in advance.
Charles Turner

[judith lea]

Post by Charles Turner
Hi Guys,
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.
Many thanks in advance.
Charles Turner

I have a Gran Gaggia, I can't remember the price but around £150 I
think. I bought it from John Lewis. I have no problem with ground
coffee. I get my coffee shop to grind it for me. When I first bought
gthe machine, they gave me samples of 3 kinds of coffee, each ground
with a different gauge - the best gauge for perfect filtration for me,
was medium, fine grade.

[Noises Off]

Post by Charles Turner
Hi Guys,
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.

I do not think that more expensive machines produce a
significantly higher pressure. 17 is the highest I can remember.

I also have a Krups 15 bar machines, most the time it works
fine. Problems seem to occur if there is a delay between
putting the coffee in the filter and making the coffee. I
don't pretend to understand it. In fact it makes no sense to
me at all. Maybe water in filter soaking into the coffee and
making the grains swell and block the holes? I have no idea
and don't want to be flamed that much.

Noises Off

[daveb]

the "15 bar" or "17 bar" nonsense is just that!! a marketing numbers
game -- has nothing to do with a good cup

the good pressure is to be found in the 8 to 10 bar range.

Dave
184

[Chris Notton]

Post by Charles Turner
Hi Guys,
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.
Many thanks in advance.
Charles Turner

What about summat like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270064005265

Or; at La Pavoni's site (www.lapavoni.it) you can get a brand new
"Espresso Si Grey" delivered for GBP167. I used one for years until I
changed to a bigger single group machine.

There also seem to be a few Gaggia Cubika's & Classics on Ebay at
present.

Pip pip
& Season's Bah-humbug

[p***@gmail.com]

Did you heard about Nespresso Professional?
Try with CS100

Post by Charles Turner
Hi Guys,
Can anyone recommend a good espresso machine for around £150.
I have a cheaper 15 Bar Krups one (£70 or so) which is OK for the so called
"suitable for all machines" grind but it really struggles if I use a proper
fine espresso grind.
Many thanks in advance.
Charles Turner