Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Soldato
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There’s a Svart on Market Place near me for £60 — 8 months old, only used to grind ~3Kg of beans. Worth a punt? I’m currently using the Hario mini hand grinder.
 
Soldato
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Finishing off a couple of bags from Dark Woods Coffee at the moment that the other half got in over Christmas. Very nice indeed, although it was the Panama La Huella Natural and Red Honey versions, their pricier range.

Going to try some of their regular range next.
 
Soldato
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Finishing off a couple of bags from Dark Woods Coffee at the moment that the other half got in over Christmas. Very nice indeed, although it was the Panama La Huella Natural and Red Honey versions, their pricier range.

Going to try some of their regular range next.

They’re local to me and I love their darker roasts. Totally unsubtle but they just taste like good coffee.
 
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Was just walking past a charity shop after my haircut and noticed a Gaggia in their window, it was a Anima Prestige model which seems to retail for well over a £1000, selling for £150 :eek:

If that thing works to begin with, someone is getting a serious bargain!
 
Associate
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We've currently got a Delonghi ECAM 44.660.B and have had it for about 5 years. While we've been happy enough with it a good friend of mine has just upgraded from the same machine to a La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M. My god, what a difference! The different flavours it extracts and the quality of the milk :D. We tend to bulk buy and then split our coffee beans and his is on a different level now. I am really tempted to get the same machine as him. Wildcard option, is the Oracle Touch. Is the Oracle worth twice the price of the EC9665.M? Our use is generally Latte but sometimes we have an espresso. I want something that is not too fiddly to use but produces excellent results.
 
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We've currently got a Delonghi ECAM 44.660.B and have had it for about 5 years. While we've been happy enough with it a good friend of mine has just upgraded from the same machine to a La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M. My god, what a difference! The different flavours it extracts and the quality of the milk :D. We tend to bulk buy and then split our coffee beans and his is on a different level now. I am really tempted to get the same machine as him. Wildcard option, is the Oracle Touch. Is the Oracle worth twice the price of the EC9665.M? Our use is generally Latte but sometimes we have an espresso. I want something that is not too fiddly to use but produces excellent results.

The standard reply would be for £1900 one should get a old school espresso machine.

But if you have to get an all in one, and you LOVE the taste of the La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M that your friend has and have tasted it.

Get the La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M. Honestly, it is THAT simple. Because i personally don't think you will notice the difference to the Sage, it certainly won't be twice as good (double the money).
 
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The standard reply would be for £1900 one should get a old school espresso machine.

But if you have to get an all in one, and you LOVE the taste of the La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M that your friend has and have tasted it.

Get the La Specialista Maestro EC9665.M. Honestly, it is THAT simple. Because i personally don't think you will notice the difference to the Sage, it certainly won't be twice as good (double the money).

Thanks! While separate devices would yield a better result, it needs to be "wife friendly" and an all in one works a lot better for that.

I mentioned the Oracle as my friend said it was better than his but didn't want to stump up the extra £1000. I wasn't sure how much better it actually is but if it's noticeably I'll pay out for it. It always seems to top the list of best bean to cup machine on most websites.

The only thing I didn't think was amazing about his was the fact that manually steaming the milk with the wand yields noticeably better results than using the auto frother device.
 
Caporegime
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Thanks! While separate devices would yield a better result, it needs to be "wife friendly" and an all in one works a lot better for that.

I mentioned the Oracle as my friend said it was better than his but didn't want to stump up the extra £1000. I wasn't sure how much better it actually is but if it's noticeably I'll pay out for it. It always seems to top the list of best bean to cup machine on most websites.

The only thing I didn't think was amazing about his was the fact that manually steaming the milk with the wand yields noticeably better results than using the auto frother device.

To be fair, if you are manually steaming milk then you are essentially 90% of the way there with a Espresso Machine + Grinder. The only difference is you do the tamping part.
 
Soldato
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yes it's pedantry I think calling the sage barista express or Specialista Maestro semi-automatic is the most you could attribute definitely not bean 2 cup like an ecam;
ok - I see stupid john lewis perpetuates it https://www.johnlewis.com/sage-the-oracle-bean-to-cup-coffee-machine/p3303705

maestro - wasn't familiar, is just a thermoblock then, not double boiler which I'd expected given astronomic £1k price - https://youtu.be/JFWx0CmjX8E?t=20
so I don't see the additional value over a barista express.
 
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