Do you espresso? A new obsession of making coffee at home.

[Babyblue033]

Over the holiday break I dusted off the espresso machine that hasn't been touched in years and have been obsessing over it since. I'm no coffee snob, buying the machine was my husband's idea, but I now find the whole process, the methodical steps, measuring, calculating, tweaking to try to get a better shot, all very soothing. It also provides a small "me time" among the chaos of being at home all the time with everyone and keeps me from strangling my husband.

My espresso obviously leaves a lot to be desired, not that I'm much of an espresso drinker to begin with, so I mix between drinking espresso, cappuccino, and fun Starbucks-ish cold drinks. I would love to learn latte art as well.

Any other home baristas out there? What's your coffee drink of choice? Any tips or tricks on improving espresso skills? Do you have a whole coffee bar set up you want to show off?

Here's my Breville Barista Express, which is sort of all around decent machine for beginners but I drool over those fancy machines on Insta. I also already have a long list of probably completely unnecessary things I would like to "upgrade" to, from distributor, new tamper, bottomless portafilter, to a fancy grinder.

 

[Mreader]

I am obsessed. I have a Spaziale mini Vivaldi II as well as a Pavoni (where you manually pull your shot) and a Lelit. All of those are Italian machines. The grinder though is as important as the machine. If you don’t have a good grind then your espresso can be bad even in a fancy machine. My husband is even more obsessed than I am and taught me how important weighing your shots are. So now I weigh the little basket and add 18 grams of espresso (for a double) to whatever the basket is. I used to be a barista so I had learned how to steam milk properly (pic of my latte art below). My drink of choice is a double latte as pictured below. Despite my obsession I have not been able to drink espresso sans milk. I hope you can enjoy learning about it - there are several FB groups where people ask questions etc. and learn from each other.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

This baby gets used throughout the day EVERY day. I don't have time to fiddle and perfect so it gets the job done with the touch of a button at 5am. I usually make a double with a touch of heavy cream in an insulated cup to go.

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

I am obsessed. I have a Spaziale mini Vivaldi II as well as a Pavoni (where you manually pull your shot) and a Lelit. All of those are Italian machines. The grinder though is as important as the machine. If you don’t have a good grind then your espresso can be bad even in a fancy machine. My husband is even more obsessed than I am and taught me how important weighing your shots are. So now I weigh the little basket and add 18 grams of espresso (for a double) to whatever the basket is. I used to be a barista so I had learned how to steam milk properly (pic of my latte art below). My drink of choice is a double latte as pictured below. Despite my obsession I have not been able to drink espresso sans milk. I hope you can enjoy learning about it - there are several FB groups where people ask questions etc. and learn from each other.

My hubby is gonna die when I show him this. This is on his wish list as a gift!

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

My hubby is a big coffee snob. We have a burr grinder and a Breville espresso machine. Everything he does is measured to the gram, weighed, counted by seconds, etc. Thankfully we live close to a local roaster so we can get that organic single origin daily roasted beans at the drop of a hat.

I love seeing all the fellow coffee snobs out there

 

[Mreader]

My hubby is gonna die when I show him this. This is on his wish list as a gift!

The Spaziale or the Pavoni? Seriously he should get the Spaziale. It’s a dream. We had a Breville before and it cannot compare!

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

The Spaziale or the Pavoni? Seriously he should get the Spaziale. It’s a dream. We had a Breville before and it cannot compare!

He wants the manual one, the Pavoni! How do you like it?? The Breville was great for a beginner ( and someone who didn’t have an extra $1,200 laying around haha). But he’s ready to move on to the big boy toys.

 

[Mreader]

He wants the manual one, the Pavoni! How do you like it?? The Breville was great for a beginner ( and someone who didn’t have an extra $1,200 laying around haha). But he’s ready to move on to the big boy toys.

The Pavoni can be tricky BUT my husband bought it used; it was over 30 years old I believe. It made terrible shots so he had to replace gaskets and seals and the like (he's handy though) and he also added that pressure gauge, which is important bc you want to get 9 bars if possible and if you cannot see then you just have to go by feel. I think only one version has a pressure gauge already on it. Anyway it takes all my strength to pull a shot with it, and another tricky thing is that it is HOT so you cannot just touch any part of the machine, but you have to hold something when you pull otherwise it will go flying. So I remove the eagle (which he also added lolz) and hold that wooden knob at the top. You have to be careful when you steam for the same reason - the whole thing gets hot. It can make amazing coffee, but it's not as easy as with the Spaziale. I googled them and see that ouch they are over 1k new; my husband got his vintage one for 500-600 on FB Marketplace. Worth a look! They are really cool, but it wouldn't be my "everyday" machine. I'm pretty sure the FB group he's a part of is called Home Espresso Aficionados.

 

[elizat]

I am obsessed. I have a Spaziale mini Vivaldi II as well as a Pavoni (where you manually pull your shot) and a Lelit. All of those are Italian machines. The grinder though is as important as the machine. If you don’t have a good grind then your espresso can be bad even in a fancy machine. My husband is even more obsessed than I am and taught me how important weighing your shots are. So now I weigh the little basket and add 18 grams of espresso (for a double) to whatever the basket is. I used to be a barista so I had learned how to steam milk properly (pic of my latte art below). My drink of choice is a double latte as pictured below. Despite my obsession I have not been able to drink espresso sans milk. I hope you can enjoy learning about it - there are several FB groups where people ask questions etc. and learn from each other.

The last looks very technical!

