Barista Pro Espresso Machine

The amount of times I bought and returned one was getting maddening.. before I settled on BBP and df54 grinder .. six months into the journey and still learning but learnt so much along the way ..

I downgraded from a Barista Pro. It had bambino internals but I wanted a different grinder and smaller foot print and auto milk

For reference, I have a breville barista pro and a 1zpresso hand grinder. I make better coffee than 98% of coffee shops, and I am satisfied with my set up. That is until I visited Sweet Harbor in Roslyn, NY. There I tasted what is the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. They had some version of the lamarzocco linea and what might be a mazzer. I will be doing everything in my power to obtain this set up; I wil not rest until I do. Edit: I obviously would not get a full size linea in my house. I would get a micra.

No matter the machine, you will not get good coffee. This fact is inherent to capsules.  If you don’t care, don’t waste your money. If you care a little, get a decent automatic coffee machine (will be more than 700).  If you care a lot, put in the effort and get a portafilter machine and grinder (even beginner level like sage barista pro will get you better results than any automatic machine) 

It's worth trying to upgrade your grinder first. When I did that with my Breville, the pours got better.

I started with a Barista Pro and leveled up to a La Marzocco.