Bob said:
Could any coffee lovers please help me out with some coffee machine ideas.
I'm after a machine for a christmas pressie for my husband with a budget of about £200 but I don't really know where to start and I don't really understand a lot of the technical blurb on the websites either. We've got a normal filter machine at the mo but I'd like to upgrade to one that has the steam thingy for frothing the milk - I know there a loads out there but i cant work out which one is better or worse in terms of performance, the last time i spent any amount of money of something I wasn't completely sure about (my pc) I ended up with a complete pile of ****!
Thanks!!
Well it kind of depends what you're using it for. I'd be interesting in finding out what you expect to make (does your husband drink espresso, lattes, cappucinos?) and how often (will it be in use four times a day or just once a week on a Sunday morning?). That will greatly influence what it will be worth you spending. You can spend a lot on a really good machine, that produces world class espresso, but if you only taste it mixed with milk and vanilla syrup you probably won't notice. As Wormella mentioned pod machines are very convenient, but you will pay over the odds for your coffee, and you'll only ever be able to use the blends that the proprietary brand whose machine you buy decides to market.
Right here's some stuff to help you decipher the blurb....
Look for the words 'pump' or 'pump-driven'. If it isn't pump driven then it will be running purely on the pressure of the steam in the boiler like a stove-top espresso maker and will probably produce watery, scorched tasting coffee. Pressure is measured in bar. Generally speaking: higher pressure=better.
There will also be a wattage rating. As a rule of thumb the higher the wattage, the quicker the machine will warm up and the more coffee you'll be able to make before you need to give it a rest to reheat. A higher wattage also means the machine will be using more electricity, but unless you're leaving it on all day that shouldn't be too dramatic an issue.
Much will be made of the water capacity. The larger the water capacity is, the less often you'll have to stop and refill the machine. If you're using it once a week this will just be a tank of stagnant water for you to throw away and clean before you can use the machine again. Unless you're making coffee for 15 people at a time, I probably wouldn't worry too much about it.
I'd urge you to invest in a water filter (the jug kind is fine) as espresso machines are notoriously hard to descale and Stafford water is notoriously hard.
I'd also throw some money at a grinder over and above anything else. Coffee keeps so much better as beans and whatever method of brewing you use you'll notice a really dramatic difference in flavour if you grind it yourself at home rather than buying ready-ground. IMHO a cafetiere made with freshly ground coffee is just about the best flavour you'll get making coffee at home.
Stafford coffee roaster HasBean has a good site with lots of information and will put you on the right lines and sell you some excellent coffee...
Coffee Geek is the place to go for machine reviews and pretty much everything else you'd ever want to know on the subject (& plenty you didn't really want to know). Be aware, however, they do tend to forget to take the price into account on some of the reviews....
I hope some of that's useful feel free to ask me anything else via this thread or PM...
