True coffee lovers - have you made the switch from traditional pump espresso machine to a bean to cup??

[Ethelfleda]

My current coffee set up consists of a nespresso for every day ‘don’t have the time’ coffee and a Krupps burr coffee bean grinder with a delonghi dedica espresso machine for when I have the time to extract a decent espresso.
Espresso machine now bust (wouldn’t recommend)
Now I am torn between:

1. Straight swap for a better espresso machine - carry on having mind blowing coffee when I can be arsed and mediocre when I can’t
2. Swap for a more sophisticated barista machine that makes espresso a little easier - so that maybe I could have mind blowing coffee every day and get rid of the nespresso save it for emergencies
3. Get one of these bean to cup machines that give you no control over grind size and /or tamp pressure etc but would hopefully be better than a nespresso?

To add - my drink of choice is americano but with one part water to one part coffee (double shot espresso) I like it like oil.
I wouldn’t use a steam nozzle too much but may dabble if I’m feeling fruity.

What are your recommendations?

Ignore the god damn voting options

I bought a Jura bean to cup 7 years ago. I love it and it makes great coffee. You can adjust the grind according to your taste/what beans you are using. You can adjust the strength by telling it go give you more than the standard setting. It has a steamer/milk attachment (that I haven't ever used) and will do hot water.
However, it wasn't cheap even then, but slightly cheaper than a colleague's professional espresso machine (which has already gone wrong once and caused a fire).

We have a Sage Barista Express that we’ve had for a good few years now and it’s been so worth it, especially with DH and I stuck working from home these past few months. It’s pricey but we’ve saved so much in takeaway coffees as we prefer the homemade ones it’s kinda balanced out.

IamRhubard
That’s the exact machine I was looking at getting!
Maybe if I make it easier for myself to make barista style coffee I might use it more often.
What puts me off a BTC is that I read that while you can get consistently excellent coffee... you’ll never be able to make perfect coffee. That takes honed barista skills and a proper espresso machine (with the right beans etc of course)

we have the delonghi cafe corsa and a bean to cup takes no longer than a cup of instant coffee you can adjust the strength of the coffee and my OH swears that the coffee is far superior to an esspresso machine, it wasnt cheap but was bought 6 years ago and still working perfectly

I have a De Longhi Bean to Cup machine and can select grind and strength for any coffee I am making. It's very easy to use and the coffee is delicious. :)

Does perfect coffee exist though, or is it an ideal that you'd be chasing ?

A stove Moka pot works for me.

(Or a quest sold to you by people also selling coffee making equipment)

I'm not a coffee connoisseur but I love our delonghi bean to cup. I prefer it to coffee shops. It makes a perfect double shot coffee at the touch of a button and is grind and strength adjustable. If it broke tomorrow I'd replace it like for like right away.

Sage barista express is very good.

I have a DeLonghi Eletta

I brought it as a 40th birthday gift to myself and I absolutely adore it. It makes the most amazing flat white. The only thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t make milk based coffees very hot but I just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and it’s sorted.

I think it depends how strong you like your coffee. I love my DeLonghi BTC, but I drink mainly for the flavour rather than the kick. My dad likes his coffee to melt spoons, and finds he can’t get it strong enough.

Does perfect coffee exist though, or is it an ideal that you'd be chasing ?

I like a philosophical coffee related question!
I will answer this with a resounding yes. I achieved a perfect espresso with my dedica. The right pressure and extraction time and honestly, the coffee was actually mind blowing. Actually matched what I had experienced as perfect coffee in Venice (man they know good coffee over there!)

Sod it. I’m ordering the sage barista express

Moka pot here too. We love it. It's been a lifesaver during lockdown.

I quite like a Moka pot now and then - you can get great coffee from one of those

I've got a DeLonghi bean to cup, I think it's the Ecam 23.2 or something. You can control grind and strength. It was expensive by my standards, £350 or something but I love it and consider it worth every penny. If you consider that a latte in Starbucks costs you a couple of quid every time you buy one, if you are buying one a day that's £14 a week, it pays for iteself in about six months.

We bought a Delonghi btc a couple Of years ago and haven’t looked back. Nothing compares. DH did a barista training course with an artisanal coffee roaster in NZ: technically, the btc machine gets the closest to the way the pros make coffee.

We’ve got a Mazzer super jolly grinder and Sage the dual boiler coffee machine. It really doesn’t take long to make amazing coffee. I manage about eight a day
However the kitchen counter does look like costa

Haha I just saw your most recent post, you won’t regret it. If you haven’t already ordered I highly recommend buying from Lakeland as then you’ll get their lifetime guarantee (which is handy when your DH has a mishap when refilling the tank!).

As for perfect coffee, I’m no connoisseur but I’d say it makes a pretty decent coffee, certainly on par with the coffee I get from the fancy barista machine at work.

I honestly dont find a regular espresso machine to be a faff.

Melitta Molina grinder - do a can full once a week of decaf, then it sits with caf beans for ad hoc use.

Dualit espresso machine. Nothing fancy but it does the job.

We get beans from Redber.

We have the sage barista and has been one of our best purchases. Used everyday... several times during lockdown.

Amethyst bloody hell thats a 12 hundred quid machine hope you are minted.

Had the Sage Barista Express for over 5 years but when it malfunctioned we replaced it with this more expensive model Sage Barista Touch which I love as the milk frother is automatic and you don't have to hold it. As you are not after the latte experience anyway the Barista Express (which also has a good milk frother but you wouldn't need it) would give you lots of control over grind, tamping etc. It really does need fresh beans to work well though. In other places these Sage machines are branded Breville!