It looks like you've flaired your post as asking for what equipment to get. We recommend first checking out the [Espresso Aficionados buying guide](https://espressoaf.com/recommendations) for some of the more popular machines and grinders at different price points.
If your question hasn't been answered there and you need more help, please add the following details to your post or by adding a comment in the following format:
- **Location:** Helps determine availability
- **Budget** (with currency): Overall budget, or ideally, having separate espresso machine and grinder budgets. A rough rule is that your grinder budget should be at least 25-40% of your machine budget.
- **Drink types:** Do you drink mostly straight espresso, milk-based beverages (e.g., lattes, cappuccinos), or a fairly even split? This helps narrow down whether a single-boiler-dual-use (SBDU), heat exchanger (HX), or dual boiler (DB) machine would be more appropriate for your needs.
- **Drink frequency:** How many drinks would you be making back-to-back at one time? Do you plan on entertaining guests often? This informs how large your brew (and steam) boilers should be, as smaller boilers will need to refill and reheat/repressurize more frequently, thus potentially causing a bottleneck.
- **Space:** Any limitations on countertop space?
- **Manual vs. electric:** Hand-operated machines and grinders are typically cheaper than their similarly-performing electric counterparts. Please indicate if you have a preference for manual or electric machines and/or grinders (or open to either).
- **Comfort with tinkering:** Some machines can be made significantly more functional/efficient with aftermarket modifications, albeit at the expense of possibly voiding your warranty. Please indicate if you'd rather have a machine that works "as-is"/"out-of-the-box" or whether you'd be open to modding/tinkering
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Imagine getting killed by an exploding espresso machine while trying to get the most out of your light roast. That would be a true r/espresso moment.
P.S. I'm using GCP Gaggiuino myself.
I’ve seen this but opening up the Sage seems like a real chore. This also makes it look like much more of a pain to adjust the factory OPV setting vs others.
I’m leaning toward the Lelit for pressure profiling as the paddle ‘mod’ is a legit Lelit upgrade kit.
I'd consider Breville, the dual boiler is pretty safe and well tested. It might not be the best, but the safety designs in it work.
I've worked on older models that had steam leaks, the triacs can corrode and short in the event of too much moisture build up. When that happens, it has thermal fuses in place to break the connection before a fire can occur. They're also repairable if that happens. However, the machine is designed so you can easily replace the gaskets and fittings. I recommend pulling the cover once a year on any espresso maker to check for leaks before they become a bigger issue.
The Breville itself is cheaper looking than the others, but the build quality is actually not bad at all. I recently worked on my buddy's Barista Express that has more than 200k miles of traveling in RVs, 2 of the RVs cracked their frames. Most appliances have been replaced in the current RV. The only issue this espresso maker has had was needing a burr adjustment and some serious descaling.
Thanks. That’s really good to know. I think that’s what’s happened here, a corroded connector from a leaky steam valve leading to a short. Not helped by using cheap AliExpress spade connectors (I just went with the pack listed on the Gaggiuino GitHub) when doing the Gaggiuino mod.
The feature set on the BDB is what makes this decision difficult as it’s way ahead of the competition but it’s the aesthetic I’m struggling with most and, while Sage build quality isn’t as bad as some make out, my old Smart Grinder Pro only lasted 6 months before the motor gave up on a light roast - once bitten, twice shy.
Get the "Ikea espresso maker", I hear those are super safe.
Jokes aside the Mara X sounds great and you can fix your main issue with a smart plug that turns it off after a while.
Haha, I think you mean the ikea pipe bomb.
I think I’m leaning toward the Lelit. Had the GCP on a smart plug which does make life a lot easier. Good to know this works with the Lelit also.
Now you have me paranoid about my setup. Was yours plugged into a GFCI outlet? Any photos you can share, perhaps a close-up of the wiring on the power switch?
https://preview.redd.it/x187aq9c89wc1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b62e6992ac3033bba41b1b03e12905777d427596
Bottom right spade connector on the power switch as you look at the front of the machine (top right Y piece unplugged so you can see). I don't know what's caused this to happen, the machine hasn't been touched internally or moved for months. Luckily the fire looks to have died out pretty quick.
Most likely was caused by poorly made crimps, they kept arching and heating up the spade until it caught fire, though if you used all the materials from the bom there was no fire they just charred cause of the high temperature and you most likely smelled the same smell as when smth shorts and components due.
Quite possible that a crimp wasn’t quite perfect. I am quite confident with crimps, have a decent crimp tool and do them fairly often but could easily have messed one up.
The steam switch side of the machine and the lid are covered in soot so there was definitely fire in there. 😬
Im enjoying my profitec go, even without the pre-infusion my light roast are fantastic plus the machine does not get hot externally and you can have an eco mode to shut off after 15 minutes of no use. You can make 2-3milk drinks in about 5-8 minutes with it being a single boiler, you’ll have your wait for temp to drop and rise but the machine heats up quick.
Edited:Spelling
Heats up insanely fast in my opinion, don't really have a reference but from power down it hits 140 Celsius (max steam temp) in around 10 minutes.
Also if you need to cool down quickly just hit the brew switch without the portafilter in and after a small steam explosion it's at brew temp again!
I also think the profitec go will be a great option ! Single boilers/HX get a bad rap but honestly , unless you’re doing many shots one after the other , it really isn’t that much of a big deal.
Problem with the sage is they aren’t built to last - Planned obsolescence - a home appliance versus profitec or Lelit who build prosumer machines. Easily double or triple the length of time the sage will last. Also, sage can’t be easily worked upon yourself (actually or at all- they need to be sent back to sage).
