Ascaso - Steel UNO PID (ASCUNOPIDINOX)

Ascaso Steel Uno for fast heat up (or the Duo if you can stretch the budget a bit)  The Specialita should be good 👍🏻  Also Mahlkonig grinders are known for their build quality, so maybe check out the X54. 

> I use beans from Peet's, so I'm not a coffee expert nor do I aspire to be. I have a Niche Zero grinder; I'm not looking to buy a new grinder. I'm just a regular person who wants to make 1-2 oat milk lattes a day for myself. Given that, I think there's strongly diminishing returns above a few hundred dollars. "Reliable machine that won't break" - so there are wear parts in all espresso machines, tubing, gaskets, pumps, etc. and there's no such thing as a machine that won't break. Maybe it changes from 2 years vs 5 years. *Repairability* -- access to parts, ease of access, good customer support, good aftermarket -- now THAT is something worth considering. The good thing is a lot of the popular, expensive machines have that in spades vs the appliance-class machines that maybe get repaired within warranty and then thrown out. So, I know you said $2k budget, but mixed with your explanation about your approach here, I seriously think you don't need to spend more money than what a Gaggia Classic Pro costs. It's repairable. It's reliable. You can mod it if you want more. Upgrade picks: Rancilio Silvia w/ PID, Ascaso Steel Uno. I'm surprised your Lelit is giving you so much trouble. Getting it professionally repaired is going to be the cheapest, best route in the end most likely. Especially if you want to stay dual boiler, that is already one of the best, lowest-cost dual boilers available. It'll be hard to stay under 2k and improve over the Lelit Elizabeth. (For example, dual boiler Silvia Pro is ~$2300 IIRC.)

Ascaso Steel Uno owner here, how about an Ascaso Steel Uno?

Yeah I found mine open box for a good price. At full retail it would’ve been a tougher sell, but I’m a big fan.

The grinder is perfectly fine on that budget. I would spend more on the machine though. I had a Bambino Plus and it's fine for what it is at $500. But I really dislike the lack of a heated group head on the Bambino, which makes it a pain to warm up everything when you want to pull a shot. You end up having to pull blank shots first just to warm up all the lines and the portafilter. My recommendation for the money is the Profitec Go. About double the price and yeah you get let it warm up ~10 min before using it, but the heat soaking the entire machine is worth it IMO. Get a smart plug for whatever machine you get, it's pretty convenient. I do have an Ascaso Steel Uno which I do recommend as well, but it costs more (I don't think the Profitec Go even existed when I bought it). It uses a thermoblock just like the Bambino, but it's got a heated group head and it also benefits from warming up for several minutes prior to pulling shots. You could really spend more if you wanted double boiler or double thermal lock for steaming and pulling shots at the same time, but in my opinion, if you're going to be making like a couple of lattes a day, you can just pull your shots first, then move to steaming.

Well you're not gonna get consistent shots until the machine warms up in my experience. Yes, my Ascaso also needs to warm up, even though it's technically ready and able to pull a shot in 2 minutes, I still prefer to give it 10 (especially because it's enough time to also heat my portafilter to pretty hot). Things just run more consistent once everything is nice and warm. I'm on the side of "every machine benefits from warming up" to be honest. I find that unless it's an E61 that takes 20-30 minutes to warm up, the warm up time on most modern single boilers is really not a big deal and not that long. It just becomes routine. Or like I said, a smart plug completely voids that problem too. I agree you don't need a dual boiler, but I just felt the need to at least mention it otherwise someone else would anyway lol

Step one: check the water supply for chlorides. If present larger than 30ppm you would need RO and remin if you wnat to maintain warranty of La Marzocco and avoid pit corrosion. Others might have same warranties If you know plumbing is expensive you can write that off or budget it in. I would say go for the fast e61 with needle valves, but I am not up to date on newer machines When I got my flow paddle I found myself using it for slow preinfusion. It works like magic, would not want a machine without it. Had an Ascaso UNO PID STEEL with 325ml Boiler, and it was so good, just could not stand waiting for steam. My setup is my end game now, it does what i need and want.

There just is no competition here. While a good thermoblock is nice, as it can heat water faster and more consistently than a boiler, ascaso are just riddled with issues. Was eyeing a uno plus, and just dropped the thought, after checking the forums. It’s just one issue after the other … On the other hand, e61 heads ain’t the best thing since sliced bread … but at least the machines are very reliable, and the modding market is full of neat stuff, for you to tinker and change down the line. I know it sounds harsh, but we ain’t talking about chump change here …

Ascaso. My Dream PID is ready to pull shots in 3 minutes. And if the 45 second wait for steam is too long look at the duo. BTW Uno is the same as the Dream in a more modern case.

They're both fantastic machines, but the only reasons to pick the Ascaso over the Move are the faster heat up, cheaper initial outlay, and better energy efficiency. The Move is otherwise a little better all round.

I used the Bambino Plus for 2,5 years and always thought it is good enough. And I only upgraded because I wanted a PID (edit: controllable PID) and I wanted to steam milk while pulling shots (for the wife, I don't drink milk drinks). And because I really like the style of the Ascaso Steel Series. I also only drink espresso, americano and long black. And holy smokes, I undererstimated the difference. I feel shots are much easier to dial in and are also much tastier with my Ascaso. With the 58 mm baskets compared to the 54 mm ones of the Bambino, you can grind a good bit finer for the same brew time, which results in sweeter, more textured shots.

What grinder do you have? Buy a 1500 grinder and a solid 1000 machine that has the QoL that gets the prices as smooth as possible. Upgrading from my single dose „home barista“ grinders like niche zero, timemore sculptor, DF64 to my current eureka atom W65 has upgraded my espresso more then moving from my ascaso steel pid to my ECM syncronica. Your main decision should be: - do you want to weigh the output **every** time? - how long do you want to wait for your first coffee of the day - do you want water connection from your tap? - do you want to brew and steam parallel In that piece range you can get many decent machines but the QoL features that will actually impact your use case will make you fall in love with the machine.