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Hello coffee goons. I'm a complete espresso newbie looking to get into the hobby as I WFH most of the time now. Currently I just have a Moccamaster drip machine and a canonical burr grinder, but I have money to burn on a dedicated machine + grinder for espresso. Researching what feels like countless machines and features has led me to the $1500-$2100 range for a mix of manual options with some automation, like pre-infusion. I've narrowed it down to a few machines and I wanted to get the goon sniff-test to make sure I'm not falling for some marketing / youtuber BS. Machines I'm considering: Ascaso Steel Duo PID V2 ECM Mechanika VI slim Heritage Line <---Leaning here as it is very purty  Lelit Mara X Profitec Pro 400 From searching the forums it seems the Mara X takes like 40 minutes to actually get up to proper heat temps, despite the mfg and reviews saying more like 20-25. Is this common among HX machines? I also came across two competitive looking machines, but seem to be website House Brands: Bezzera BZ13 DE (Whole Latte Love) Diletto Bello + (Seattle Coffee Company) Would I need to worry about spare parts or repairs with these house brands, or are these Clive/Whole Latte Love/Seattle Coffee Gear sites pretty reliable? I realize the grinder is technically more important, but I want to get this decision out of the way before going down this rabbit hole.
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Feb 20, 2024 01:02
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 03:16 |
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bizwank posted:Research how far away the nearest independent repair shop is for any of those machines before you buy (especially the Ascaso); you'll need a shop that leans more towards commercial repair for most of those. Don't assume the retailer will take them in for servicing after the warranty is up and/or that they're as passionate about properly repairing machines as they are selling them. nwin posted:Anything with an e61 group head, like the lelit mara x, is going to have a long preheat time. You can use a smart switch to mitigate that a bit by just turning it on before you wake up. Not as convenient if you want to pull a shot mid day unless you want to keep it on all the time. Thanks for the feedback! Great idea scouting out local repair options. For the smart switch stuff, I found one wouldn't work with that as it required a digital switch push, I'll have to check for that. I just discovered that I want to pull shots from the inside of a 70's Buick wtf 
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Feb 20, 2024 06:01
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gwrtheyrn posted:What features are you actually looking for? For example, a couple different things can be marketed as preinfusion--line pressure preinfusion from plumbed in machines, steam pressure preinfusion, and 'turn the pump on for x seconds' preinfusion. Like anything in these kinds of hobbies, people will argue to no end on which is the best and why everything else is terrible. From the reading I’ve done, without actually doing any of this mind you, a HX system that is faster than a single boiler to get up to speed, and (mostly) allows you to steam milk while brewing seems like a cool feature. I won’t be making more than two drinks at a time for the most part, and I don’t mind waiting like 40 seconds in between shots, so the dual boiler seems a bit overkill from what I’ve read. I don’t know much about pre infusion other than it supposedly helps prep the puck for full pressure extraction. It seems a lot of these machines in this category do this automatically, but I’m not opposed to needing to purge water a few times. (I think this is related?) I’m expecting to empty the tray every use as it’ll be next to the sink. A rotary pump sounds nice since it’s quieter, but those seem to be exclusive to the dual boilers. Haptical Sales Slut fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Feb 20, 2024 |
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Feb 20, 2024 08:02
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Anyone here have a Eureka Mignon (specialita)? Just got a new one and the screen turns on and is responsive, but pressing the grind button does nothing and the motor never engages. Tried 3 different outlets, with/without beans touching the burr, etc.
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Mar 6, 2024 21:46
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:This is dumb, but you flipped on the power switch on the side, ya? yep! I'm emailing their tech support now and sent a video. I can't find any examples of this behavior online because the touch screen lights up and works just fine, it just feels like the grind button and dial are not attached to anything...
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Mar 6, 2024 23:39
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bizwank posted:A lot of grinders have a dead-man's switch so it won't run if the hopper isn't in place, and sometimes a hopper can shift enough that it slips off the switch but still looks like it's properly in place. Try removing and re-installing the hopper if you haven't already. Good idea. Tried that too with no luck. The espresso machine remains untouched next to it, laughing at my pain. Maybe I’ll try my first shot with grounds from my coffee grinder 
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Mar 7, 2024 02:23
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Cannon_Fodder posted:Does the motor not buzz? Maybe your burrs are touching.... Nah, motor does not engage at all. Support gave me the go ahead to take the bottom off, tried reseating the cable from the grind button to the baseboard but no luck. I can’t get to the cables that are connecting to the button without more disassembly so I guess I’ll just wait for an rma tag. Not a great start into this drat hobby!
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Mar 8, 2024 01:12
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 03:16 |
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:Why RMA and why not exchange at point of sale? Unless you bought it somewhere weird out of box failures typically fall on the retailer, now that you know it’s defective. I ordered it online 
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Mar 8, 2024 01:35
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