/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Do you crave a daily espresso every morning? Get a machine and be saving money after x days of use.

Do you actually not drink that much coffee but want an espresso machine just to feel superior to other people? Buy two and never use them.

>>6653262
Do people actually fall into the second category? Of course the first. Is the machine I listed decent or is it shit in disguise

>>6653346
De Longhi is usually shit house, but if you have price caps thats fine.

I'd look over at coffeesnobs com au in their "Brewing Equipment - Entry level (sub $500)" subfourm.

I got my machine for $50 after a cafe shut down on the Aus equivalent of Craigslist. Would recommend looking for a good quality, 2nd hand machine. You won't enjoy your sour shots of a $100 machine, so maybe even consider something like a aeropress or even a nice drip coffee starter set. These will net you better coffee really..

>Are automatic espresso makers usually shit?

Nah, but it also comes down to the user. Any commercial 2-group espresso machine will shit over a kitchen top espresso machine, but that doesn't mean you can't make pull a good shot on both.

You will never use it.

They are a pain in the ass.

>>6653251
>I want to get into aviation but I can only afford a pirated copy of FSX
>I want to get into travel but I can barely afford a bus ticket on the local public transport system
>I want to get into antique watches but I can only afford a timex from the thrift store
Set more reasonable expectations, op. You can't get into espresso on a $100 budget unless you mean buying espressos at the shop. If that's what you mean then you will have some delicious espressos.

>>6653251
I have the EC145.

It's not a bad machine, it's not amazing either, but for it's price it's great... but...

It takes work to get good results from it. If you're savvy already, you could probably make a decent cup off the bat, or at least within a few shots.
You'll probably spend at least a month or two with bad coffee before you get the hang of it... by that time, will you still be wanting to make your home espresso? who knows, might make you feel worthy of upgrading or throwing it out and bowing to star bucks.

Personally, I use mine mostly for hot chocolates now and enjoy my coffee more from a french press, but each to their own... that's not to say I don't still create espresso and the drinks that come from it of course, I do.

Personally, I wouldn't spend retail on it, get a cheap 2nd hand version that someone else has given up with trying to make great home espresso with. I picked mine up off the facebook selling pages last year for $25.

>>6655012
what does that twit mean? I don't get it.

>>6655085
A = ae
H = aitch
R = at
B = be
Q = cue

Etc

>>6655089
still don't get it.
I even Googled, people say the same thing; still don't understand.

>>6655099
say a letter out loud and think about how you would spell what you just pronounced

>>6655099
Kill urself my man

>>6655115
yeah I probably retarded. Still don't get it.
There is no 'aitch' or 'bee'.

>>6653251
$100 isn't going to buy you much, but if you save a little more then something in the $150-200 should buy you something more servicable. pretty much everything in the $150-350 price range will buy you the same type of 15-bar semi automatic machine. all will come with a pressurized cup, which purists will argue fucks up the crema. but still they will produce a genuinely good cup of espresso for the money. if you're starting out with espresso then it's a good first step IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/Breville-ESP8XL-Stainless-Espresso-Maker/dp/B0002VAFWA/ref=sr_1_18?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1436152002&sr=1-18&keywords=espresso+machine

>>6653251
If you buy a steam machine you're getting just a step above a moka pot - basically an electric moka pot. What you get out of it will bear resemblance to espresso, but the oils will be denatured because it operates at too high a temperature. You'll never get past that without a machine that has a pump.

i own a Jura Espresso machine. no, it's not $100; matter of fact, its freaking expensive but definitely money worth. Our Espresso machine is $1300 but wife and i are heavy coffee drinker. We usually drink 4 cups of coffee a day together and definitely worth it because we spend around 4k on coffee per year which is nothing compared to our espresso machine