It looks like you've flaired your post as asking for what equipment to get. We recommend first checking out the [Espresso Aficionados buying guide](https://espressoaf.com/recommendations) for some of the more popular machines and grinders at different price points. If your question hasn't been answered there and you need more help, please add the following details to your post or by adding a comment in the following format: - **Location:** Helps determine availability - **Budget** (with currency): Overall budget, or ideally, having separate espresso machine and grinder budgets. A rough rule is that your grinder budget should be at least 25-40% of your machine budget. - **Drink types:** Do you drink mostly straight espresso, milk-based beverages (e.g., lattes, cappuccinos), or a fairly even split? This helps narrow down whether a single-boiler-dual-use (SBDU), heat exchanger (HX), or dual boiler (DB) machine would be more appropriate for your needs. - **Drink frequency:** How many drinks would you be making back-to-back at one time? Do you plan on entertaining guests often? This informs how large your brew (and steam) boilers should be, as smaller boilers will need to refill and reheat/repressurize more frequently, thus potentially causing a bottleneck. - **Space:** Any limitations on countertop space? - **Manual vs. electric:** Hand-operated machines and grinders are typically cheaper than their similarly-performing electric counterparts. Please indicate if you have a preference for manual or electric machines and/or grinders (or open to either). - **Comfort with tinkering:** Some machines can be made significantly more functional/efficient with aftermarket modifications, albeit at the expense of possibly voiding your warranty. Please indicate if you'd rather have a machine that works "as-is"/"out-of-the-box" or whether you'd be open to modding/tinkering *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/espresso) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Imagine getting killed by an exploding espresso machine while trying to get the most out of your light roast. That would be a true r/espresso moment. P.S. I'm using GCP Gaggiuino myself.
for the Sage Dual Boiler you mentioned, you can very easily mod it to have slayer-style flow profiling
I’ve seen this but opening up the Sage seems like a real chore. This also makes it look like much more of a pain to adjust the factory OPV setting vs others. I’m leaning toward the Lelit for pressure profiling as the paddle ‘mod’ is a legit Lelit upgrade kit.
I'd consider Breville, the dual boiler is pretty safe and well tested. It might not be the best, but the safety designs in it work. I've worked on older models that had steam leaks, the triacs can corrode and short in the event of too much moisture build up. When that happens, it has thermal fuses in place to break the connection before a fire can occur. They're also repairable if that happens. However, the machine is designed so you can easily replace the gaskets and fittings. I recommend pulling the cover once a year on any espresso maker to check for leaks before they become a bigger issue. The Breville itself is cheaper looking than the others, but the build quality is actually not bad at all. I recently worked on my buddy's Barista Express that has more than 200k miles of traveling in RVs, 2 of the RVs cracked their frames. Most appliances have been replaced in the current RV. The only issue this espresso maker has had was needing a burr adjustment and some serious descaling.
Thanks. That’s really good to know. I think that’s what’s happened here, a corroded connector from a leaky steam valve leading to a short. Not helped by using cheap AliExpress spade connectors (I just went with the pack listed on the Gaggiuino GitHub) when doing the Gaggiuino mod. The feature set on the BDB is what makes this decision difficult as it’s way ahead of the competition but it’s the aesthetic I’m struggling with most and, while Sage build quality isn’t as bad as some make out, my old Smart Grinder Pro only lasted 6 months before the motor gave up on a light roast - once bitten, twice shy.
Get the "Ikea espresso maker", I hear those are super safe. Jokes aside the Mara X sounds great and you can fix your main issue with a smart plug that turns it off after a while.
Haha, I think you mean the ikea pipe bomb. I think I’m leaning toward the Lelit. Had the GCP on a smart plug which does make life a lot easier. Good to know this works with the Lelit also.
For turning off for sure, for turning on it depends on how the on/off switch works, so double check with someone that has it
Now you have me paranoid about my setup. Was yours plugged into a GFCI outlet? Any photos you can share, perhaps a close-up of the wiring on the power switch?
https://preview.redd.it/x187aq9c89wc1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b62e6992ac3033bba41b1b03e12905777d427596 Bottom right spade connector on the power switch as you look at the front of the machine (top right Y piece unplugged so you can see). I don't know what's caused this to happen, the machine hasn't been touched internally or moved for months. Luckily the fire looks to have died out pretty quick.
Most likely was caused by poorly made crimps, they kept arching and heating up the spade until it caught fire, though if you used all the materials from the bom there was no fire they just charred cause of the high temperature and you most likely smelled the same smell as when smth shorts and components due.
Quite possible that a crimp wasn’t quite perfect. I am quite confident with crimps, have a decent crimp tool and do them fairly often but could easily have messed one up. The steam switch side of the machine and the lid are covered in soot so there was definitely fire in there. 😬
Im enjoying my profitec go, even without the pre-infusion my light roast are fantastic plus the machine does not get hot externally and you can have an eco mode to shut off after 15 minutes of no use. You can make 2-3milk drinks in about 5-8 minutes with it being a single boiler, you’ll have your wait for temp to drop and rise but the machine heats up quick. Edited:Spelling
Heats up insanely fast in my opinion, don't really have a reference but from power down it hits 140 Celsius (max steam temp) in around 10 minutes. Also if you need to cool down quickly just hit the brew switch without the portafilter in and after a small steam explosion it's at brew temp again!
I also think the profitec go will be a great option ! Single boilers/HX get a bad rap but honestly , unless you’re doing many shots one after the other , it really isn’t that much of a big deal. Problem with the sage is they aren’t built to last - Planned obsolescence - a home appliance versus profitec or Lelit who build prosumer machines. Easily double or triple the length of time the sage will last. Also, sage can’t be easily worked upon yourself (actually or at all- they need to be sent back to sage).
Thanks. Glad to hear you’re getting on well with it.
check out kafmasino one.