acasabia Said:

Long Island is a bad place for good coffee :( my years at Stony were marked by increased shipping costs on coffee (nearly twice what it was to Westchester) and always a few extra days on the truck..

That aside.
It honestly seems that Bubbadude is the only one here arguing for the BDB. the remaining majority, myself included, are more ambivalent or nervous about one issue or another. This was essentially the same situation I was in a few months ago, and I ended up quite happy with my e61. You definitely do not have to pull this machine apart every couple months. Perhaps if you really screw up something back-flushing, but even then as JonR said, it only takes 15 minutes. I can say however, that you will need to do some maintenence on all of these machines at one point or another, and being able to do so cheaply should be a major concern if you plan on owning the machine for more than a few years. Bubbadude stated earlier that his pretenses for buying the BDB included that in 5 or so years he would probably opt for a newer machine. I dont know about you, but I cant afford to drop a couple grand every five years on a coffee machine, and I would much rather buy one that doesn't need upgrading. These aren't handling complicated algorythyms or computations, it's a thermostat on a boiler and pump, lets not overcomplicate this. The argument that the BDB's techinical advancements will lead to consistently good shots has some merit, but not compared to the thousands of café's which rely on the barista's to know-how to set a grind, tamp, and pull. I know I can walk into Grumpy in NYC anytime of day, at any of their locations and get a great shot, not because of a PID or timed pre-infusion, (they have a rather basic synesso set-up) but because of fresh coffee, and proper training. Some would even argue a PID is more than necessary, I like it because it helps me know when the machine is properly warmed up but short of small adjustments between blends, it's not that critical.

In the case that you buy an e61 and five years from now you decide you want some electronic component present in the newest iMachines, you can always retrofit it. As bubbadude said, these machines often look like retrofitted HX machines. This isn't necessarily true, a lot of thought was placed on how these boilers feed each other, pressure balancing, and usually the effects of multiple thermosyphons on the temperature stability but, these machines are in fact easy to retrofit new components onto.

People similar to Bubbadude will exist for any machine you look at, this isn't a bad thing, nor is it a criticism. It shows that these people have taken the time to familiarize themselves thoroughly with their own equipment and for whatever reason are really dedicated to their "team." I proudly support e61's, in particular the Expobar, but I think because of the e61's diverse utilization we all fall into one group. 20 years from now we will still be trading replacement parts, customizations, and advice. I imagine the BDB users will have upgraded by then.

Posted January 30, 2013 link

joatmon Said:

Here's another observation: Ten years from now, my Lambro will be 64 years old and I'll still be pulling great shots from it.  BD will be on his _th BDB.

Posted January 30, 2013 link

Iluvdabean Said:

...we are coffee bean brothers.

Posted January 30, 2013 link

BubbaDude Said:

Indeed we are......

Posted January 30, 2013 link

BubbaDude Said:

I would be most happy if the espresso machine I buy in 2017 knows what beans I've got, how I roasted them, and what kind of shot I like, and then adjusts the temperature and pressure profile from beginning to end of the shot to pull out the flavors I like the most and suppress the others. If it could fix itself too, that would also be a plus, but I would settle for self-diagnosis and modular, snap-in repair parts.

Espresso has a long way to go yet.

Posted January 30, 2013 link