9Barista - Mk.1 Espresso Machine

The industrial design and build quality is high end. The quality in the cup is also very good. Not sure it’s worth double the cost of where it was but maybe. I have the v1 purchased for $500. I love it.

Cafelat robot or 9barista Mk1. The 9barista is kinda great if you drink medium to dark roast and make it just for yourself. You don’t have temperature control, but good stability. It is also kinda unique in that it is often lumped in together with manual machines, it is much more a set it and forget system. Fill with water, do your puck prep, and put it on the stove. A couple minutes later you have your espresso, no preheating required.

I love my 9barista.

I swear by my 9Barista, but it costs a pretty penny. The only real variable to worry about is the beans: quality and grind. Take care of those and the espresso is fantastic. I don’t have a steaming option to recommend. I don’t take milk but I use the Instant brand one for my partner, would not recommend if you care about microfoam.

Long shot, but you should check out the 9Barista. It’s a beauty, and makes great espresso.

We got a Barista Touch Impress last year and love it. Before that, I used a 9Barista with a hand grinder, so while I have some experience I’m not an expert. But the Breville is super convenient, fast, and easy for my wife (who has no interest in really learning to pull a shot) to use. The only real downside is that the grinder, which I believe is Baratza, chokes on light roasted beans, limiting us to medium and dark roasts. As I really enjoy light roasted beans this is a substantial downside, but I still love the machine.

I actually picked up a 9Barista after seeing Lance’s video too! I’ve never owned a pump machine, but I’ve been using a Flair Pro 2 for a while, mostly pulling shots with medium-dark to dark roasts. Honestly, I’m loving the results. The most noticeable difference is the texture—the mouthfeel and crema are a huge step up. I’m also getting way more of that rich, dark chocolate sweetness you want from darker beans. On a personal note, the workflow feels so much better because I don’t have to deal with the annoying preheating process like on the Flair. Like Lance mentioned, you can start heating the 9Barista while you prep your puck. Since those tasks happen at the same time, the "active" time spent is basically just the heating time. Honestly, when you factor in the warm-up time for most pump machines, the bean-to-cup time probably isn't that different anyway!

I can't compare it to a pump machine as I have never had one. I came from the moka pot, but wanted real espresso so the 9Barista seemed like the next logical step. It's strength is the pressure and temperature are 'baked in' to the design of the device. You always get the pressure profile and temperature you want for a typical/traditional/standard espresso shot. The down side is the same thing: you get what you get and you can't really control any of the variables for non-standard shots. The only thing you can vary is the size of the dose and the grind size. I did have a bit of a learning curve with it, but it was my first home espresso machine so I was learning about puck preparation etc. at the same time. Once you get familiar with the workflow it makes really good espresso! I routinely make shots as good or better than anything I've had in coffee shops. I've also found the shots to be very consistent, the second shot of the morning will taste the same as the first. I've been trying out two local roasters and their blends and single origin coffees of medium, medium-dark, and dark roast levels have all worked well with it. I have not yet tried a light roast. If you want to make a second drink right after the first you can just run it under the tap for a minute to cool it and then start over. Cleaning is a breeze: it only takes a minute or two to clean and disassemble.

Going against the grain, look at a 9barista. I got one for the space savings. It is a stovetop like a moka pot, but gets up to proper pressure. You can’t control temp/pressure only the grind size and weight. Perfect for the few shots I make and have been able to get great shots with light roasts and dark roasts. The light roasts took some time until I ignored 9baristas goal for extraction/weight/grind size. Dial in a new bag with 1-2 shots and off I go. Can’t recommend enough for your use case.