Ascaso - Baby T Plus (BABYTPLUS-WHITE, BABYTPLUS-INOX, etc.)

Ascaso baby T if the look fits the cart. It’s a beast, absolutely ready to handle a full day of pulling shots.

Happy with my Ascaso Baby-T so far and propose as an additional option to look into. A scaled down professional machine for home use (like the La Marzocco). Technically unique in a way that it combines thermoblock, heat exchange and steam boiler. Has pre-infusion, basic but straightforward app, volumetric dosing.

Just throwing out another option - ascaso baby T and a Zerno Z1. I love this setup. Both machines look classy in black, especially with matching walnut accents. It's a solid combo that will do what you want, although the ascaso is viewed as a step below a LMLM technically. If aesthetics matter a ton, though, I think the Baby T looks better. The Zerno is all you'll need in a grinder.

Yep thats the one, but the plus version, I am noticing a big improvement but I upgraded the grinder at the same. Aside from extraction, it is just a really well made machine and so easy to use. It was a bit of an adjustment with the steamer as i felt it was a lot more powerful compared to the bambino but i get a lot silkier end result now.

> I just found about heat exchangers. And that with these you can have immediate spontaneous coffee. This is not true. Most HX machines have E61 groups which need 30 to 45 minutes to warm up. When you said "heat exchanger", I think you meant "thermoblock". Breville/Sage machines such as Bambino warm up in just a few seconds. Better quality thermoblock machines such as Ascaso take a bit longer but are still ready to go in a few minutes. Boiler machines with smaller boilers such as Gaggia Classic, Rancilio Silvia, and Silvia Pro X warm up in about 10 minutes. At your budget I suggest Bambino Plus. That will leave you enough budget to get a really nice grinder. Jura and other fully auto machines are easy to use (just push a button) but the espresso they make is much inferior to what you can make with a properly dialed in semi-auto machine and grinder. If you want to go down this path, check out r/superautomatic.