Has anyone (I mean the coffee connoisseurs!) had any success in switzerland getting hold of good coffee equipment, for a semi-automatic setup for home?
We are on the hunt for a good grinder and coffee machine, but I've yet to find a speciality store, and the focus on capsules and vollautomats means the chain stores fail us.
I guess an online store that ships to switzerland will do the job, and there has to be some options in Italy at least, beyond Amazon.it which seems to be limited in range as well.
If anyone has had success with such an internet purchase that would be good to know. Or in the possibly wealthiest country in the world, you think they would have stores to cater to people who want to make quality coffee? anywher ein zurich even?
I was looking myself and a couple of weeks ago manor had a couple of reasonable looking bean to cup machines for about chf 500 reduced from chf 800. I would look at delonghi ones as the magi mix selection here seems to be very limited.
Have you checked Amazon.de? They seem to have a good selection. I did a quick search for 'espresso kaffeemaschine' and there are lot of results from different brands. There is a decent selection of grinders as well.
I buy small bags of vacuum packed ground beans (La Semeuse is my favorite by a longshot) and find results are as good as grinding fresh whole beans, as home grinders heat the beans as much as they grind them, unless you spring for a very high quality and expensive grinder and keep it properly adjusted. I also just use Bialetti style stove top machines and leave espresso the the professional machines in good cafés and restaurants (maybe easier to find here Romandie than in SA).
Have you been to Media Markt. Unclear from posting if you want a separate grinder and coffee machine or all in one. The all in one. are easier as it takes a supply coffee beans for a number of coffees. It grinds the beans for each coffee when you push relevant buttons for a coffee. You have buttons to set for coffee strenght. You can also have different cup size measure buttons. Some have a cup warmer, but I have rarely used that feature. There would be a drawer to empty after every 10 coffees of the used coffee grinds. A drip tray under the cup to be emptied every 8 coffees, the dribbles from the machine and from when it does a quick clean. There is another container that you put the water in, suggest it should be at least 1 litre. There is some maintenance to be done to machine every few months as explained in the manual, decalcifing *not sure if spelt correct
These machines usually also have a separate slot for putting in single measure of ground coffee, instead of using the beans, useful for say Decaf requests or you receive a present of ground coffee
I am sure Media Markt would have a good selection, so then you view sizes, prices etc. I have not been looking out for coffee machines in recent weeks, so not noted any offers around. if i notice anything in freebie newspaper adverts or if in a shop n notice an offer will let you know.
You might finds used ones on either Ricardo or Ebay.ch as something the Swiss would change from time to time, but only recommend this route if you are able to pick up, as if posted might get damaged n i dont want the blame for that.
Something that is difficult is what the aromas from the machines are, they all differ
Right now we have separate grinder, small KMix, Kenwood Espresso machine with the 2 measures. My OH loves the way it gives out black froffee coffee, the aroma is nice {find it a pain having to empty the grains each time}
The problem with fully automatic machines is that you are paying for the automated mechanisms and the quality of the grinder and actual part of the machine that make the coffee are of necessarily lower quality, even at the level of the pro machines.
If you are really serious about the quality for home use, best to spend as much as possible on a good fully manual machine. The problem with using pro machines at home is that they don't get used often enough and the quality of the brew suffers.
Jura has become known for their fully automatic machines, and they have a wide variety, but for quality you will be paying a small fortune.
We have basically decided to treat ourselves and are hoping to get a setup for home, one that with a bit of practice we can use to put out impressive espresso shots and silky cappuccinos.
Jura and co make excellent fully-auto machines I know, but I have decided that we can get a better coffee and a much better steamer for making great milk, if we go for a separate grinder and mid range coffee maker setup.
The challenge is that although mediamarkt stock a few such products, their grinders top out at 100 chf it seems. its the same all over the world I'm sure, the typical consumer has not been told (but coffee nutters will probably insist) that their grinder should cost as much as their coffee machine, and has as much impact on the coffee you get out.
I guess swissies love quality but love time-efficiency just as much, and so fully-automatics and capsule machines are dominant. But someone must walk past a coffee specialty shop that sells grinders somewhere?
