Barista Max+ Espresso Machine (VCF152)

Not the Barista Max. Have had so many issues with the steam wand and the other parts.

You can make very good late with a Breville Barista, the built in grinder is good enough, and steam wand works well, all in a compact machine for ~600

I bought a brevillie barista recently and I love it!! :) I’m sure I would’ve loved that too and i got a good price on this model

They exist - but not many do and they (typically) don't really do an exceptional job at either of the two things. A Breville Barista series machine sounds right up your alley. They're quite frankly great machines for the "non-snob" espresso enjoyers. Perhaps you could learn to enjoy Americanos? They're a shot of espresso with hot water added to dilute it - to me they are similar to a cup of drip coffee.

Built-in grinders are always a bad idea— if they break or you want to upgrade, you now need two new items. Get yourself a Breville barista or Gaggia classic pro paired with a Turin SK40 or DF54. Save yourself some $$ by browsing FB marketplace. If she likes pour over, just buy a ceramic pour over lol. I got mine for $5

Honestly, yes. I mean the cheaper ones are okay naman pero when you upgrade to higher quality, you’ll know the difference. We used to have the Delonghi espresso machine na cheapest. I think 9k ata yun. It was fine. But then we upgraded to Breville Barista and omg ibang iba. The extracted shot is really different which manifests sa naproproduce na crema. Having a good and accurate grinder matters as well, and a lot of people overlook this. In dialing and calibrating whatever espresso machine you have, grind size matters so much.

I got gifted the Breville Barista, which is entry level at about £300. It does, I have to say, broadly get lots of good reviews too. Previously I had the Cafe Corso which was mildly worse in almost every respect. I.e. ease of use, steam wand, adjusting, built in grinder, cleaning, mess, end product. The Barista allows you to brew single or double, and the built in grinder is actually (after 3 months) producing really consistent and adjustable grind. The one thing I would say is the pressure isn't all there - too fine a grind and the machine struggles to penetrate. That being said, for low(er) budgets it solves everything. About the quality you'd expect out high street coffee shops, all in one package, very adjustable. Steam wand is fantastic for lattes. It's just the pressure that concerns me and probably the higher brow coffee aficionados maybe doubt the grinder and overall quality of cups. For day to day stuff with beans from a decent roaster though it's doing great for my needs.