(GPGT)Espresso machine hoot

[hardwaregone]

Lelit Anna has very small footprint too. Not sure if it's available locally though. Their grinder I rmb available locally.

That looks like a brass single boiler like Silvia, can't froth and brew at the same time and no automatic boiler refill.

Can get the Silvia if one really wants to stick to a single boiler.

 

[Tuakong]

Why not rocket apartamento from stellar M or VBM domobar jr highlander?

Or profitec from knock house or coffee in a place? or My way Alex, fracino, strietman, versuvius from coffee in a place?

Or la marzocco, silvia or

No need to rush the purchase. Go to the vendors and take a look at the machines. ask them to open the cover to look at the internals. You can seek the quality there. See the layout and components. sirai pstar or jaeger? wiring is a bloody mess or well thought out and neatly implemented? Ask them about the e61 group head. does it come with mechanical preinfusion? Examine the group head. solid and heavy or light and crappy.
Look at the boilers. Copper, brass or TIG welded stainless steel.

Whats your budget?

If you want fuss free design and shots and top notch quality without needed special power requirements and plumb in i suggest go with a la marzocco linea mini.

If you are anal retentive go with a slayer or hydra MVP for the best temp stability and ease of changing brew pressure. .

Get a good grinder too. If you are home user and make 1-2 shots a day and like to experiment with different beans each time get single dose, low retention grinders. Baratza sette from stellar m for motorised grinder and its pretty cheap. if you don't mind hand grinding get a HG 1, to me HG-1 is the perfect grinder for home use if you don't mind 7 secs of grindings for espresso. Yes just 7 sec of grinding is required for 20g dose once the burrs have been seasoned.
If you have a larger budget and believe unimodal grinds are better then get an EK43 or mahlkonig peak or LWW EG-1 or Kafatek Flat burr grinders.

0.1 g water resistant scales is very important. brewista is the cheapest water resistant one and is good.

Get Vst baskets too. 18g or 20g one to start with. VST baskets is the cheapest way to brew better with modern roast styles.

Thanks LT
My Budget is max $1700 for the smallest footprint machine n so far the BZ13 firs my needs though it's push button extraction
I prefer levers cos they look more nostalgic lol

 

[patryn33]

Thanks LT
My Budget is max $1700 for the smallest footprint machine n so far the BZ13 firs my needs though it's push button extraction
I prefer levers cos they look more nostalgic lol

Bz13 no lever
Size wise DE1 smaller. this new startup if like slayer will be awesome! Rated for 20k shots, if you pull one shot a day can Tahan 54.8 yrs! Or 27.4 yrs if you doing 2 shots a day. Then again will blew the 1.6k budget if factor shipping.lots of talks on international forum
https://decentespresso.com/de1

Bz13- 45cm x 25cm x 37.5cm
DE1: 41cm tall x 22cm wide x 35cm deep

 

[Igene]

This DE1 looks interesting. Like very much computerized. The "tablet" is part of the I guess?

 

[Tuakong]

Bz13 no lever
Size wise DE1 smaller. this new startup if like slayer will be awesome! Rated for 20k shots, if you pull one shot a day can Tahan 54.8 yrs! Or 27.4 yrs if you doing 2 shots a day. Then again will blew the 1.6k budget if factor shipping.lots of talks on international forum
https://decentespresso.com/de1

Bz13- 45cm x 25cm x 37.5cm
DE1: 41cm tall x 22cm wide x 35cm deep

Where to get the slayer btw
Which is a popular site to get machines online
I may get the Magica

 

[testerjp]

Slayer is a commercial machine that uses more power which may need hardwiring, only plumb in, much bigger, not suitable for home. Pressure profiling, yes, it does make things better.

From what I read, you are paying mostly for the nice metal.
I think you can easily find pre owned cause many hipster cafes wind up and their preferred choice are such impressive looking expensive machines.

 

[Tuakong]

Slayer is a commercial machine that uses more power which may need hardwiring, only plumb in, much bigger, not suitable for home. Pressure profiling, yes, it does make things better.

From what I read, you are paying mostly for the nice metal.
I think you can easily find pre owned cause many hipster cafes wind up and their preferred choice are such impressive looking expensive machines.

U r right I dun need slayer
Too ex and not for home use
Sticking to my 1.5-1.7k budget

 

[Corsabrin]

whats the best milk in ntuc for frothing ah? i buy the house brand the milk taste like too strong

 

[chikyblink]

I've tried Meji, Greenfields and Pura.
Pura taste the sweetest to me after frothing.

You can always increase the dosage and make a stronger espresso if you find the milk too overpowering.

 

[testerjp]

Only using farmhouse, pura and Paul's .

I prefer farm house cause the expiration date is usually longer among the 3. All 3 are Aussie.

Meiji is from Thailand and greenfield is from indo iirc so they are slightly cheaper.
Saw this organic milk at cold storage selling st $8 plus, not sure if it taste any better.

 

[Tuakong]

Only using farmhouse, pura and Paul's .

I prefer farm house cause the expiration date is usually longer among the 3. All 3 are Aussie.

Meiji is from Thailand and greenfield is from indo iirc so they are slightly cheaper.
Saw this organic milk at cold storage selling st $8 plus, not sure if it taste any better.

Wat machine r u using bro

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

whats the best milk in ntuc for frothing ah? i buy the house brand the milk taste like too strong

I've tried quite a few brands. I feel pura is one of the better ones. Meiji and farm house is also good.

