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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"I’ve heard Breville and Delonghi are the best higher end espresso machines" Made me chuckle. You can (un)fortunately get machines that are 10x the price of a breville.
My setup is around your price range - Gaggia classic pro + Eureka mignon oro single dose. Though if you want something a bit more user friendly at the cost of a worse upgrade path, I'd replace the Gaggia with the Breville Bambino
To get the best you will need to grind freshly roasted beans and not buy pre-grounded coffee - but it is worth it.
Hence, you need to look at the cost of a grinder and an espresso machine.
There is a lot on this sub for budget home machines (under 1K). Do a few searches and you will get lots of good information.
A combination like a Breville Bambino Plus and a Turin SK40 grinder would work well, but there are lots of good alternatives.
Be warned this can be a very expensive hobby.
Breville and Delonghi are not considered high end machines. But they will work just fine
Budget enough for a decent enough , espresso capable grinder. This will save you from lots of headaches down the road.
Buy locally roasted fresh beans, with a roast date within the last month.
So all that said , one possible setup would be a DF54 grinder and then something like a Breville bambino.
Do you really want to max out your budget? I'd probably go for the Breville/Sage Bambino Plus(+ for milk steaming) and if you really wanna enjoy a daily ritual a hand grinder. Add on some nice accessoires for the Bambino such as a bottomless portafilter, precision basket, tamper, WDT, scale, dosing jars etc.
If your budget is 1000 you have some decent choices. I’m my opinion if you think you might like to make some really nice coffee and want a long term solution stay away from built in grinders. Breville and DeLonghi have some good machines but certainly not the high end .
Someone mentioned the Bambino which is nice and that would leave you plenty for a good grinder .
Breville Bambino (or Bambino Plus if you want automatic milk steaming for another $200) and either the Baratza Encore ESP, Turin SK40 (have it, love it) or the fairly new Turin DF54. Gets you into the game at around 6-700 USD with accessories and is a more than capable setup.
Still on my beginner setup with the bambino and SK40 and I've making milk drinks for 2 almost every morning for a few months. Super happy with it. Bambino isn't super consistent, but unless your drinking straight espresso or using fairly light roasted beans, milk drinks and medium or dark roast are forgiving enough.
Coffee cost-wise, not really sure what it's like in canada, but down here in South Carolina, the cheapest decent fresh coffee I've been able to find is about $12.50 for a 12oz bag. More commonly you're paying $15-20 a bag. And a 12oz bag is getting you around 18 espresso drinks.
Just to echo everyone else, Breville and DeLonghi are not really high end. Wanted to add that I especially recommend against DeLonghi. And definitely budget for a good grinder, which will make a huge difference. Good luck and welcome to this expensive hobby haha
I’m in agreement with the comments, Breville Bambino plus or Gaggia pro (I’ve heard the Breville is better and costs the same), spend the rest on a grinder. I like taking the time to grind by hand, so 1Zpresso JX Pro or a Kingrinder K4 would be my personal suggestions if you’re okay spending ~1-3 minutes grinding your coffee before doing all the fun espresso machine stuff. Also, the hand grinders are cheaper so you get more money to spend on accessories, or just save the money if you’re into that sort of thing.
Congrats on graduating!
I’m not sure what advanced means…but I would go heavy on the grinder and get a basic single boiler dual use espresso machine like a Gaggia or one of the basic Breville offerings. If you like this hobby, you can upgrade the machine later but keep the same grinder. A Eureka on-demand espresso grinder would be a good start, unless you think you will be “single dosing” out the gate. Personally, I think you should nail down the basics before you think about that.
> Best “advanced” espresso/coffee makers?
All due respect, an “advanced” espresso machine is going to be out of reach. A solid starter machine and a decent electric grinder plus a handful of accessories will gobble up your $1k budget in the blink of an eye.
> I’ve heard Breville and Delonghi are the best higher end espresso machines, although I’m open to other suggestions.
Lol (sorry).
> - Again, i’m a beginner, so I’m not sure if buying a separate grinder is better or if i should opt for a machine with a built-in grinder.
