Over the past few years I’ve gotten a small handheld blade grinder, an Aeropress, a French Press, and started roasting my own beans.
The problem is that while some changes stick (like the grinder and the bean roasting), some changes just take up space (I usually use my Mr. Coffee over the Aeropress or French Press).
With that in mind, I’m looking for an espresso maker that is low budget, since I may not use it that often; but is still nice enough that I’m not going to hate espresso making because the machine is bad (ie: low pressure, low heat, leaks, etc).
Most espresso makers I’ve seen are a few hundred to a thousand USD; but since I’m worried I may end up almost never using it (or just using it to froth hot chocolate), I’m looking for one that’s around 100 USD or less.
While I expect you all have loftier targets for your espresso machines than that, I am hopeful if you don’t have any specific recommendations you can tell me what signs to look for that an espresso machine is of decent quality.
Uniformity is everything my man.
A blade grinder will break your beans in random sizes. You will have big chunks with almost zero extraction (basically wasted) up to super fine powder that will get grossly over extracted (bitterness to the max), and everything in between.
A good burr grinder helps keeping everything “in the middle”, so you can get a much more controlled extraction.
I don’t know about this 50$ Costco grinder but if it’s electric, it will be shit. You won’t find any decent grinder, even straight from China like a DF64 for less than 350.
Your best bet for constrained budgets is a good mid-range manual grinder from 1zpresso. It will be night and day compared to your blade grinder.
The encore is great for its price. You can also upgrade the standard to the esp burrs. However, it does take up space.