Our morning ritual includes an espresso or two. Make that a double espresso or two.
Over the years we have owned a number of espresso machines. For the most part they on the low end and produced low end espresso. For years I would buy the cheapest 15 bar espresso machine I could find and take it to work so as to have espresso as needed through the day. These run about $120 with the De’Longhi Stilosa Black and SS 15-Bar Pump Espresso Maker as an example. In fact we have one of those machines on our boat. Not bad but…
We decided to up our espresso game when we bought a 16′ trailer and drove from Washington to Florida and back one summer. We wanted a machine that would produce great espresso and because of space had a built in grinder. We did not want a high end machine like the Rocket Espresso R Cinquantotto and its like costing thousands ($3300 for the Cinquantotto). We were looking for a machine that made great espresso but was not quite into the crazy espresso devote zone.
Enter the Breville Barista Express.
Costing around $750 this machine gets great reviews and has worked very well for us. There are a number of review videos that run you through the operation and cleaning of this machine. And it is available from Amazon and many brick and mortar stores. In fact they are often carried in stock at Bed Bath and Beyond but at a price greater than Amazon. However if you have discount coupons from BBB you may be able to pick one up on the fly at a good price.
However, there are some scam artists advertising out there. In my pursuit of the best discount price I fell prey to one of them. It took a while to get my money back but I did get it back. Note to self – These machines are not available at deep discounts.
There are a number of tricks that you can employ with this espresso maker. The first thing to remember is that the grind fineness sets the pressure of the “pull” so adjust the grind to get it in the middle of the range. The other is that instead of grinding a double shot of beans use 2 single shot grinds and tamp it down lightly between them. This reduces the spilt coffee grounds of almost nothing. Give it a try, you will understand.
