M Brian

anyone got any reccomendation on a decent coffee (espresso) machine for home?

i want one that is quite straight forward, i.e. quick, easy and clean to use and gives a proper smooth cup of coffee or espresso like you get from the coffee shops/italian places?

or even where best place is to start looking?

RS500/364

Delonghi BCO65BS Black
got this do any coffee and leave on heat or make 1 cup
with the wild bean cafe coffee beats the shop hands down

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

coffee my speciality

ok .. so do you want to..
use beans...
pre ground.....
capsules....

beans are the freshest way but can make a mess.. lots of choice on beans. lavazza ,segefredo or illy even costa .. need to get the grinder set corrrectly for the beans you are using ..

pre-ground looses a bit of flavour even in its foil bags.. lots of choice here too again brand leaders too look at .. not whittard please

capsules are getting really good but you need the right ones... not alot of choice though... you end up using the only ones available for that machine.

how much do you want to spend ???
have you got a small kitchen???
how much coffee do you think you will drink ???

loads of questions i know but its harder than buying a car

if you have the space and the money its nice to have a real sized machine i would recomend either a CMA or Brasilia can get em on ebay or second hand for about £500. (plus they are very easy to repair)

if however you want something really small and compact ...
i would seriously recommend ..
http://www.nespressopro.com/en/machines/es80/

they are VERY good, the coffee is on par with anything you will get and you can get a free trial ..

i canput you in touch with a man who sells/repairs full sized machines second hand if you need.

but definitly try the nespresso machine .. they are not that cheap but i was impressed by the espresso they made and i am a traind Barista ..

anything else you need to know pm me

oh and dont forget to get a water filter for what ever machine you use .. the taste will improve and it will save the machine from scale problems in the long run.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nespresso-Prof...QQcmdZViewItem

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

So what happened to sending a Chimp off to Starbucks training academy??

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

where is less these days

M Brian

cheers eagle!!

We have lavazza machines at work (think they are aroudn £400) just a desktop thing that does espresso only in short or double - you load with a cartridge. I've got a cheap (£20) espresso maker at home that I load with granules but it takes too long to make, clean and it doesnt produce a creamy one. (but expected to for the price)

I think I want to go half way - i.e. not beans and not the capusules as I don't like been pinned down to one brand or the price of the pod things (although the senseo and tassimo machines that are £50-£100) I was contemplating...

I suppose I was hoping for something realistically in the region of £150-£200 - that does espresso and also large cups and cappucino.
But it depends on spec I don't expect rolls royce for bmw money.
£50ish - senseo, tassimo etc - if these are any good i'd go for one
£150-£200 - fancy looking thing that looks good on the worktop that does a reasonable mix
£200-£500 - bling - looks the part, stainless, electronics etc and does a grand brew (siemens s40 supressor?)

My kitchen is a reasonable size (not huge) don't think would want to go bigger than say a foot squared.

does that help or hinder for advice? lol

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

trust me on the nespresso professional machines ..

i am a trained engineer for them and rate them very very highly .. not because i have had links to em (and no i don't get commission )
its the overall quality of the finished product and the ease of use for cleaning that really impressed me .. and yes i do own one made in switzerland so the build is very good too ..

the crema on the espresso is superb think there are a few variations of coffee available but to be honst they are the best coffe i have tasted from a pod machine ..

the lavazza machines are a bloody nightmare to repair had many of them in bits due to scale or burnt out elements ..

but i would say deffo try the free demo of the machine before you make your mind up ...

the only downside to these little home machines is that they are not good for the longer coffee drinks that we have been made to consume by starbucks and costa etc etc with their small buckets ... they are designed primarily as a quality coffee maker not quantity (as in size) if you want a 20 oz coffee get a kettle and some nescafe
a standard cappucino size 7oz is easy enough to make from any small machine the one i have backed comes with a little milk gizmo that you can adjust from latte to cappucino .. but to make a mug size you would really need 2 shots of coffee then add the milk to the top ..
a longer coffee can be created by using the hot water facility it has and topping it up with that from the espressso base...

hope that helps a bit

M Brian

how much is the compact version?

and is it pods capsules only? I'm sure I have seen on earlier that would take ground and caps

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

its their pods only ..

the normal version is ok .. but i much prefer this one ...

as for price i have no idea at all to be honest sorry

MikeR

Nespresso i am getting one soon enough we have one on the bridge at work bloody great things, the capsules are not the cheapest but you pay for what you get i guess,


Mike

Oh Eagle weres the best please (cheapest) to buy one from in the uk ?

Eagle

iTrader: (2)

i have no idea mate .. honest like

there are 2 versions tho .. as yours is probably the
version ..

and there is a

profesional version

both are very good .. but i just preferred the pro one ..
can order them through their website www.nespressso.com or some selet shops .. even get em on e-bay