Bezzera - Magica S PID

I think the Bezzera is going to be a better steamer. It has a larger boiler 2L vs 1.6L. The Bezzera has more precise control over the boiler temperatures with a PID with a display. I think the build quality for both will be excellent, with the Bezzera having more premium features with its joysticks and polished SS all around, details that you find on a higher end Profitec machine. I don’t think Bezzera is insulating their boiler, which means higher energy costs, which was already the case with the larger boiler. The Pro 400 is Profitec’s answer to the MaraX (and the Appartmento TCA), and it’s priced and equipped accordingly. The Magica PID would be more comparable to a Rocket Mozzafiato/Giotto V or a Profitec Pro 500, these are bigger machines with larger boilers. The Profitec has faster a warm-up time. It’s a lot smaller too, like in the same size range as the MaraX, if that’s important to you.

There isn’t a hidden display for the temperature, the Pro 400 has 3 temperature settings, think low, medium, and high not unlike the MaraX, or the Appartmento TCA. While it uses a PID to regulate temperature, those temperature ranges are fixed in its software and tied to the 3 position switch under the right side of the unit. WLL has a video on how this works, but it seems like the temperature ranges offered are for high and low brew temperatures, and a hotter setting for higher steam pressure up to 1.6+ bar that would be too hot for brewing. A couple ways it’s stands out to the MaraX or Appartmento TCA is the externally accessible adjustment for the OPV valve, and it has some sort electronically controlled pre-infusion mode, where it runs the pump for a few moments, pauses, and then continues pumping until the lever is dropped. It’s not configurable, but can be turned on or off. The others use the traditional E61 pre-infusion where the puck is wet as the brew chamber is filled up to around 2 bar before the pressure overcomes the spring tension on the pre-infusion valve to fill the pre-infusion chamber, before the increasing pressure starts pushing the water through the coffee. This works particularly well in the MaraX because of its lower flow silent pump. The Bezzera is just nicely made basic PID controlled HX machine with a bigger boiler and reservoir, giving it a higher duty cycle. I think it would be better for you if you are hosting small gatherings where you need to make a lot of back to back drinks with milk. I’m not sure how they are able to price their machine as it is currently priced, but I think normally vendors do it in the frame or chassis materials or in the internal design and components selection or some mix of the two.

I’ve put a Bezzera Magica (no plumbing) and an Eureka Mignon Specialità in the office kitchen, next to a Jura super automatic. 80% of the staff prefers the Jura, while the rest makes for maybe 20 coffee drinks a day on the Bezzera. It works beautifully, I’d say.

So I had a basic ~$100 espresso machine for a few years. Small, cheap plastic bits, and a pain to clean. Hated it. Stopped using it in favor of a French Press. Then I was gifted a “real” espresso machine. It’s a Bezzera Magica and it’s an absolute beast. They run a little under $2k, which sounds crazy until you add up all the coffee from shops over the years, and you hit $2k surprisingly quickly. You also need a good burr grinder. Same story. Had a cheap one. Continued to use it with the nice espresso machine. Finally upgraded to a Casadio Enea and wow did that make a big difference too. Got it for less than half MSRP off eBay. So yeah, good machine, don’t skimp on the grinder, and get some good beans you like. Mind you these will require regular cleaning, and maintenance every 5 years or so.

I relate to your situation. A lot of "high end" suggestions made in previous posts are for machines id consider "niche" and may make espresso thats 1% better than other machines...but also have specific good/bad aspects. Eg: 1) counter space. (Slayer....wtf) 2) noise and mess (grinder) 3) suitability of a machine to produce walk-up shots (as opposed to being designed to produce out 3000 espressos all day long in a commercial setting) 4) ease of cleaning 5) servicing and parts costs and time/frequency 6) availability of tailored advice from forums (home barista especially) 7) aesthetics and comfort Imo stick with the safe choices....the machines designed for exactly your use case (domestic high end). Im talking about machines like the lelit bianca, ecm synchronika, rocket cronometro, bezerra magica. Internally theyre surprisingly similar (common parts and functions). Go to a store and play with them! One will jump out. And youll love it. And espresso making is awesome and fun and youll drink shitloads of great coffee and be very happy...i guarantee it. Grinders i cant help with (i use a modified mazzer mini-e, which is very good but im sure there are slightly better models available now). Speed of grind, noise and grind retention will be more important to you, long term, than grind consistency). Again the internals (burrs) are often similar withnshared parts used between models/brands.

ECM, La Marzocco, Profitec, Bezzera, Rocket, Faema and basically every E61 group head machine.