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What's best for £200
That's max budget, if love a sage duo temp but funds won't allow
I've saved you a fortune. 😉
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bialetti-Express-Espresso-Maker-makes/dp/B00004RFRU
2nd hand? Gaggia Classic or Rancilio Silvia.
Got two of those plus an aeropress and a v60
Unless you can get a 2nd hand proper machine as above, I'd be surprised if you can do much better with any machine new for that money than you already can with the kit you've got. I know it's not espresso so it doesn't really answer your question, but nor will it be from a machine that's new in that price bracket.
On the plus side, you've already got lovely coffee if you're grinding fresh beans and using what you've got (and if you're not, spend your money on a grinder).
[/Coffee snob - sorry!]
Can you point me in the direction of the classic and Silva for £209 as I'm struggling
For under 200 you won't get a better espresso maker than this:
https://www.wacaco.com/pages/nanopresso
it's fiddly to use, but makes a decent espresso. It costs 50 quid, so you can spend the rest on a burr grinder and some good coffee. Really, if you're after good coffee rather than convenience it's the way to go.
After saving pennies for a few years (literally, using the micro-saving feature of my banking app), I’ve just plugged in my sage barista express. Two things:
1) I love it, it’s great to use and was worth the wait and it’s nice to buy something you’ve saved for.
2) I now have a Gaggia Classic going spare. It has a broken steamer, looks like a connector has snapped and I couldn’t find a replacement part on the web. Boiler is fine. The whole thing is a bit leaky but probably just needs a good descale. It’s a 2014/15 model. If you want, you can have it? (In return for any donation you feel appropriate to your local Food Bank.)
unpopular answer but for that price, a pod machine. Makes perfectly decent espresso, lots of different varieties, etc., if you can hold your nose while you admit to it / nestle, etc.
Is Lavazza better - for a quid (plus a commitment!!)
Depends how picky you are about your espresso really.
Delonghi do a decent range but even a 60 quid amazon basics machine will do a better job of espresso than any of the kit you've already got.
You're not going to get fancy barista grade espresso from a cheap machine but you'll get a completely passable one.
The giaggia and sage answers are mainly along the lines of telling you you need a pinarello to go 2 miles and pick up milk from the co-op.
(for what it's worth I've had more crap coffee from expensive machines made with crap stale beans and haste than I've had from mediocre machines made with decent coffee and care)
https://trustedcoffeereviews.co.uk/best-cheap-espresso-machine/
Refurbished Sage Duo: they are out of stock now, but if you're willing to wait, Windhorn sell them for €219, I just bought a Barista Express from them, and it's like new.
https://www.windhornkd.de/en/products/sage/refurbish-devices/espresso/ses810-duo-temp-pro/english-version/
Love the learned snobbery on here sometimes 🤣 ok I know I'm not getting a Ferrari for fiat prices
I'd love a classic or rancillio or a sage but it's been a very expensive few months
Id love to find a working £200 version and hope that when some of the chaps o. Here get a la pavoni as a stocking filler then classics will fill the classified section
Is the gaggia coffee deluxe any good
ok I know I’m not getting a Ferrari for fiat prices
But "the learned snobbery on here" would often sell you a fiat at ferrari prices just because its painted red.
I’ve just bought a delonghi electric burr grinder for £50. That and a stove top espresso pot will do me fine. For me freshly ground beans are the key.
Sorry I didn't mean to be a snob. Point I was trying to make was really that more money on kit doesn't, at every jump in price, necessarily make you a better coffee.
I would argue (and I accept it's subjective and it's also obvious that filter =/= espresso) that you might just be wasting £200. A V60 (or aeropress or whatever) is so good that you, arguably, have to get to something quite expensive before you beat it.
more crap coffee from expensive machines made with crap stale beans and haste than I’ve had from mediocre machines made with decent coffee and care
A variation on this theme really. Good fresh beans and care and you've got a good coffee, but that doesn't necessarily make a delonghi a good use of a load of hard-earned money when you've already got an aeropress.
Hey, by the way, you're in Sheffield so I assume you've tried beans from Foundry? I think they're as good as they come. Yummy.
Aldi special for £50. 15 Bar is 15 bar
Refurbished Sage Duo: they are out of stock now, but if you’re willing to wait, Windhorn sell them for €219, I just bought a Barista Express from them, and it’s like new.
https://www.windhornkd.de/en/products/sage/refurbish-devices/espresso/ses810-duo-temp-pro/english-version//blockquote >I second keeping an eye on the Windhornkd eBay page. I picked up an open box return sage Bambino plus earlier in the year for £190ish delivered. Came in original packaging, had the original plastic protective film on it and a UK plug. It's great!
So if you can get one for your budget, a Sage Bambino plus which is really easy to use and has a pretty good automatic milk function
@luket - foundry beans and coffee is epic, love it. Did an aeropress coffee fun hour thing there, really enjoyed learning about coffee
Rok. You have to use your arms a bit more, but it can make much better espresso than most £200 machines.
Spend the change on a thing to do whatever it is you want to do with your milk, if you want, though you'd be better spending it on a half-decent hand grinder.
We have one of those in black at home and two at work. Can't fault ours and the ones at work make better coffee than the more expensive ones they replaced.
