My fine new Italian machinery

[mstevens]

For my birthday, my wife gave me a Saeco Talea Ring Plus superautomatic espresso machine!

(Yes, coffee geeks - I know I can theoretically pull a better shot with perfectly-ground, perfectly-tamped coffee in a heavy brass bottomless portafilter in a prosumer machine with PID, or some such, using custom-roasted beans from that little place on the Via Venetto and water hand-delivered from the Dolomites by topless Milanese supermodels. What I'm positive about is both that I lack the skill, especially when half-asleep, and that I'm not going to devote the time before work in the morning. Wouldn't mind the supermodels, though.)

I love this thing! It doesn't take up too much counter space and isn't too ugly, having been designed by BMW DesignWorks. I just pour my beans in the top - I've been liking Lavazza Super Crema - and fill it with water. When I want espresso I press a button. (I also learned it's best if I put a cup under the spouts first, too...) Less than a minute later a very decent shot with nice crema appears in the cup (or in the drip tray if I'm not fully awake). It's got all sorts of adjustments, including grind, dosage, preinfusion time, and more. Every once in a while I have to dump out the pucks and once a week need to rinse out the brew group. I can brew anything from a ristretto to a lungo or caffe crema. Even though it's got a Panarello-style wand I can get fairly decent microfoam. Even lazier is to use the "milk island," which allows me to walk away and do something else while a pitcher of milk is foamed for me.

The product is better than 90% of what I could get commercially if I lived in an area with lots of coffee places. In my case, though, there's nothing other than that mermaid place within 30 miles. Yes, a skilled barista using commercial equipment can probably beat my shots and milk. I'm certain only a tiny minority of civilians could, especially using home grinders and machines. I really like being able to use any beans on earth and not being stuck with what's available in pods or some other single-serve format. For that matter, it's got a bypass doser so I can also use pre-ground (such as Lavazza Dek or something else that won't keep me up all night).

I got a bunch of really nice Nuova Point high-fired porcelain espresso and cappuccino cups. They're heavy and smooth, the right size, and completely gorgeous. Nice cups to go with the espresso machine are sort of like having good gear to go with the bike.

The biggest problem is that I've been slurping down the coffee at a ridiculous rate. I usually have a cappuccino while I'm waking up, then take a double-shot latte macchiato in the car with me. Typically I'll have an espresso or a caffe corretto or two in the evening. We've gone through 3/4 of a kilo of coffee in the last 2 weeks, which is massively more than ever before. The second-biggest problem is that it now seems like a very good idea to get a second machine for work so I can top up my caffeine level during the day. Fortunately, a shot of espresso has a bit over half the caffeine of a typical cup of drip coffee so I'm downing the equivalent of 2-3 "cups of coffee" per day in terms of caffeine.

List price on these puppies is, frankly, ridiculous. They can easily be found for half of list on auction sites. Mine was a honkin' deal at about 1/3 of list, new in box and shipped free. For that price I couldn't get even a very basic consumer espresso machine and unimpressive grinder. I already have those and used them less than once a year. For me, the superautomatic is the way to go.

[ducpainter]

Your ineptness matters not.

The write up is priceless.

[Raux]

almost as good as a new Ducati. trust me, not kidding.

[mstevens]

Your ineptness matters not.

Hey, as long as you can have some proper water delivered by the correct method, you can have as much espresso as you like at my place. I've become fairly good at pushing that button - it's all in the thumb, y'know.

[mstevens]

almost as good as a new Ducati.

Yep. Plus, this time of year I'm getting a lot more use out of the espresso machine than out of any of the Italian stuff parked out in the barn.

On the other hand, as pretty as the Saeco is I've never, not once, gone downstairs at night just to look at it. I'll cop to having done that with both the Monsters and the Vespa. More than once, I'm afraid.

[NAKID]

I just looked up the price 

[somegirl]

You know the rules...it's not real without pictures.

[swampduc]

You know the rules...it's not real without pictures.