If you feel the milk is overpowering use a higher dose basket or use a higher dose to pull a ristretto or use less milk. or just make a macchiato. scoop the foam on the espresso and drink the rest of the milk you frothed separately. Or give the milk to the kids. Alternatively use a darker roasted blend. Yahava, pacamara, coffee in a place, toby's, spinelli,

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

Thanks LT
My Budget is max $1700 for the smallest footprint machine n so far the BZ13 firs my needs though it's push button extraction
I prefer levers cos they look more nostalgic lol

I have a manual lever and if you don't mind some practice a manual lever can be extremely rewarding especially if you like dark roasts.
I think the declining temperature and pressure profile makes dark roasts on manual levers very well balanced and enjoyable. Maybe its the smaller filter basket. But of course that would mean you are stuck with smaller baskets and can't use VST baskets.
I have a slayer too. with adjusting the temperature and using the stock basket I can get good espresso with dark roasts but nowhere as good as manual levers. The slayer excels with light roasted coffee. Using Filter roasts are now possible with the Slayer as you can grind very fine to get a balanced extraction using their flow control and still get the complex aroma you can only get from light to medium roasted beans that was previously only in the realm of pour over coffee. The manual lever I have is not able to get as good a shot with light roasted beans despite using low pressure and grinding finer.

If you can up your budget a bit I suggest get the appartamento. You have a true e61 group head with mechanical preinfusion and a thermosiphon. The e61 group head is more forgiving of distribution errors as preinfusion helps to evenly saturate the puck before full pressure to get a more even extraction. The thermosiphon design may take a longer time to heat up compared to active heated group head designs like the BZ13 but you have better temp stability at your group head when the machine is at idle. The active heater on for bezzera designs does fluctuate in temp.

Nonetheless if you are just drinking milk drinks most of the time then the fluctuation in temp should not matter too much as milk will drown out any nuances.

If you drink espresso most of the time then i suggest getting a more temp stable design.

 

[testerjp]

Wat machine r u using bro

Office Bezzera BZ13 , bought under PIC claim for my company few years back.
Home Bezzera Strega, bought a year later.
Was considering between the Bezzera BZ13 and Mitica with Rotary pump back then. Mitica is an E61 similar to the Bezzera Magica you said you were interested. I do like the Mitica because of the look.

I chose BZ13 for my office in the end cause I was not sure if I could taste the difference between the two but the faster start up time does matter everyday. And the "automation" with the buttons might make it easier for me to pass the PIC and my retarded staffs from going wrong.

I think BZ10 is enough for you la and it's cheaper at $1599. Use the saving to buy beans and milk. Practice and you can show off your skills during CNY.

 

[Igene]

I have a manual lever and if you don't mind some practice a manual lever can be extremely rewarding especially if you like dark roasts.
I think the declining temperature and pressure profile makes dark roasts on manual levers very well balanced and enjoyable. Maybe its the smaller filter basket. But of course that would mean you are stuck with smaller baskets and can't use VST baskets.
I have a slayer too. with adjusting the temperature and using the stock basket I can get good espresso with dark roasts but nowhere as good as manual levers. The slayer excels with light roasted coffee. Using Filter roasts are now possible with the Slayer as you can grind very fine to get a balanced extraction using their flow control and still get the complex aroma you can only get from light to medium roasted beans that was previously only in the realm of pour over coffee. The manual lever I have is not able to get as good a shot with light roasted beans despite using low pressure and grinding finer.

If you can up your budget a bit I suggest get the appartamento. You have a true e61 group head with mechanical preinfusion and a thermosiphon. The e61 group head is more forgiving of distribution errors as preinfusion helps to evenly saturate the puck before full pressure to get a more even extraction. The thermosiphon design may take a longer time to heat up compared to active heated group head designs like the BZ13 but you have better temp stability at your group head when the machine is at idle. The active heater on for bezzera designs does fluctuate in temp.

Nonetheless if you are just drinking milk drinks most of the time then the fluctuation in temp should not matter too much as milk will drown out any nuances.

If you drink espresso most of the time then i suggest getting a more temp stable design.

Was looking at La Pavoni Europicola too. But a bit worry as still consider newbie. Not easy to master I heard. Ebay UK sometimes got very good deal.

 

[Tuakong]

Office Bezzera BZ13 , bought under PIC claim for my company few years back.
Home Bezzera Strega, bought a year later.
Was considering between the Bezzera BZ13 and Mitica with Rotary pump back then. Mitica is an E61 similar to the Bezzera Magica you said you were interested. I do like the Mitica because of the look.

I chose BZ13 for my office in the end cause I was not sure if I could taste the difference between the two but the faster start up time does matter everyday. And the "automation" with the buttons might make it easier for me to pass the PIC and my retarded staffs from going wrong.

I think BZ10 is enough for you la and it's cheaper at $1599. Use the saving to buy beans and milk. Practice and you can show off your skills during CNY.

Thanks bro
Have decided to get e61 and lever machine instead of push button
I like the BZ13 cos it has the smallest footprint with 250mm width
Even the entry level rocket has a 274mm width with lever
The Magica 320mm width but got lever
Unica is small too with lever but not many reviews out there
It's also a single bolier

 

[testerjp]

Looking at the pics now. I think the Magica is inevitably bigger because the brew and boiler gauge are separate and the boiler is bigger.

The BZ10/BZ13, the two gauges are combined into one and the boiler is 500ml lesser, that makes it smaller. I guess the boiler can be smaller because the head is actively heated by itself and not influenced by the loss of heat when too much cold water pump in.

But then, don't know all these minute details will matter to me or not, not a coffee snob.

 

[Tuakong]

Anyone bought their expresso machines from overseas?
The savings quite substantial but local support is an issue should the machine needs maintenance

 

[IntelFlash]

You will definitely need local support.

 

[Tuakong]

You will definitely need local support.

Agree but the price diff is between S$400-500
For the Rocket Giotto price diff is more than S$1K