I don't drink coffee at all, but the last machine is very interesting looking!

 

[wildcat03]

I have a very similar Breville to yours. It's probably 8 years old at this point. I've maintained it pretty carefully and frequently descale it and use Cafiza to clean the espresso filters. I don't have time these days to really tinker with my coffee, but I do love a hot latte in the mornings!

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

The Pavoni can be tricky BUT my husband bought it used; it was over 30 years old I believe. It made terrible shots so he had to replace gaskets and seals and the like (he's handy though) and he also added that pressure gauge, which is important bc you want to get 9 bars if possible and if you cannot see then you just have to go by feel. I think only one version has a pressure gauge already on it. Anyway it takes all my strength to pull a shot with it, and another tricky thing is that it is HOT so you cannot just touch any part of the machine, but you have to hold something when you pull otherwise it will go flying. So I remove the eagle (which he also added lolz) and hold that wooden knob at the top. You have to be careful when you steam for the same reason - the whole thing gets hot. It can make amazing coffee, but it's not as easy as with the Spaziale. I googled them and see that ouch they are over 1k new; my husband got his vintage one for 500-600 on FB Marketplace. Worth a look! They are really cool, but it wouldn't be my "everyday" machine. I'm pretty sure the FB group he's a part of is called Home Espresso Aficionados.

this is awesome and SO helpful @Mreader !!! Thank you so much! i'm gonna show my hubby this tonight cuz i think this is really good to know info

 

[TooPatient]

We have a Rancillio Silva that I found on FB marketplace for $100 (the wife couldn't figure out how to use it and the husband had upgraded to a different machine). I took it to Seattle Coffee Gear to get all the wearing parts replaced plus had them add the PID that basically manages the time and temperature precisely so you can make a more repeatable shot. Without that, it was extremely particular about how long it had been on, how you ran water through before the shot, etc. Very difficult to make consistently good shots. The PID makes that part easy! We got a Burr grinder as when we got our first (super basic) espresso machine years ago. I think it is a Cuisinart? Works great. We also have the Rancillio burr grinder now though we haven't tried it yet.

I used to roast our coffee at home and blend the various roasts to get just the flavor we wanted. So delicious! I have raw coffee beans that came a month ago. Need to get back into that as it really was so much better than anything you can buy! (With the possible exception of some of the small roasters who sell $$$ roasted coffee and may or may not be easy to find.)

 

[Babyblue033]

All of those are Italian machines. The grinder though is as important as the machine. If you don’t have a good grind then your espresso can be bad even in a fancy machine. My husband is even more obsessed than I am and taught me how important weighing your shots are. So now I weigh the little basket and add 18 grams of espresso (for a double) to whatever the basket is. I used to be a barista so I had learned how to steam milk properly (pic of my latte art below). My drink of choice is a double latte as pictured below. Despite my obsession I have not been able to drink espresso sans milk. I hope you can enjoy learning about it - there are several FB groups where people ask questions etc. and learn from each other.

That manual one is a beauty! I have no idea how those work but there's something so artistic and romantic about using a machine like that.

Yeah I'm doing all the measuring and timing as well, which is only telling me that there's something wrong with my espresso! LOL. my 18g beans are extracting for too long and yielding way too much, but the beans I had on hand is probably not fresh either.

I used to roast our coffee at home and blend the various roasts to get just the flavor we wanted. So delicious! I have raw coffee beans that came a month ago. Need to get back into that as it really was so much better than anything you can buy! (With the possible exception of some of the small roasters who sell $$$ roasted coffee and may or may not be easy to find.)

Wow, roasting your own beans! That sounds amazing, I bet they taste so much better than store bought!

Anyone has recommendation of good beans to try? Since I know absolutely nothing about it, I signed up for Atlas Coffee Club which is a subscription service (who knew!) so I can try different ones to see what I like. Curious to see what shows up.

I'm obsessed with Cold Foam, anyone else? I've only heard people talk about it for their Starbucks drinks and stuff but never actually tried it until now, and now it goes on all my cold coffee drinks. Can't be good for my weight but YUM!

 

[rainydaze]

I love the coffee from these folks: beanstock.com

My favorite is the Nauset Blend Organic

 

[dk168]

I don't have a coffee habit, and only drink one cup a day in the morning.

I used to have a Nespresso machine, and needed to use 2 of the strongest pods per cup, and felt it was too expensive.

So I stopped using the machine and drank the best instant coffee that I liked.

When I got my campervan/RV, I decided to have good coffee when I go camping, and bought the van the smallest French press enough for one cup, plus another one for the house.

Coffee of choice is Lavazza Espresso, and I like to use 2 scoops per cup.

DK

 

[Babyblue033]

Speaking of instant, for the longest time these were my coffee of choice. Strong, sweet, and unhealthy. LOL.

Coffee of choice is Lavazza Espresso, and I like to use 2 scoops per cup.

DK

I tried Lavazza Super Crema to make cold brew and liked it a lot. When I switched to another it made me stop drinking cold brew it was so bad. Might give it a try again for espresso.

 

[Mreader]

@Sprinkles&Stones any decisions on the Pavoni?

 

[Babyblue033]

Thinking about grinders. Niche seems to be a popular one but not cheap and will take a while to get here from UK.

Any thoughts or experience on hand grinders for espresso?

 

[Karl_K]

I wish, but lately have been drinking instant packets.
I love very dark burnt coffee you can only get in a percolator pot on the stove but I don't drink it often enough to make it worth it.