I got my first taste of manually-pulled espresso at Bright Coffee in Monterey. It was fantastic, but I could never be sure if it was induced by watching the barista pull the shot, or if the flavor was in fact better. I've had my mind made up to get a manual pull since then, and found a hand-made brand that looks promising.

I'll be saving for a while:

https://www.pullespressomachines.com/about.html

The quality of grind tends to be the weakest link in most home barista situations. It's easy for most people to justify buying the expensive espresso machine, or buy a kilo of beans from the last cafe they got a great coffee from, but the grinder is often neglected.

For the nerds on HN, the difference between a good grinder and junk is the consistency of particle size. There's an optimum particle size that will result in the greatest amount of desirable flavours being extracted; most cheaper grinders will spit out a wide gamut of particle size.

One of the most important jobs of a barista is to manage the grind fineness to optimise for the beans.

The reason that perfect espresso isn't made by a robot—the reason why the process is so variable—is because the source material (the beans) are volatile. They're constantly changing, each batch is slightly different, their properties change as they off-gas every day from when they're roasted, and they're greatly affected by storage and ambient humidity. Some of these variances can be compensated for by adjusting the grind.

Thanks for this - sounds like you're pretty knowledgeable on the topic - don't suppose you have any recommendations for books or other sources for further reading?

I really enjoyed Home Coffee Roasting by Kenneth Davids: https://www.amazon.com/Home-Coffee-Roasting-Revised-Updated/...

It's not about grinders but it spends a few chapters on how coffee is produced and how different factors/regions can affect its flavor. It's an excellent primer on coffee in general, and of course on roasting at home (though the chapter on machines at the end is a little outdated).

Thanks!

That’s marketing to rich hipsters. “Handcrafted” machines aren’t better. They’re crap. You want a precision assembly line that makes consistent, replaceable parts.

Maybe you're right, I don't know much about this particular machine, but espresso machines (especially levers) are simple machines that are frequently hand-built, yet very serviceable and high quality. See for example the Londinium R, which has a lot of fans and is basically designed and built by 1 guy AFAICT: https://londiniumespresso.com/store/londinium-r

In contrast, consider the Breville espresso machines. They make great coffee reportedly, but I understand they're next to impossible to service or fix yourself. I heard that a technician is required to merely clean it, much less repair it (maybe a machine owner can chime in).

So I guess you gain some and lose some with economies of scale and espresso machines.

As the owner of an older europiccola and a quick mill qm67, I've been eying this: https://www.flairespresso.com which seems really need. the europiccola always struggled with managing steaming/overheating issues when doing multiple beverages. (Boiler was small), so I got the QM67. But this seems like it might be perfect for the times when you want to make just one shot.

I love my flair espresso machine.

I put the cylinder (~= group head) in the water as I bring it it up to temperature, and get extremely consistent results.

I have a PID controlled kettle, and a high end burr grinder. The setup compares favorably with high end manual machines at work.

I usually make two batches (2 double shots) with the flair, fwiw.

I have a flair, a temperature controlled kettle, and a bellman stovetop steamer. The grinder I have was good for pour-overs, but isn't really up to espressos, but even so the espressos and cappuccinos I've been able to produce make my kitchen my favorite place to go to get caffeinated.

More often than not I'll make multiple beverages with it in a row. It's good enough that I'm frankly worried that when I finally upgrade to a proper machine it won't feel worth it. I had been looking forward to getting my fancy espresso machine eventually, so this is weirdly disappointing.

FWIW, I have a proper espresso machine, and I’ve considered downgrading to a Flair.

Went from a Gaggia to a Flair and can only recommend it. For me, the Flair only falls short when you want to make >2 espressos at a time. Love the control over every parameter and that you don't need to preheat for 15 mins

I've owned an EPC8, Silvia with PID, and an E61 machine and I can tell you the flair is my favorite machine

La Pavoni Europiccola is a great machine. I have a modern one (I didn’t feel like restoring a classic one), but it’s still great. I have replaced the factory steam nut with a single hole end that I made myself, but otherwise my machine is stock.

I love espressos, machiattos, lattes and have gotten to the point where I’m consistently producing both espresso and lattes (with art!) that I prefer to many reasonably good coffee shops.

It took me some time to learn the machine and how espresso works, but I got to geek out in the process. Highly recommended for people who are more interested in the journey than the destination.

My Europicolla is almost 20 years old and going strong. Maintenance or replacing parts is simple, you can kit it out with all sorts of upgrades, and its espresso is comparable to that of super expensive pressure profiling machines. It's my favorite thing I've ever bought.

Piccola, not picolla. Piccola means small, tiny, in Italian.