+1
I'm stuck with a regular old Braun espresso maker, and apparently, I'm slumming it. I am intrigued.

[mstevens]

You know the rules...it's not real without pictures.

 

Yeah, yeah...

That drip tray, BTW, is motorized - touching the top or bottom of the switch at the front of the drip tray makes it go up and down. It's the dumbest feature on the whole machine. As you can see, the cup-warmer is minuscule, but at least it's actively-heated. The machine is programmed to turn on when I get up. It only takes one minute to warm up completely, but that way the cups are warm by the time I get showered. Turn-on and turn-off times can be different every day, and I can set the machine to go to sleep if it hasn't been used for a specified time. That Rattleware shot glass is there to catch the water from the automatic group rinse when it turns on.

There are little rubber wheels under the machine, so swinging it around to fill the tank or empty grounds or whatever is pretty easy.

I just looked up the price 

I'm not going to claim it's cheap. However, a Rancilio Sylvia espresso machine alone is about $900. A Rocky grinder, one of the least-expensive burr grinders that many coffee nuts think you can "get by with" is about $350. Add in a good tamper, knockbox, mat, etc. and this stuff really adds up no matter how you slice it. Many home coffee enthusiasts spend more on a Mazzer Mini grinder than my wife did on this machine.

You can easily get my machine for $750. My wife said she paid about 25% less than that. The same machine with different controls can be got for around $500 on fleaBay every day. At that price, the only thing one needs to add to have perfectly decent espresso is coffee beans and a cup.

I bought expensive Lavazza and Illy beans imported from the Old Country, but some Green Mountain Coffee Roasters "Our Blend" beans worked out nicely and were cheap - espresso's a method of preparation, not a roast or a type of bean, so just about any beans can be used. Fancy coffee beans can add up. A pound of beans will only make 60-65 shots of espresso, and it's easy to spend $25/pound and up for them but that's still only around $0.40 per shot for pretty darned good espresso.

I can't say I'm saving a single penny over buying coffee drinks every morning, since the only place I can actually do that is at the airport while traveling. Now I probably won't be able to enjoy those drinks since mine are better. For those who do buy $tarbucks or whatever daily it could actually make for some significant savings over time.

People say the same thing about the prices of our Ducatis, and I only get less than 1,000 miles per year on mine if the weather cooperates. That doesn't mean it's not worth it, just that I've made different choices about what motorcycling is worth to me and what I want than other people might.

+1
I'm stuck with a regular old Braun espresso maker, and apparently, I'm slumming it. I am intrigued.

I've got an old Krups that's probably pretty similar. I just couldn't ever make good espresso with it. I even went out and bought a burr grinder, though not an especially good one since I was on a student budget at the time. Don't even get me started on what it was like to foam milk with it. I used to think I just sucked at it, but it turns out the machine simply wasn't up to the task because of how long it took to build up steam. I could have either hot coffee or hot milk, but not both. I'm sure a really good barista (who showed up with a great grinder) could make coffee in my old Krups that's roughly the equal of what I get from my Saeco, but I'm neither that good nor that patient.

This is one of the few areas in life where money spent on equipment actually can to a degree make up for a lack of expertise.

[Howie]

Congrats!!

[Kopfjäger]

If anyone is looking for quality machines. I would recommend these.


http://www.bialettishop.com/EspressoMakerMainPageElectric.htm

[LA]

Like DP said, Love the write up.  As I read it I began to read faster and faster and began to get this mental picture of you all hyped up on and honkin, on caffeine and speed talking.  Too funny. 

LA

[Popeye the Sailor]

Great-the doctor is overcaffeinated.


Almost as bad as the painter being drunk 

[Statler]

Great-the doctor is overcaffeinated.


Almost as bad as the painter being drunk 

<ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffft (inhaling)..........>

<holds breath>


here.
<passes suspiscious hand rolled cigarette>

[Statler]

great write up on the machine.   we haven't caved in yet to doing it at home....part of the morning is going out for me.