Reddit mentions of Baratza Sette 270 Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Even a barebones setup that will be frustrating to use is something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Gaggia-14101-Semi-Automatic-Pannarello-Cappuccino/dp/B0001KOA4Q - Gaggia Classic ($400)

https://www.amazon.com/Baratza-Sette-Conical-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B01G82WVZ0 - Sette 270 ($379)

Not exactly your $600 window, but not insanely far off.

While it's a decent first machine... the Gaggia Classic, IMO, is frustrating to use...but can make a good espresso shot here and there, but will, in general, not be able to make shots back to back or steam at the same time as making a shot (and honestly not even for a minute or so after very well) and the steam tip is not great...and the portafilter that comes with it is frustrating.

You can do some modifications to the Gaggia Classic to make it better - the ones that come to mind are the Silvia V1 steam wand, a bottomless pressureless portafilter, and a PID to reduce the temperature surfing. These all require more money, time, and skill on your part to mod your machine into something that is significantly better than the out of the box experience.

There's really no way around it that good espresso requires funding. Your local (good) coffee shop probably has a $1500-2750 grinder (or two) and a $9000-18000 espresso machine.... along with all the water filtration and miscellaneous hardware that goes with it.

You need to have room in your budget for a grinder. That being said, that would put the Astra out of your preferred budget. But it does seem like an excellent machine for the price point (no experience here).

If you're wanting to do primarily milk drinks, and concerned about ease, the Brevillle Double Boiler is <$1,000 now. But that leaves no room for a decent grinder - the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is about all that would fit into your budget. A nice upgrade on grinder to a Baratza Sette 270 will set you back another $200.

If you need to save money, consider the Breville Infuser rather than the DB.

Lots of folk will encourage you to look at more commercial duty machines that have simpler maintenance, and in the long run they're correct. But if you only have what you have, that's a pretty good bang for your buck. The machine will probably not be as long-lasting as one of the E61 HX machines, but there's not many out there in your budget. There are a few, like the Lelit Mara but that one doesn't have a very long history like some of the more commonly-recommended machines (that are also more pricey).

Completely off topic, but I just noticed your username. Do you work in the medical field? I'm a lab tech working nights in a smaller hospital.


The budget is going to get gnarly, especially if you buy things new.

I can tell you that setup I see recommended most often are the Baratza Vario (not W), the Crossland CC1, and a good scale, which is also probably one of the cheapest ways to do it. My wife and I also pretty much only use the same bean over and over again, so tuning it in between batches is pretty simple.

The scale in the grinder is a nifty feature, but it ends up giving your dose +/- .2 grams, whereas if you if you tune it in with a scale and the built in timer, you can get it down to smaller than +/- .1 gram. It may not seem like a big deal either way, but I use the same bean with the same dose over and over and over... So I feel like the added feature kind of goes to waste.

You can try different grinders like the Baratza Sette, which uses conical burrs vs the flat burrs of the Vario, but is new and unproven. There is also the Baratza Forte which is the older brother to the Vario and is supposed to resolve some of the flaws with the Vario. Your other grinder options are stepless (preferably doserless) grinders like the Fiorenzato, [Mazzer Mini]http://www.mazzer.com/en/grinder-dosers/mini/) (La Marzocco sells Mazzers, so there is that) and others that I can't remember at this point.

At the top of the home espresso machine market price wise is La Marzocco. Honestly, I think the only reason to get one of these would be to piss people off. Breville Dual Boiler(BES920XL), Rocket anything I guess, Rancilio Silvia + a PID kit, and others. I think a PID is a must have feature for any espresso machine.

I am by no means an expert in this topic, I'm just in the middle of researching an upgrade. I'm currently considering the Fiorenzato (because the name sounds cool. No really, I don't have a good reason for this. My Vario is more than sufficient, it just annoys me from time to time) and the Breville Dual Boiler (it's chock full of features and it has a bigger portafilter).

Minimum machine grinder dream setup machine grinder