Australian Members

[Prince of Paisley]



Rancilio Silvia, sure. I have one. Very finicky machine but makes great coffee after a bit of practice. Not much use though if you're thinking of churning out a few lattés after your dinner party.

Until recently, if you wanted something better than Miss Silvia, you had to make the big jump to an Italian HX (heat exchanger) unit with an E61 group head. You're looking at $2000 minimum for one of these, but they generally make great coffee and can steam milk until the cows come home. (What an appropriate figure of speech that was!)

BUT...there's a new playa in town. I refer to the Breville Dual Boiler, model BES900. I bought one a few months ago and it is truly exceptional at the price. 58mm commercial-grade portafilter, genuine dual boilers (not brass though), and an incredibly well-thought-out design with lots of delightful little flourishes, like an inbuilt tamper which is held in place magnetically and detaches easily if you want to apply some body weight to your tamp. Many, many other features too, literally dozens of innovative little tweaks which will put a smile on the home barista's face.

And of course, the bottom line: it makes superb coffee.

Now here's the thing: I happened to get the deal of the century on my Breville, from a place in Foot-ess-Cray which used to be Retravision but has changed its name. Retail price of $1500 was discounted to $1149, but most amazingly of all, they also threw in a Breville Smart Grinder (model BCG800) for free! I thus scored around $1800 worth of coffee equipment for $1149. Most likely that deal is long over, and for all I know you may already have a great grinder. If you don't, the Breville grinder has conical burrs and an electronic doser, and is equally well-designed as the Dual Boiler.

Fairfax recently did a comparison of ten different high-grade domestic espresso setups and the Breville won hands-down.

My advice: up your budget a tiny bit, and go looking very hard for an online discount deal on the Breville. Good luck, Jim. This post will self-destruct in five seconds.

I have a $180 nespresso machine. It makes good coffee and has three buttons.

 

[Journeyman]

At the risk of sounding heretical, I had a Sunbeam cafe series machine and it was great, as well as being excellent value for money, but I gave it away and bought a Nespresso machine instead.

We only used the machine to make the occasional weekend coffee and also to make coffee when we had guests, and the bugbear about manual machines is that by the time you've finished making the third or fourth coffee, the person drinking the first coffee has finished theirs.

I liked having a manual machine, but that probably relates back to being a man who likes watches, cars, bikes and other mechanical things, so I liked being able to fiddle around with it and experiment. My wife, however, disliked it intensely - she found it to be too much trouble and to be much too slow.

Whilst the Nespresso machine doesn't give you much control at all, as it does everything for you and you can't do much to change any settings, it is very fast and very clean. No mess, no fuss, just a few coffees in a minute once the machine has warmed up. So, it's great for dinner or lunch get-togethers, which was my wife's main concern, and it also makes a reasonable weekend coffee - not great, but surprisingly good, particularly when using some of the stronger blends.

I apologise to any coffee enthusiasts whom I may have offended with this post [bearing in mind that I only ever drink black coffee, preferably espresso, as I can't stand coffee with milk in it]!

 

[iSurg]

Just want to drink latte and long mac's, bro. Don't know where to source ma beanz yet.
Holy sheiza. How many grinders do you need?

 

[thebrownman]

Dilmah, do try it.

 

[Henry Carter]



Aldi had some fantastic snow gear in their the other day. 20k/20k jacket for 89 that looked very similar to my 350$ 686 jacket...could've been made in the same factory. Highly recommended. Unfortunately it's impossible to tell if a store will have any stock without going in.

I got one of those jackets (for fly fishing not skiing) and they are fantastic, as good as $300 jackets I have for $59. 3M thinsulate, fully taped seams and a sealable inner membrane which locks any wind out from getting under the bottom. I wore it in -7 up at on the Thredbo river and it was toasty as hell. I was too hot by 11am when the sun was out.

In other strange news, I actually spotted some Goodyear welted casual leather boots at rivers today for $60! They were ugly as sin, pretty casual but had "Goodyear welted" stamped on both the sole and tongue. Don't ask why I was at rivers....

 

[Prince of Paisley]



Spoiler

As for perspective currently on a Compak A8 (k8 fresh), a Gino Rossi RR65 and Cunhill tranquillo and an old 2gr Brasillia Portofino (plumbed 20A). 