@batfin - tose videos were covered above - sadly 100a nd 500 are not 200 so not relevant really 🙁
as ive said - point me in the direction of a second and gaggia classic for £200 please 🙂
Plenty on eBay.
The first few reviews for that dualit on the JL website are pretty conclusive- it appears to be rubbish!
Yeah - did a quick search and found a few with buy-it-nows in that ballpark.
They are very easy to work on and improve with a few mods too - people tend to replace the steam wand with that of the Silvia, and add a PID (auberins sell a kit) to try to keep the temp a bit more stable.
Unless you’ve got a grinder already, you’ll need to make sure it comes with a pressurised portafilter, so you can use pre-ground
Bought the Delonghi for my daughter for £200 as new off ebay and it has been brilliant. Ability to vary grind/strength/size of coffee is excellent. Steam wand is okay. If you can get one for your budget I would go for it.
I have the dualit one that qwerty linked to. Personally, I think it makes reasonable espresso - with properly ground, good quality beans, I prefer the espresso I make to a lot of 'proper' coffee shops.
It's only downfall is that it can be slightly inconsistant; but if you accept once in a while you have to chuck an espresso and start again its fine.
I've never used the milk frother though
The first few reviews for that dualit on the JL website are pretty conclusive- it appears to be rubbish!
We've had one of them for over 10 years now (I seem to remember it costing about £100) and apart from the replacement of an o-ring (10p on ebay) and the occasional new portafilter seal it continues to make perfectly acceptable coffee (if fed with good beans) and refuses to break, thus thwarting my plans to replace it with something with a more manly array of knobs and dials.
the one we had that popped was the Delonghi ECP33.21 wich made ok coffee but choked when beans were ground too small or fresh beans were ground (especially light roast one - not sure why??)
shit or not?
I wouldn't class myself as a coffee snob but I do like a nice espresso. We have one of those Delonghi Magnifica machines at home that has done a fine job of keeping us caffeinated for the last couple of years. Mostly we drink black so don't need the milk frothing gubbins, but we've had no complaints when it's been pressed it into action to cater for guests. I can't believe all of them were just being polite.
In more normal times, I regularly use a similar machine (slightly older model) at work that has coped admirably with an office of 100+. I'm sure not all of my colleagues are espresso drinkers, but the poor machine certainly deals with far more than a domestic grade machine should reasonably be expected to cope with.
Expect to spend a little time getting it set - I would suggest doing this over the course of a week or so, though going through many iterations in a day could be amusing for onlookers...
Personally speaking I think you can get away with a lesser quality of shot when you are adding milk, the milk changes the flavour of coffee a lot for me.
I have a Flair which doesn't suit a lot of people as it needs a decent grinder and takes more time than most people want to spend making a coffee, but it also allows you to control and vary pressure and water/group head temps well when brewing.
I think your earlier post OP mentioned a new child, in which case you probably want something quick and convenient for a bit, so perhaps a pod machine and some decent pods would be best?
The first few reviews for that dualit on the JL website are pretty conclusive- it appears to be rubbish!
Only one out of the last five reviews gives more than one star.
He gave it two!
Cafelat Robot
or
ROK Presso
get an espresso grinder too, micro adjustment make a big difference.
This came as a bit of a jolt to me. I've got 3 Classics and a Titanium in the garage waiting for some mending and probably a solenoid or two. The one in the kitchen is going fine and I'd forgotten how much they cost. It'll be 4 weeks till I have time to sort them though. If this thread is still lively by then I might have something to report.
@bikerevivesheffield - It’s like this forum but for coffee machines. Classifieds section is good but you need ~10 posts to play.
Second hand classics do come up, a few of the people refurb and mod-eBay bargain pre—Phillips Gaggias for fun so don’t have a big markup. They go quick though😉
thanks for this 🙂
@bigjohn - could you sort one for me please?
Whats the del with other Gaggias? the baby/coffee deluxe/cubika etc? just shit or what?
On that basis, bikerevive (and seeing as all the Unitedites could do with a bit of cheering up right now) I'll see if I can have a fiddle around while things are slowing down for Christmas. You've got 1st dibbs. Or bagsies as we say down here in the Midlands.
@bigjohn i'm a staunch owl and we are shitter than the blades!
no worries if not, i think ill end up buyng a duo temp pro
This for the older ones you find second hand when they were better quality. More modern versions of say a “Coffee Deluxe” are a bit rubbish, plasticky and not to the same standard.
A refurbed old style Classic from BigJohn would be great. You need to sort out the water/descaling though or it will still break on you.
- Classic pre - 2015 - more metal components and a 3 way solenoid valve - normally stainless case
- Gaggia baby - same internals as a classic in a plastic case
- Coffee Deluxe - Similar to a classic but no solenoid, just a spring valve - painted steel case and 3 rocker switches are horizontal not vertical.
@BigJohn, where do you go for bits? I did a quick hunt on the internet and couldn't see the bits I think I would need to fix my Classic.
In the past I've used Happy Donkey for things like solenoids, pumps and gaskets but I think they may have cut down on spares. Googling Gaggia classic solenoid brings up a few places though.
@dorset_knob - Nice bunch and have loads of Gaggia spares - https://www.theespressoshop.co.uk/
:thumbsup: