Coffee Appreciation

Money no object?

https://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/la-marzocco-gs3-mp/

With the papers that came with it you can make 500ml easy as the papers went right to the top but the filtropa's are a bit below the top and also a little narrower so some coffee can get behind the paper if you're not careful. I probably wouldn't be bothered by it if I hadn't used the other papers first.

You've seen who's asking right?

If money were no object, I'd buy a Decent without hesitation.

If money is no object. A decent for the nerds, a linea for the traditional espresso lovers or a slayer for the light roast heads.

If money is an object I'll stick with my Robot!

Money no object I'd still be looking at a Europiccola or Robot. Anything I can't easily get parts for and service is out.

I’d definitely be looking for a decent coffee machine too. Wouldn’t want a shit one.

Yeah, good point.

As a lever man, I'd be tempted to get a Londinium R24 or ACS Vostok. La Marzocco Leva X looks dope but not sure how practical for home use.

If you wanted a real 'piece of artwork', a Kees Van Der Westen Slim Jim/Idrocompresso would be top of my list.

Saying that, Decent is probably still the best home machine. Consistency, graphs, blah blah; the 5min warm-up time is banging compared to 30+ on things like a GS3.

Dont worry about the machine, concentrate on the grinder

Ah yeah that's fair. I watched a couple of reviews before I bought one so I was prepared for the fact 450ml was about the limit, but if I'd started making 500s then had to go down to 450 I think I'd be annoyed too.

Maybe try Melitta or Rombouts and see if either are bigger (and report back, lol). I definitely brim my clever dripper using filtropa filters into the danger zone lol.

If you didn’t buy a decent, you would end up customising it to such an extent that you may as well have just bought a decent.

You only need a robot for home use one or two shots a day.

Make sure it’s the xxl for quicker heating times too. Might as well.

Now which grinder?

Lagom option-o with midnight burr set for espresso

La Marzocco Linea/Mini/Micra/GS3

Or Geek. Decent

Monolith Flat Max grinder.

I'd not heard of the Rombouts ones but they do them at Ocado so I can throw some in with the next shop, seems like technivorm do their own branded versions as well. I'm just gonna end up with a million filters all the same as the filtropa ones aren't I?

Does anyone in here actually use any of these 4k+ machines at home? Genuinely curious if anyone has real world experience of Linea/Decent etc
Diminishing returns at this sort of price point no?

edit - i dont mean to criticise anyone, the same could be said about diminishing returns on an 4k bike blah blah blah

I had a baby class d 06 bought on the forum and it made a great coffee, recently got a Lelit Elizabeth and its pretty amazing but I wonder about how much better a coffee can really be with these uber machines

My dad had a Lelit Bianca and he really liked it, but due to its manual nature, he sometimes struggled with consistency. He sold to someone on here, via me. He then bought a Decent and he really does love it. Like, has been fully obsessed with it for about a year now. He just really enjoys making coffee... probably more than the drinking part in all honesty.

I think the Decent is less about better coffee and more about experimenting, consistency, data etc. Its like people who ride with power when they're just mamil weekend warriors. They don't really need the data, but its fun to look at.

The decent is a totally different machine allowing you to make repeatable shots everytime. You can even make filter on it. It's a shame it so bloody ugly. Whereas a Linea is just going to give you marginally better espresso.

Edit @JB got in before me

Yeah, I guess I already knew the answer really, I’m definitely one of those mamils.
Funny about what you said about your dad enjoying the process almost more than the coffee it’s self. I can relate to this, it’s very ritualistic. My wife points out how much fucking about I seem to do, heating the cup, weighing the beans, checking the ground weight, wdt tool, careful tamping… in her eyes, I enjoy this part the most and I think she’s probably right. It’s nice being able to control all those things.

I think after a certain point, the quality of the coffee produced can only improve in minute academic ways rather than improved taste/flavours.

I think the Decent is where it would become a real obsession for me. All of that data, a never ending rabbit hole. Sounds quite appealing when I think about it.

Oh yeah I know how they are different. I just meant wildly expensive machines in general.

But it could be argued that you can get consistently good shots without an iPad Pro welded on to a coffee machine :)

And my badly made point was the decent is wildy different to other widly expensive machines and arguably better 'value'.

I'm hoping the answer is the Timemore Sculptor 078s. I'll let you know in June!

Money no object though. Weber EG-1

arguably better 'value'

This is a good point that I hadn't considered. I agree that you can see more of what the money has went into with the Decent compared to a La Marzocco Linea or similar.