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ubermonkey t1_j6i8ig0 wrote

Good choice! The Rancilio has been a go-to first-proper-espresso-machine for a long, long time, and if you paid $35 for it you fucking STOLE it. Nice! (A new Rancilio Silvia is $865 at Seattle Coffee Gear as I type this, and even at that price it's considered an excellent and capable machine that punches well above its weight.)

Semiautomatic espresso machines -- which is to say, the ones where you twist a knob or pull a lever to trigger the flow of pressurized water into the portafilter, but which do NOT measure or grind beans or automatically fill the portafilter or any of that nonsense -- are usually pretty simple beasts. If you buy a good one (and this is one) there's no reason you can't use it for decades. They're very, very repairable, and are at their root not especially complicated devices.

My pal C., who is a finance guy not some sort of engineer, has repaired his machine a couple times in the ~12-15 years he's had it (once to get the pump to limp along a bit further; a second time to replace said pump).

(Oh, and if you get into coffee, nb. that the idea of a PID is going to raise its head. That Rancilio doesn't have one, but it's apparently VERY EASY to add one to it if you're at all handy.)

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sunflowercompass t1_j6iqglf wrote

Shit got expensive. I remember they were around $400 10 years ago

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ubermonkey t1_j6j0vhi wrote

Were they ever really that cheap?

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sunflowercompass t1_j6j7w9a wrote

Yeah I even bought a super automatic from Delonghi for $800 in 2009. Checking now, you can get a super auto from same manufacturer for $800. It jammed a lot, too many parts. Don't like it.

Not a fan of Italian machines either. I remember I couldn't even reach support (no email, just a voicemail in Italian).

Now I just do hot water dispenser, aeropress, and a manual grinder. I have gone through many, including the famed rocky. That jammed a lot. People on the internet: STOP USING dark oily beans. But.. that's what I like to drink.

Kitchenaid burr grinder, that's lasted me 15 years+, only jams once a year if even that. Broke the glass once, called customer service to buy a new one. They just shipped me one for free.

Looking at models, it is similar to the KCG0702CS that's $300. I don't know if it's still the same quality. They got a $200 too.

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ubermonkey t1_j6jayhi wrote

Superautos all eventually taste like ass IME.

Italy makes fine machines, but you probably have to spend more to get a solid one. I have a Rocket, which is absurd, and I wouldn't suggest it for most humans because of its size and absurdity, but it makes fantastic coffee and is objectively beautiful.

I've paired mine with a Baratza Vario+ grinder. I used a lower-end Baratza to start with (carried over from my pourover days), and it was ok but the change when I got a proper espresso grinder was pretty big.

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sunflowercompass t1_j6jkorc wrote

Yeah but back in the day when I drank a lot of coffee it was sooo convenient to just push a button and get a quick drink. Also great for the morning while I am still waking up :)

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ubermonkey t1_j6joq6l wrote

I feel that.

I came to espresso from pour over, though, so for me getting a delicious American in, realistically, less than a minute is pretty great even if I have to measure-grind-tamp-pull during that minute.

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MeatPopsicle14 t1_j6l9jib wrote

What do the acronyms you used (nb, pid) mean?

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ubermonkey t1_j6lf467 wrote

“N.b.” is Latin. It stands for “nota bene”, which means “note well” — basically “pay attention to this part!”

PID is an electronic controller that stabilizes the brewing temp of an espresso machine. The abbreviation stands for “proportional integral derivative” but it’s mostly just referred to with the initials.

This is a quickly Googled link that explains it. Nicer machines have them, but often older ones can have them added.

https://sipcoffeehouse.com/pid-espresso/

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