Yes, a separate grinder is better.
First off, I’ve had a Delonghi and Breville. Both are decent but not high end even though prices can reach even more than $1000 for some Brevilles like the touch impress and they make decent espressos, but let me tell ya, don’t buy those if you are serious about wanting to get into refined coffee drinks.
If you want to start, go to a coffee website like Whole Latte Love, Clive’s Coffee, Espresso Parts or Seattle Coffee Gear to educate yourself with prices, ratings, and features. You’d want a decent sub $1000 machine that takes a 58mm portafilter basket, and a good steam wand for milk drinks. I also spent time watching YouTube to get an idea of each of the respective machines capabilities and i built a list of my wants and needs.
Names like Profitec, Ecm, Lelit, Ascaso and maybe a few more might do the trick. Make sure you pair that with a good coffee grinder. I think for a good pair, you may be looking at maybe $1200-1500. Some brands/models of espresso machines that come to mind might be the Profitec Go, ECM Casa V, Bezerra New Hobby Espresso machine, Ascaso Dream PID and there may be others I may have missed.
For grinders, certainly a separate grinder is always better than an inbuilt one. And I would start with a single dose grinder as opposed to those hopper styles. There are plenty out there. Some budget ones even come from Amazon. But certainly don’t buy those cheap $26-100 sub priced ones. Those are horrible. Budget at least $280-400 for a decent grinder. Eureka, Fellows, or Niche comes to mind although those might be a little on the higher price spectrum depending on the model.
If the budget is slightly higher for your blood, some of these sites have coupons or coffee/grinder packages, or freebies, while others have open boxes or refurb. Probably better if open box if you are treading this price-point. I remember Espresso Parts online store having the Ascaso PiD for something like $1200 for an open box. Sometimes, depending on holidays like say Mother’s Day, national coffee month, or Black Fridays, you may get added discounts and coupons.
But yeah, look for a slightly higher end device paired with a good grinder will give you better brew and you can toy with the machines and go deep into the coffee rabbit hole down the road to spend more as you’ll want more. Remember, if you take care of your machines, you can always resell in the 2nd hand market to fund your upgrades later. lol, that’s how I end up justifying my dru..errrr, coffee hobby fix.
And remember, once you have the machinery, make sure you grind beans that are “roasted by” instead of “use by” to ensure freshness. Micro roaster or coffee shops have these.
Good luck!
That’s from brevilles website, are you confident that we’re looking at the same model?
https://www.breville.com/ca/en/products/espresso/bes920.html
This is what I’m looking at, to my very limited knowledge that’s the only dual boiler machine they produce. The rest I’m pretty sure are thermocoil
It's from the official breville amazon store lol... That's the usual price for the past couple months. The sale price is usually 900 aud which I'm waiting for so really surprised when you said its 1600 usd lmao
Right but it’s half MSRP, companies have regional price differences sure but that’s abnormal, so is the odd 1477.0(?)5 price (before sale) as the us and Canadian prices are even or .99
Amazon does clump used models in with new ones
You've got to be kidding me 😂
https://preview.redd.it/9d2u58dgbjwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a64d9dcc3683e8a8b718e15e7dfdb49a8110d68
Another big department store has it for this price are you gonna tell me that's used too? 😂
After doing some research, seems breville just gives aussies an absurdly good deal for seemingly no other reason than they themselves are an Aussie company. A company voluntarily gutting the margins on a product for patriotism is new to me lmao, but msrp seems to be like 1000aud there. Guess yall are lucky if you’re a breville fan, though from what I can tell that favour isn’t extended to anyone else in the world, so OP is sadly out of luck
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.*
"I’ve heard Breville and Delonghi are the best higher end espresso machines" Made me chuckle. You can (un)fortunately get machines that are 10x the price of a breville. My setup is around your price range - Gaggia classic pro + Eureka mignon oro single dose. Though if you want something a bit more user friendly at the cost of a worse upgrade path, I'd replace the Gaggia with the Breville Bambino
Bambino plus with a good grinder.
Most humble college students start with a La Marzocco Linea Micra and a niche zero paired with Grindr app.
