Victoria Espresso Machine PL91T

I am super happy with my Lelit Victoria, but if you would like to own a dual boiler because you do a lot of milk beverages, then maybe have a look at the Lelit Elizabeth. I own the Victoria as a first machine and bought that used for a very good deal. And I am super happy. But we drink a lot of milk drinks and I must admit, a dual boiler machine would have been more comfortable

If the main criteria is the quality of espresso, I'd buy a machine with PID, e.g. Profitec Go, Apex V2, Lelit Victoria. If you think that she will make lots of lattes, maybe a Heat Exchanger like Lelit MaraX. If she will make milk beverages but the quality of her espresso is a must, I'd choose a dual boiler with PID like Lelit Bianca or Elizabeth, but then only the machine will consume your whole budget. Grinders are even more important, you're right. I'd recommend a DF64 because in the future she may try different burrs if she wants. And in the US, the DF64 are relatively cheap. Shardor is even cheaper, but the build quality is not the same, and it's a newer model, we don't have enough data to tell about longevity. I have both and I'm happy with my Shardor so far. But if you can, buy the DF64. Long story short, Lelit Victoria is being sold for 800 by Whole Latte Love, a Df64 you can buy for 400 from Amazon, then you can buy some accessories like a Normocore Tamper, a knock box, puck screen, tamping station, barista mat, a WDT tool, some nice espresso cups like Loveramics or Kruve, with your remaining budget. In case you're interested, I recommend this video about building an espresso setup: https://youtu.be/FcA8APz2khs?si=jpLjhj-UqNHNPSeA

Lelit Grace. I moved to MaraX because you can have flow profiling kit. I used to do cheap man flow profiling with steam knob - Grace and Victoria let you open the steam valve while brewing, which reduces the pressure and you can see this nicely on the gauge. It made the most difference to espresso taste for me. Slow preinfusion and lever like profile for the later part of the shot.

I had the Anita, just like your Anna but with an integrated Fred grinder for 2 years. Then I had an itch to upgrade my grinder, did that and then ended up with a Victoria for a few months but now I have the Elizabeth. I couldn’t be happier and that’s what I would recommend for you to consider. You already know the Lelit workflow, Elizabeth is miles ahead of Anna and you’re basically saving £2k (it’s £1.2k brand new)

Quick mill pop up... For sure! Or buy my lelit Victoria for 500 so I can buy the pop up :P

Only if this machine had a decent solenoid valve :-/ that would be my perfect machine. I miss my perfect dry pucks from the Lelit Victoria 😢