Emphasis on "worth a try" - Not to beat a dead horse (or unicorn) and not to try to sway the OP but to clarify for those new to home espresso who would read this thread - I personally don't think this is as much a compromise anymore with the timed grinders, timed machines that we have at our disposal.
I imagine we all value time - that's why we're on the CG forums at all hours of the night......
cappuccinoboy Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2009 Posts: 789 Location: MILANO Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Milano pod, Milano fully... Grinder: grind on demand
Posted Sun Apr 29, 2012, 7:42am Subject: Re: Advice re: automatic coffee/espresso maker - Am I looking for a Unicorn?
wsikes Said:
A friend of mine (lives in England) has a $3300 Miele... it is a beautiful machine, and I do mean beautiful. I could watch the demo video all day long... absolutely breathtaking. However, I have never tasted the pulls she gets from this lovely machine and after seeing some of the repair bills (one was over $600), I think I will pass on this machine. (As if I could afford it in the first place...lol.) My first thought is that if I did have one, I would not be prone to experiment with the brewing process (This would be limited by the machine itself.), and I would lose much of the enjoyment of my "journey in quest of the God shot." You may not be as interested in the process or the journey as much as I am, but if I did not have a lot of variables to "overcome" I doubt the hobby would be as enjoyable and rewarding (when not absolutely frustrating) as it is. Having said that, I really do hope you find your "Nirvana Machine." Click Here (www.youtube.com)
MoffeeCoff Senior Member Joined: 15 Feb 2012 Posts: 43 Location: Australia Expertise: Professional
Posted Mon May 7, 2012, 12:36am Subject: Re: Advice re: automatic coffee/espresso maker - Am I looking for a Unicorn?
I bought a Delonghi Magnifica in 2010 and had no troubles with it at all... I gave it to my sister when I moved and it still works perfectly fine. The only thing I found was that I had to de-scale it a lot more than other machines! So, I agree with Panisse. Go for it!
Coffeenoobie Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2011 Posts: 2,314 Location: PNW Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: N S Oscar Grinder: Vario W
Posted Tue May 8, 2012, 9:59pm Subject: Re: Advice re: automatic coffee/espresso maker - Am I looking for a Unicorn?
Instead of a built in look towards the bottom of this page. They used the space for a double oven they took out, added a pot filler wand and a sliding shelf. (and plug ins in the back)
dsas Senior Member Joined: 22 Apr 2012 Posts: 4 Location: Charleston, SC Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Sep 5, 2012, 6:57am Subject: Re: Advice re: automatic coffee/espresso maker - Am I looking for a Unicorn?
Just following-up on the super-auto thread:
I went with the Delonghi 3300 and have been using it for 3+ months now. My wife and I are very pleased with both the quality of the coffee and the performance of the machine. It's easily adjustable so you can make traditional espresso or a big cup of "American" coffee with little effort. All of our friends and family who have tried it also love it. In fact, one friend liked it so much, he got one of his own.
It has one defect - the adjustable coffee spout falls down when brewing. The spout is supposed to adjust up and down depending on the size of the cup and the volume of coffee. Our adjusts just fine and stays in position while not in use. But once we brew, it falls to a lower position. The company has been as helpful as one could expect, offering to fix it for free (also picking up the cost of shipping both ways), but we haven't taken them up on this since it really doesn't drop far enough down to cause any problems. My friend who also purchased one is not having this problem.
We chose the 3300 over the 3500 because the only differences were that the 3500 has a milk tank (which we would almost never use) and a digital interface (the 3300 has dials). For us, those differences did not justisfy the difference in price.
I also tried a similar Jura machine, but chose Italian coffee experience over Swiss engineering in the end.
I use locally imported and roasted beans from Charleston Coffee Roasters which is, of course, probably the biggest reason for the great-tasting coffee.
Overall, the machine makes great coffee, performs reliably (at least for three months) and is very easy and convenient to use.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 