CRM3007Z

I recently got Gemilai Ele with Mokkom Grinder it should be in your budget ball park. My reason to go with Ele over Owl were as follows. 1. Boiler instead of Heat exchange so better temperature stability on back to back shots. 2. OPV adjustment to set 9 bar pressure. 3. Steam wand has built in thermometer. 4. Overall better build. If you are not into milk drinks you can go for 3007Z machines for a few hundred dollars less. Mokkom grinder may not be as heavy as DF54 but is a decent grinder to start at low point, I upgraded from Breville smart grinder pro which is a good grinder for entry level.

$500 for the machine? Or total? Cause if it’s just for the machine, then a Turin Legato/MiiCoffee Apex/Gemilai 3007Zwould be the step up from the Gemilai Owl, or you can go with the classic option of a Bambino Plus. Gaggia Classic Pro E24 is good if you’re ok with playing around with temperature surfing out of the box and ok with modding it in the future to actually have modern convenience like PID temperature control and a better steam wand. If the budget is $500 total, spending $100 on a De’Longhi Stilosa and then putting the rest of the budget into a nice grinder would probably get you the best coffee

There are many "budget" machines that produce great Espresso--so I'd challenge that kind of apologetic remark-that's what this sub is about. $300-$500 machines (not the grinder). Gemilai 3007Z is wonderful (sold in the USA as the Turin Legato V2 or the MICoffee Apex V2 --few other names globally--$450. Others will recommend a few other machines but the aforementioned machine has PID, lets you adjust pressure, flow rate---easy to maintain. Gaggia too of course Flair for manual. all well regarded. I get much better coffee with each of these--rarely order cafe Espresso--that's a myth that cafes make better espresso. Some do--when the Barista knows what they're doing, when the beans at that place are good-sure will get a good pull--but I get the same at home with those three machines.

It can be snarky in here for sure. Bullet proof social media vest on! That said, if you data mine this sub, off reddit Espresso groups---3-4 machines in the sub $600 range come up as great options. One doesn't have to roll the dice and gamble, just got to weed through snark or "my machine is best" typologies. I look for the brands I identified and scan for "problems"--are people seeing functional issues, break downs? service issues?

There are a ton of them, but very few are imported to the oversea market. WPM and Milesto have tons of cheap but powerful dual boiler/rotary pump machines. Wengougee is another trusted brand that's just testing the overseas market. Gemilai has been around for a while, at least with their rebranded ones like Turin Legato/Mii Coffee. Milesto is my personal favorite but unfortunately they are just not exporting at the moment. You can get a dual boiler/rotary pump machine for around ¥6000 (~ 850 USD) in China.

Great machine. Im using the Gemilai branded version with a Shardor 64 grinder. Just shy of 400 espressos made so far, and no issues whatsoever. And at the price point compared to what those drinks would cost out, it's already paid for itself.

Gemilai is good, just make sure na dual boiler. Tas invest the rest for a high quality grinder.

Yes I have a Gemilai :)