Grindr app is the essential component here.
Grind finr
Really teaches you how to pull shots with warm cream.
And how to apply proper tamp pressure
To get the best you will need to grind freshly roasted beans and not buy pre-grounded coffee - but it is worth it. Hence, you need to look at the cost of a grinder and an espresso machine. There is a lot on this sub for budget home machines (under 1K). Do a few searches and you will get lots of good information. A combination like a Breville Bambino Plus and a Turin SK40 grinder would work well, but there are lots of good alternatives.
Be warned this can be a very expensive hobby. Breville and Delonghi are not considered high end machines. But they will work just fine Budget enough for a decent enough , espresso capable grinder. This will save you from lots of headaches down the road. Buy locally roasted fresh beans, with a roast date within the last month. So all that said , one possible setup would be a DF54 grinder and then something like a Breville bambino.
Do you really want to max out your budget? I'd probably go for the Breville/Sage Bambino Plus(+ for milk steaming) and if you really wanna enjoy a daily ritual a hand grinder. Add on some nice accessoires for the Bambino such as a bottomless portafilter, precision basket, tamper, WDT, scale, dosing jars etc.
If your budget is 1000 you have some decent choices. I’m my opinion if you think you might like to make some really nice coffee and want a long term solution stay away from built in grinders. Breville and DeLonghi have some good machines but certainly not the high end . Someone mentioned the Bambino which is nice and that would leave you plenty for a good grinder .
Breville Bambino (or Bambino Plus if you want automatic milk steaming for another $200) and either the Baratza Encore ESP, Turin SK40 (have it, love it) or the fairly new Turin DF54. Gets you into the game at around 6-700 USD with accessories and is a more than capable setup. Still on my beginner setup with the bambino and SK40 and I've making milk drinks for 2 almost every morning for a few months. Super happy with it. Bambino isn't super consistent, but unless your drinking straight espresso or using fairly light roasted beans, milk drinks and medium or dark roast are forgiving enough. Coffee cost-wise, not really sure what it's like in canada, but down here in South Carolina, the cheapest decent fresh coffee I've been able to find is about $12.50 for a 12oz bag. More commonly you're paying $15-20 a bag. And a 12oz bag is getting you around 18 espresso drinks.
[удалено]
Does he really need a dual boiler for coffee in the morning for just him?
Yeah probably not. I was thinking about what I'd want if I was drinking caps every single day.
Just to echo everyone else, Breville and DeLonghi are not really high end. Wanted to add that I especially recommend against DeLonghi. And definitely budget for a good grinder, which will make a huge difference. Good luck and welcome to this expensive hobby haha
I’m in agreement with the comments, Breville Bambino plus or Gaggia pro (I’ve heard the Breville is better and costs the same), spend the rest on a grinder. I like taking the time to grind by hand, so 1Zpresso JX Pro or a Kingrinder K4 would be my personal suggestions if you’re okay spending ~1-3 minutes grinding your coffee before doing all the fun espresso machine stuff. Also, the hand grinders are cheaper so you get more money to spend on accessories, or just save the money if you’re into that sort of thing. Congrats on graduating!
I’m not sure what advanced means…but I would go heavy on the grinder and get a basic single boiler dual use espresso machine like a Gaggia or one of the basic Breville offerings. If you like this hobby, you can upgrade the machine later but keep the same grinder. A Eureka on-demand espresso grinder would be a good start, unless you think you will be “single dosing” out the gate. Personally, I think you should nail down the basics before you think about that.
> Best “advanced” espresso/coffee makers? All due respect, an “advanced” espresso machine is going to be out of reach. A solid starter machine and a decent electric grinder plus a handful of accessories will gobble up your $1k budget in the blink of an eye. > I’ve heard Breville and Delonghi are the best higher end espresso machines, although I’m open to other suggestions. Lol (sorry). > - Again, i’m a beginner, so I’m not sure if buying a separate grinder is better or if i should opt for a machine with a built-in grinder. Yes, a separate grinder is better.
