G'day Bayrunner,
Go down to Bing Lee's in Sydney and bring your self over a Sunbeam EM6910 espresso machine. Its a dual thermo block unit so it has independent boilers for group head and the steam arm. It will produce coffee results every bit as good as Italian imports costing $1500 plus. As proven on ACA testing the Sunbeam against 5 other brands up to $2500AUS. The Sunbeam won all the tests, only pipped by the most expensive machine compared.
This is a photo of what one looks like.
Paul Bassett worked with Sunbeam on this unit and set down the attributes that a espresso machine must have to be classified as such. It will generate proper crema too, not the so called pseudo crema via crema creators screwed to the bottom of the pressurised group head. The Temperature of the pour can be adjusted as can the amount of steam pressure, and because it is a dual thermo block design, you can pour/brew coffee through the group head and steam/micro foam milk simultaneously.
The only other machine I could recommend, is Gaggia's Silvia, but I'd still get the Sunbeam over the Silvia as its got double the grunt, and can produced exactly equal quality coffee's in half the time the Gaggia can. As we often have 10 or 12 people over for BBQ's on our roof top terrace, having a machine that can pour and steam, doubles the output and great if you are in a hurry.
The manual calibration aspect of the Sunbeam also makes it a big hit with us Coffee snobs, and I will list some alternatives below.
The Best Cheapie Espresso Machine around- Kenwood ES430 @ $1000HKD it has kick ass Steam production, a good enough coffee pour for reasonable espresso, but excellent for cappuccino. Beats going to Starbucks, lets put it that way. Available at any Kenwood appliances retailer.
The Champion value machine that beats the Gaggia Silvia, and the best middle ground machine
- Sunbeams awesome EM6910 ( only sold in Australia never to be sold in HK private import only ) $600AUS is a bit of a bargain.
One of the equal best of the best brands from Milan, and the historical inventor of the E 61 Group head.
- La Vibiemme's Domabar Electronic. At $1700US, this is classified as one of the very best, but You'll need a big kitchen to house this 70lbs monster.
Thats my 2 cents worth
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Extra footnote about capsule coffee makers like the NESPRESSO.
Nespresso machines are about as pseudo as one can get. Part of the fun about having a proper group headed espresso machine, is being able to test and experiment with the many eclectic coffee varieties available, the nespresso kills this core intrinsic character trait, which is what coffee enjoyment is all about. Or why bother ?
No coffee enthusiast worth their salt would be caught dead even looking at a Nespresso /capsule coffee pourer even on the shelf at a department store lol.
They really are rubbish, and cost a considerable amount to run, as you are shoe horned in having to buy capsule coffee at about $6.00HKD a shot lol.
It costs me less than $1.00HKD per 25gram group head using my usual Blue Mountain or Mocha Kenyan beans, which would shame a Nespresso every pour.
We bought the Kenwood btw as I'm saving up for a high end Italian machine, but so far its been a top little number. A photo of ours below.