Amazon.de, does have good options. But when I check, i get told in all cases that they wont ship to zurich?
coffeeitalia.uk is a site we found that claims to ship here, and we might end up there it seems. It would just be so much nicer to walk into an expert shop and flash 1000chf around in front of someone who knows their stuff and can prove it in person. heh.
OR stumble across a highly-rated but consumer-priced grinder and machine, if mediamarkt etc have them, hidden under the capsule machine stacks somewhere...
My experience is mostly with the pro side of it, and I can confirm that a good grinder will cost way over 100chf, and are probably not even available in retail outlets. Getting really good café style espresso at home is a costly and to my mind almost pointless exercise, as pro machines need to be used a lot, calibrated and adjusted regularly, and are not cheap at all even used or refurbished, making them less than ideal for the home. They also need to be left on, which uses enormous amounts of electricity, and they suffer from not being used for long periods of time.
If you want to source a good grinder I would call up a few coffee companies and ask the reps if they have any used pro machines that can be fitted with new blades, etc, or try companies that sell and repair new machines to see if they have anything available. I don't think you will find what you want through regular consumer channels.
For pure quality of coffee I do away with the crema and just use stove top machinas, quality fresh pre-ground beans in small portions kept in airtight jars and used up quickly, and for cappucinos I whip by hand to make a REAL cappucino, not a Mt- Blanc high mountain of stiff froth, which is a recent and poor interpretation of what a cappucino should be. There is probably a reason Italians for the most part do this at home, and leave the café style espressos to the pros!
Thanks for update on Mediamarkt, have not been there for some months. As from UK I was impressed with their stocks of stuff, as dont have that amount of displays in London.
We are not capsule machine people, I would need 2 capsules per coffee.
Brought subject of coffee grinder up with OH, I said coffee grinders in Switzerland around CHF100, as ours is used/inherited. OH said could find me one nearer to Xmas around CHF20, as that when they have a clear out, but no idea what OH refers as now off for some winks.
OH is a quality coffee equipment expert to a certain degree, but we are not in the market of selling the equipment. When I have more time to speak to OH will get back to you with possible suggestions.
If you do find something you are thinking of buying let us know here so one of us might be able to advise if up to the mark
Just off for some winks now, will get back to you in a few days, will be busy tomorrow on priority project
ps Hope to make you laugh, I usually like to start me day with cup of Barrys tea then followed by decent coffee s
pps a good coffee machine will give you satisfaction for years, I love it to give others a decent cup of coffee without letting on how good it is, leave then to enjoy umm
Not sure if it's any good but I've seen a little store in a little town called Rekkingen(Sp) near Bad Zurzach that all it sold was equipment for making coffee might be what you are looking for however I've never been in and didn't look too closely at their range as I had no interest in buying a coffee machine but I seem to remember that they had some impressive looking monster machines on display.
When I get back in front of a computer rather than my tablet I'll try and post a link to the location.
Woweee well a not very cheap coffee machine and separate grinder are on their way to us now, and we're pretty excited.
What happened was, with a few better search terms I found first of all www.electras.ch and their store in Zurich which I occasionally walk past without noticing (Bland shop front). The nice fellow there showed us a sensible Quickmill setup that made tasty espresso and had us thinking.
Then I found a couple of german websites, mobacoffee.de cleverly have a section for informing Schweiz customers and say they are able to drop the 19% german vat, more than negating the swiss import fees and vat.
I had never really looked and indeed Riccardo.ch has some good second hand products up. But nothing that hits the right price range for used goods really.
We also for the first time spotted a expensive (not counting super-automatic etc) machine at Fust in Letzipark zurich, about 1700 chf for the machine alone. Funnily its hidden on the bottom shelf while cheaper delonghis sit on top. Not really what we wanted, although in my mind you get what you pay for and should be paying as much for a grinder as for the machine (which is why a 20 or 100 chf grinder is not of much interest)
So in the end we've purchased from mobacoffee.de, hoping we dont get bitten if we need to send it away for repairs or anything, and we spent more than planned.... but the cappuccinos are going to taste amazing