I'd strongly suggest something on the 64 (SJ) or 83 (Major) bursets its going to be big, ugly and second hand. Home Barista did a very useful comparison a while back for the titan grinder project. I think a Baratza Preciso is probably the answer for those with less freedom. Obviously a home machine tho so its not bullet proof.

I'll have to think on the machine. Be careful on the BDB the had a problem with flushing the boilers on the original that is now fixed. 

What kind of coffee are you making? (Both beans and drink type).

Oh yeah, I have one of those, quality Kaled workmanship, they don't make em like this anymore... Can be a bit stroppy though.

In all seriousness, if you are a coffee maker, get the best manual grinder and machine you can. Marzocco seem to be in all the good cafes.

If you are a coffee drinker get an auto machine and don't spend a lot of money, especially if you live within cooee of an actual cafe.

 

[Plestor]

You can actually change the pull length on nespresso machines. It can make the stale underdosed (hence the popularity of the "strong" options) coffee vaugely more drinkable.

Gotta have separate grinders for all my SOs bro.


On machines I think you've got 2 fairly distinct price brackets here.

The Em7000 / silvia price bracket. The former is easier to use and doesn't require the temperature change, but still isn't great at steaming. The later may produce marginally better shot especially with a pid. Its also more user repairable. Temperature surfing can be frustrating for new users here on the silvia.

On the BDB (BE900) range your other option is 2nd hand hx machines. The latter mainly offers better serviceability and fit / finish. As I mentioned earlier you want to be careful to get the new revision which you can now flush (iirc released recently). The BDB has a few quirks but I don't follow it well enough to keep on top of it. You'll also see more issues here due to its popularity.

Currently keen for a 1 group hydra (Synesso) / k10 but my wallet disagrees.


Whatever you do I wouldn't skimp on the grinder. See my previous post here.


Tons of good roasters in melbourne so you should be able to find something you like there.



POP: the Strada is good too I suppose. Also see KvdW stuff and Slayers.

 

[iSurg]

Respect. Drinking 4 SO's. that's a lotta coffee. Tremor much?

 

[coxaca]

Just want to drink latte and long mac's, bro. Don't know where to source ma beanz yet.
Holy sheiza. How many grinders do you need?

I have had good results ordering online from www.coffee.com.au. They are actually a bricks-and-mortar outfit in Green Square (Sydney). Beans are generally roasted to order, or at least very recently, and delivered quickly. I usually order the "Antonio's Special" blend which is good for espresso machines. It's not available on the website so you have to pick something else and then amend your order in the "comments" field.

For the record, I have three espresso machines: a Silvia, a Breville Dual Boiler and my pride and joy, an Expobar Office Leva which is an E61 group head, HX unit from Spain. All are capable of pulling a "god shot", with the Expobar doing so most consistently of the three. It's also the best-looking machine. There's something quite sexual about slotting the portafilter into that E61 group head.

 

[iSurg]

POP: I am primarily a drinker, so maybe auto is the way to go. Love all the variables though. Sounds fun.

 

[meister]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/07/07/12/54/humpback-whale-knocks-bondi-surfer-unconscious

 

[LonerMatt]

Watched 20 episodes of Parks and Recreation today.

Disgusting myself here, but the show is ******* excellent.

 

[lennier]



I have a $180 nespresso machine. It makes good coffee and has three buttons.

In all seriousness if people aren't sure they should try a nespresso first, because if you're happy with what comes out of it you should run out and buy one. You will see no value in spending any more money and the convenience and simplicity can't be beaten. I don't mean this in a negative or condescending way at all, people have different tastes and I know a lot of people who can't taste any difference between a nespresso coffee and anything 'better'.

 

[Plestor]



Respect. Drinking 4 SO's. that's a lotta coffee. Tremor much?

The last of those is commercial HX machines. Only 3. 1 is for filter (mainly aeropress) too.

Nespresso gets expensive very quickly fwiw.

 

[The Ernesto]



Watched 20 episodes of Parks and Recreation today.

Disgusting myself here, but the show is ******* excellent.

Respect.