Bob_McBob

Anyone in the market for a good value grinder should check the Baratza refurb store. The Maestro goes for $70 (reg. $110), and the Virtuoso goes for $143 (reg. $200). Stock varies from week to week, so you might have to wait to get what you want.

Probably not the best choice of words. It's not a huge amount of effort, but it's enough to be annoying. $350 worth of annoyance? That's up to you I'm considering getting one of the Kyoceras to use with a cheap machine at work. I'm biased against cranks, anyway. This is me at work every couple months (minus breeches and hat):

Let me revise my earlier statement about the cheapest setup for making real espresso: I should have mentioned the Saeco Aroma (also known as Starbucks Barista, but not sold by Strarbucks anymore). This is really, really absolutely the cheapest machine you should buy if you want to make espresso. It is a proper pump/boiler machine. A thermoblock "15 bar" steam toy will never product anything other than strong (and bitter) coffee. The Aroma is perfectly capable of making "espresso". However, if you want to make good espresso with it, ditch the pressurized portafilter for a $40 regular portafilter, and swap the frothing aid steam wand for a $22 Rancilio Silvia steam wand so you have a hope of making microfoam. You should also learn about temperature surfing a single boiler machine. The Aroma seems to be going for $275-$350 now, so after you add the necessary parts to get the same functionality, the price isn't much different from the Lelit PL-041 I mentioned earlier as the cheapest machine to consider. The good news is that there a number of refurb black Aromas on eBay for $120-140. Spend $60 on some parts, and you have an espresso machine for only $180. This machine must be paired with a good grinder. If you can afford to spend another $430, then please buy a Baratza Vario. I want to emphasize again how much more important the grinder is than the machine, once you have something at least capable of producing espresso. If you don't want to spend that much on a grinder right now, the best cheap grinder is a hand grinder. You can get a new Kyocera ceramic hand grinder for only $75. This is perfectly adequate for making espresso, and will outperform inexpensive electric grinders. The bad news: 200 cranks for a double. You've been meaning to work out, right?

The quality grinder advice is absolutely correct. There's no point buying any espresso machine if you're not willing to spend some decent money on a nice grinder with fine stepless adjustment. In general, you should be spending at least as much, if not more on the grinder, because it's much more important for good espresso than the espresso machine itself. However, I don't think the Rocky has been the baseline grinder for at least several years. First it was the Mazzer Mini, then Macap M4, and now the Baratza Vario is the new game in town. I see absolutely no reason to buy a Rocky when the Vario -- a much better grinder for espresso -- is around the same price. It's also good enough to pair with the $1500 espresso machine you upgrade to in six months If you're looking at the really low end of espresso machines, the only advice I can give is that it's pretty much all "15 bar hurr" thermoblock crap. These do not make anything you could call espresso, and they also universally suck at steaming milk properly. The cheapest "real" espresso machine is probably something like the Le'Lit PL-041.

Happy Birthday Ryan.

I shoot Canon, but three of my four flashes are SB-24s, because they're cheap and work well with RF wireless. It seems kind of wrong in a way... Also: I have a fucking watch problem It's Woven's fault.

Picked this up on a bit of a whim: Victorinox Alpnach Automatic Chrono. It was either this or new Westones, and the damn watch won.

"After you, Dr. House..."

Technivorm brewer to complete the work setup

A Baratza Maestro to use at work so I don't have to drink shitty coffee anymore.

New espresso grinder: Compak K10 WBC

Perhaps after the garbage strike, though

Seriously though, how is peeing in the sink more convenient than peeing in the toilet?