Espresso!!!

You have touched my heart, espresso is me and my husband's passion. :)

Disclaimer: We are true coffee snobs. Seriously. Our espresso machine is plumbed in through our counter top.

We have an Izzo Alex Duetto II, and we love, love, LOVE it. BUT, one thing to keep in mind is how much time you want to devote to making good espresso. Do you want the machine to do all the work? Do you want to grind, measure, tamp, and pull the espresso yourself? Do you want to steam milk on the machine or have a hot water tap? There are machines that will fulfill whatever it is you're going for. The fancier machines also require an espresso grinder, because the grind must be consistent for a good shot. If you have a good machine, a good grinder, freshly roasted-but-slightly-aged espresso, and a bit of technique, you can knock everyone's socks off. That's why everyone we know comes to our house for coffee, and we rarely go out for coffee unless we just want to try out a new shop. :) If you want to read some reviews on machines, grinders, accessories, and coffee, you can visit this forum: http://www.home-barista.com/. This is where we got our start! Good luck!

ETA: The Alex Duetto II was hand made in Italy. We had it shipped over. One of our grinders was made there as well (Mazzer mini). We buy our coffee and espresso straight from a roaster in North Carolina (Counter Culture Coffee).

The commercial machines are crazy expensive! Ours is in between..it's fancier than anything you'd find at Williams-Sonoma, but it's no La Marzocco (ours only has 1 group-head). That really would be the price of a car!! Ours is more like the price of a nice tv. :) But seriously, it paid for itself in just over a year, and we use it EVERY DAY, sometimes twice. And I've learned latte art. Can't get that at starbucks!

You need to state your price range because they range from $60 upwards to the thousands of dollars.

I'm sipping my iced latte right now. It's yummy.

Update: It also depends on the amount of work you want to do. I had one where I did the grinding, tamping, etc but now I have a fully automatic one that does it for me because I didn't use my last one as much because I had to do it all. But then my new one is "more maintenance" because we make more and have to clean the innerworkings of the machine.

I'd love to hear the answers to this one! We've been looking for one too and all seem to have mixed reviews. With what we spend at the coffee shop, we would end up saving $1000 a year making it at home!

I am SO glad you posted this because I too am an espresso snob. My hubby got me a cheapo one from target and it tastes horrible! I am saving all my extra money for either a vitaxim or an espresso machine (kinda contradictory huh?) and will hopefully be able to make the purchase after Christmas. If you get one you love PLEASE let us know. I get my iced espresso from starbucks on sunday mornings and make myself drink regular coffee all week. Sundays are great days!

My world traveled, super snob (and I actually say that w/ love), uncle has one from this maker: http://www.amazon.com/Rancilio-Automatic-Commercial-Espre...

I can ask him what make/model if you want...I know it is something he would have heavily researched.

HTH!

I am Italian, so I HAVE to pitch in: Gaggia (mentioned by the poster below) is one of the most used coffee machines in bars over here...just so you know. Enjoy your caffè!

We have a Gaggia (Platinum model I think) and I would not trade it for the world. I cannot drink regular coffee anymore!! We even take it when we go on vacation. Seriously. It is an automatic (it grinds, measures, tamps, etc.). You just need to fill the tank with water, fill the top with beans, and empty the grounds when it gets full. It is insanely good. Totally worth the money IMO, and I am *not* one to blow money on luxuries. We use this at least 10 times a day.