Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Never tried that but on paper it seems that is "smart" as it has electronic settings, but it doesn't seem to be stepless, it has 60 steps. I guess that is quite a lot but with stepless you are basically turning a screw to bring the teeth closer together to the tiniest amount. There is another dial you turn manually for timing.

The Sage looks nicer but I have had my MC2 for 10 years, just a reliable machine.
 
Thanks so I think I will go with the Iberital MC2 for the grinder but I've cancelled my Delonghi that was on order.

With a budget of around £200 what would be a good espresso machine to buy? Looking along the same lines as the Gaggia Classic but would like something that is new.

Cheers :)
 
Bit late with the advice but I moved from the Iberital to the Sage Smart Grinder and it was a huge leap in terms of usability. I wouldn't say that the quality of the grind itself was really any different but just about everything else about using it was nicer.

uv on here has the Barista Express and it seems to be a very nice machine :)
 
Thanks FrenchTart! :)

So the Barista Express should be here tomorrow (I'm quite excited). I now need to look at buying freshly roasted coffee...

I've had a read through as many pages as I can of this thread and the most common places seem to be:
  • Hasbean
  • Rave
  • Squaremile
  • Workshop
I'm not really looking at the subscriptions as I don't want a different coffee every single time but I would like reasonable value for money if possible. What would you guys recommend for value in terms of coffee types, size, delivery costs etc? The problem is it will mostly be for me drinking 1 or 2 coffees a day and I'm unsure on how quickly the coffee will go stale...

Any help will be great :)
 
I only order from Hasbean (due to laziness in getting round to trying the others really). The Brazil Fazenda is usually a good choice. If you're wanting to try a few different ones and also to save money then the espresso starter pack is great value too - you'll need to be a fairly heavy drinker to get through it all before the beans are beyond their best however.
 
I never sub, either. I order blends from rave ATM, have been using them for about 2 months iirc. Was buying from hasbean for the previous 18 months but fancied exploring other flavours a bit.

Currently drinking rave's Mocha Java Blend and it's pretty good
 
Hasbean doesn't have free delivery.

I like to use up my coffee within 3 weeks max but in theory it's okay up to 4, depending on who you believe. Tbh I think it changes negatively at about the 2 week mark.
 
Will have to have a look then and see how things work out. I may have a look to see if there are any decent shops either locally or in London where I work.

Does anyone know of any decent roasteries in London? At least I'd be able to save on shipping!
 
Dj_Jestar said:
There are an imperial arse load of roasteries in London. Monmouth, Prufrock, Workshop, Blacksheep, Ozone, Nude, Square mile, Union. Those are just the ones I can remember having tried, there are many more.
Click to expand...

Do they all sell coffee beans that I can purchase? :)

EDIT: And presumably beans/ground coffee in a supermarket could have been roasted at any time?
 
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