If you want lever and high build quality, I can't recommend the (Swiss Made ) Olympia Cremina enough. It is a manual lever, like a Pavoni, but I had a couple of spring levers and really prefer the manual. Built like a tank. I had 3, the oldest was from '71, and for gaskets/heating element etc. the factory has full support. New ones are around 3.5k CHF last time I checked but they can be found for 5-800 secoond hand.
I found that I made too many coffees at time for the Cremina to be practical, so moved to the Olympia Maximatic. Same footprint but a pump machine. Mine is 20+ years old and going strong. You would be hard pressed to find any bad reviews of any Olympia stuff on the coffee forums.
But most important (after quality beans) is the grinder. A good grinder with a mediocre machine can make great coffee, but a bad grinder will screw the pooch with even a Marzocco. BTW, have you checked the price on the Marzocco FC?
Couldn't agree more and thanks too for this great post...I will look into Olympia
The Marzocco is a small fortune, absolutely...and I'm not frugal but I don't really believe in overspending/excess or being wasteful...A machine like the GS/3 is certainly entering the realm of ridiculous excess but my reasoning is that I am passionate about a wonderful shot of espresso and Marzocco machines have consistently provided me with glorious shots in my experience...It's getting my Suisse wife to sign off on it as she is more practical than I am
Ideally, I hope to track down a 2nd hand one but I subscribe to the theory that investing in quality that will last pays dividends...It's the one household item I'm open to paying more than the usual for
For the frugal poster above... We got this Machine from Fust before they moved back to America and we are extremely happy with the coffee it makes. I don't think you will find a cheaper Espresso machine *yum* PS. We use it multiple times a day, since at least 4 years and it hasn't let us down once.
That is exactly the crappy machine I had for about 7 years until it finally packed up. It was good for what it was. Steaming milk with it is not really an option though. I am happy to have upgraded to something a little more precise now.
I have to say though, it was a real trooper and served me well.
This sort of machine often has a pressurized portafilter, which allows it to make a drinkable cup of espresso from preground or poorly ground coffee. They also have miniscule thermoblocs for heating the water, which throws temp stability out the window (and usually makes proper steaming an impossibility). To get 'froth' in the milk they have a sort of air infuser, which makes bubbly foam but not real microfoam like a proper steam wand can do.
Most folks don't want to mess with a 6-700+ franc grinder, adjusting grind for humidity, bean age, etc, weighing the dose, proper tamping, etc. etc. etc., so these machines that can use preground or pod coffee feed a large market segment. Once you make the leap to an even slightly better machine (no pressurized portafilter), and some sort of decent grinder, it's a slippery slope and there's no going back .
I'm using an old olympia manual lever coffee machine. I bought it last year. The coffee I make from this machine is much better as compared to the ones I made with automatic machine. The new one is a little bit expensive, around CHF3600 but if you can find a second-hand, I would highly recommend it.
I had one for 7 years and it did teach me how to try and extract the best coffee from it. 7 years was too long though. It was only once I had, as Mud outlines above, decided to dedicate myself to a better machine did I realise how much better my coffee could have been.
They do have a fantastic roast. As for grinders I have the Eureka Mignon, small, quite but built like a tank with metal burrs instead of plastic. It should last three lifetimes and many pro reviews rate it as the best grinder under the €1,000 mark. I got mine new from a German site for €350.
At the moment I have my friends Bezzera pump machine on loan, this thing has more chrome than a Harley. But I have to give it back soon and was looking at lever machines including the Pavonni Pro. I hear the Pavonni is only good for two shots before it over heats so along the journey to find my espresso machine I found the vintage Arrarex Caravel. An absolute beauty and very simplistic design. One can take the whole machine apart with out tools and clean in a matter of minutes plus it seems to make good shots as well. I'll post a pic of it as soon as I receive it. Functional art. They don't build them like that anymore.
Thanks to Magick's review, I also tried Sagada Peaberries. Perfect for espresso- pleasant bitterness- with chocolaty/cacao-ish flavour and pleasurable after taste.