Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

jpaul said:
yes I think the pro is it (maybe with 2year extended for £15 at JL - are they transferrable)
2nd hand with a Silvia I think you would be lucky to better £250 and fixing its element can be expensive.
(owners can let it boil dry during steaming)

Strange that could buy the Pro and the separate Sage smart grinder for same as a barista, but the combo takes more space
and is less pretty ... but maybe gives flexibility.
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The Pro is 300 and the Sage Smart Grinder is 177 on Amszon so you'd be saving 70 quid. However I'd go for the Barista purely due to convenience / all in one space saving. However that grinder does look impressive.
 
jpaul said:
yes I think the pro is it (maybe with 2year extended for £15 at JL - are they transferrable)
2nd hand with a Silvia I think you would be lucky to better £250 and fixing its element can be expensive.
(owners can let it boil dry during steaming)
Click to expand...

2nd hand price for Silvias (v2/v3 in particular) is a lot better than it used to be - they routinely go for around £200 now - have a look at ebay completed auctions for a price guide.

Critically, they're really well built and relatively simple internally so if they break it's perfectly feasible for a home user to attempt repairs.

I've never used a Sage, but I've had a demo with coffee in John Lewis and they seem like decent machines. From what I've read on forums though, the consensus seems to be that if they break outside of warranty they'd basically be for the bin.

I dunno if Lakeland still do the lifetime warranty but I guess that would be a possibility.
 
Jolteh said:
2nd hand price for Silvias (v2/v3 in particular) is a lot better than it used to be - they routinely go for around £200 now - have a look at ebay completed auctions for a price guide.

Critically, they're really well built and relatively simple internally so if they break it's perfectly feasible for a home user to attempt repairs.

I've never used a Sage, but I've had a demo with coffee in John Lewis and they seem like decent machines. From what I've read on forums though, the consensus seems to be that if they break outside of warranty they'd basically be for the bin.

I dunno if Lakeland still do the lifetime warranty but I guess that would be a possibility.
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John Lewis plus 3 year warranty for £40 job done for 5 years of coffee drinking
 
Got the sage duo temp this morning! Bloody loving it :D got it for £289 as they price matched along with the extended 2yr warranty for £15. So all in £305 with 4 years warranty.

Also ordered a porlex mini ceramic grinder for the time being until I can afford something more substantial and done some more research about the grinders :)

Just need to find some nice beans now!
 
Cosmic182 said:
Got the sage duo temp this morning! Bloody loving it :D got it for £289 as they price matched along with the extended 2yr warranty for £15. So all in £305 with 4 years warranty.

Also ordered a porlex mini ceramic grinder for the time being until I can afford something more substantial and done some more research about the grinders :)

Just need to find some nice beans now!
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https://extractcoffee.co.uk/shop/coffee/original-espresso/
 
Looking for some coffee for work, normally get Rave but anything reasonably priced for just work would be nicer than Nescafe.

Any reccomondations?
 
mad_allan said:
How you finding this? It's on my shortlist at the moment. Is it easy to clean?
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Very happy indeed so far.

I haven't cleaned it yet because it rinses itself every time you switch it on or off. The only things I've done are wipe the steam wand and empty the grinds / drip tray. It seems like it would be easy to clean though.

The only downside I've encountered so far is that it takes a little while to steam milk. I've also removed the auto frother so that it's more like a pro machine, as with the auto frothing attachment by the time the milk is hot enough, the whole drink is almost cappuccino froth!

Also there seems to be little point to the cup warming tray, as it doesn't seem to get beyond luke warm at best.

Very good machine though, especially for £200 or whatever it was.
 
Participant said:
Also there seems to be little point to the cup warming tray, as it doesn't seem to get beyond luke warm at best.
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I don't know if there are any useful machine cup-warmers (not Silvia or Bezzera anyway),
I normally run water through the machine to warm the cups and portafilter.
(Insulating the boilers on older machines to cut energy & give thermal stability is also not uncommen)
 
So my little Hario mini lasted all of 2 weeks, well a little less tbh. I took it apart to clean the other day, no problems. Put it back together, no problems. Have since tried to clean again and the burrs won't come out. I can take the little locking screw off (which incidentally is also used to set the grind) but the burrs just will not budge. It's very odd, I can still grind ok, but I can no longer adjust the grind or clean it. So I've decided to send it back and get a refund.

This also means I'm considering an electric grinder as even after 2 weeks the manual grinding become a little tedious. I'm considering the Baratza Encore or the Iberital MC2, both similarly priced at the max I'm willing to pay (£150). I know both have good reports, and the MC2 gets plenty of love on here, but do either have any defining features that might tempt me one way or another? I'll be using it for both aeropress and espresso in the Classic.
 
Egon said:
So my little Hario mini lasted all of 2 weeks, well a little less tbh. I took it apart to clean the other day, no problems. Put it back together, no problems. Have since tried to clean again and the burrs won't come out. I can take the little locking screw off (which incidentally is also used to set the grind) but the burrs just will not budge. It's very odd, I can still grind ok, but I can no longer adjust the grind or clean it. So I've decided to send it back and get a refund.

This also means I'm considering an electric grinder as even after 2 weeks the manual grinding become a little tedious. I'm considering the Baratza Encore or the Iberital MC2, both similarly priced at the max I'm willing to pay (£150). I know both have good reports, and the MC2 gets plenty of love on here, but do either have any defining features that might tempt me one way or another? I'll be using it for both aeropress and espresso in the Classic.
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This may be of interest to you - £105
 
Yeah, I'd read that about the MC2. I can use espresso grind in the aeropress so that should be OK I guess.

What about the difference between the doser and auto models, I guess the doser accurately dispenses the correct weight as per a setting? i.e. 14g

And the auto?
 
Cosmic182 said:
Can anyone recommend some nice cappuccino mugs? Preferably with saucers...
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got some white Fracino 200ml ones with an offset saucer for piece of chocolate from ebay,
but these
or these
I had seen ref'd on coffeeforums seem good , all black 2nd seems would be a good contrast ...
but some people have 400ml ones/latte too
... bowl shape is more cuppish but allows for art
 
Well I've been wanting a bean to cup machine for ages now but since getting an aero press I can't see much point.

I use the inverted method. Let it sit for about 3 mins and get a great coffee every time. It's relegated my pod machine to a kitchen cupboard now.

Doubt I'd see much benefit from a machine now.
 
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