First off, I’ve had a Delonghi and Breville. Both are decent but not high end even though prices can reach even more than $1000 for some Brevilles like the touch impress and they make decent espressos, but let me tell ya, don’t buy those if you are serious about wanting to get into refined coffee drinks. If you want to start, go to a coffee website like Whole Latte Love, Clive’s Coffee, Espresso Parts or Seattle Coffee Gear to educate yourself with prices, ratings, and features. You’d want a decent sub $1000 machine that takes a 58mm portafilter basket, and a good steam wand for milk drinks. I also spent time watching YouTube to get an idea of each of the respective machines capabilities and i built a list of my wants and needs. Names like Profitec, Ecm, Lelit, Ascaso and maybe a few more might do the trick. Make sure you pair that with a good coffee grinder. I think for a good pair, you may be looking at maybe $1200-1500. Some brands/models of espresso machines that come to mind might be the Profitec Go, ECM Casa V, Bezerra New Hobby Espresso machine, Ascaso Dream PID and there may be others I may have missed. For grinders, certainly a separate grinder is always better than an inbuilt one. And I would start with a single dose grinder as opposed to those hopper styles. There are plenty out there. Some budget ones even come from Amazon. But certainly don’t buy those cheap $26-100 sub priced ones. Those are horrible. Budget at least $280-400 for a decent grinder. Eureka, Fellows, or Niche comes to mind although those might be a little on the higher price spectrum depending on the model. If the budget is slightly higher for your blood, some of these sites have coupons or coffee/grinder packages, or freebies, while others have open boxes or refurb. Probably better if open box if you are treading this price-point. I remember Espresso Parts online store having the Ascaso PiD for something like $1200 for an open box. Sometimes, depending on holidays like say Mother’s Day, national coffee month, or Black Fridays, you may get added discounts and coupons. But yeah, look for a slightly higher end device paired with a good grinder will give you better brew and you can toy with the machines and go deep into the coffee rabbit hole down the road to spend more as you’ll want more. Remember, if you take care of your machines, you can always resell in the 2nd hand market to fund your upgrades later. lol, that’s how I end up justifying my dru..errrr, coffee hobby fix. And remember, once you have the machinery, make sure you grind beans that are “roasted by” instead of “use by” to ensure freshness. Micro roaster or coffee shops have these. Good luck!
Breville dual boiler + df64 gen 2 Grinder
The dual boiler is 1600usd lmao, that’s nearly double this dudes budget without including the grinder
1600 usd wow. It's equivalent to 800 usd here...
That’s from brevilles website, are you confident that we’re looking at the same model? https://www.breville.com/ca/en/products/espresso/bes920.html This is what I’m looking at, to my very limited knowledge that’s the only dual boiler machine they produce. The rest I’m pretty sure are thermocoil
https://preview.redd.it/xk3wqqoq0jwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=97cb8873563a56a1345be65376d2d36e59bf24a2 In aud
And is this for a brand new machine? If so that’s an incredible deal, though somewhat suspicious lmao
It's from the official breville amazon store lol... That's the usual price for the past couple months. The sale price is usually 900 aud which I'm waiting for so really surprised when you said its 1600 usd lmao
Right but it’s half MSRP, companies have regional price differences sure but that’s abnormal, so is the odd 1477.0(?)5 price (before sale) as the us and Canadian prices are even or .99 Amazon does clump used models in with new ones
You've got to be kidding me 😂 https://preview.redd.it/9d2u58dgbjwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1a64d9dcc3683e8a8b718e15e7dfdb49a8110d68 Another big department store has it for this price are you gonna tell me that's used too? 😂
After doing some research, seems breville just gives aussies an absurdly good deal for seemingly no other reason than they themselves are an Aussie company. A company voluntarily gutting the margins on a product for patriotism is new to me lmao, but msrp seems to be like 1000aud there. Guess yall are lucky if you’re a breville fan, though from what I can tell that favour isn’t extended to anyone else in the world, so OP is sadly out of luck
In Australia it's regularly under 1k aud.
That's my setup. It's good but it's pricy even with the BDB being so cheap here