A colleague of mine is in search of a combination espresso machine and grinder. Although I've tried to explain that buying two separate machines might be the best route she (a woman in her 50s) really likes the idea of a combination unit. She is not looking for a fully automatic grind, tamp, brew machine but rather one that has a grinder built in (she would tamp then brew the espresso). Quality of the shot is important to her as she mainly drinks espresso. She rarely makes milk based drinks so the frothing is not that important. Price is not so important (within reason).
Any suggestions or experiences? thanks in advance jim
When I was looking for machines, a barista at Peet's demo'ed the La Pavoni Napolitana for me. It has a Lux burr grinder and a marine brass boiler. the reservoir is 100oz. It made good espresso, and the steaming was good as well. The barista thought it was comparable to the Gaggia, with a better boiler (we did a comparison demo between the two). We were able to get good microfroth after taking off the adapter. I thought it was a good machine. The CG product review listings have only two posts for the machine, but they rated it at 9.2. The La Pavoni Napolitana sells for $519.00. It doesn't have a solenoid valve. The Nemox Caffe Napoletana is the same machine with a different set-up.
I have seen other machines like this on-line. The Nemox Caffe Dell' Opera is the exact same machine, except that it has a solenoid valve. it sells for $649.00. The Imat Mokita Combi, and the Lelit Combi PL042 are apparently also the same machines. According to on-line sources, they used to be made by a company named Quaha (Quaha Napoletana II).
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