Rocket Espresso Milano - Mozzafiato Cronometro V

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.

I have a Rocket Mozzafiatto and the Sette 270Wi. My friend has a Breville Infusor and the Encore. I use bottomless portafilters. She uses a pressurized basket. Her lates are 80% as good as mine. Her setup cost about 1/6 as much. The biggest difference between our espresso nooks is that I can steam while I brew, and I can pump out drinks for a large group fairly quickly. The other major difference is that I can service my machine, while she is more likely to replace hers. The cost of service is nearly as much as her whole machine, however. If we were espresso people, the difference between the machines would be more obvious. But a latte does a lot to mask that  How much are you willing to pay for 20% better drinks?

> Stop chasing perfection. When it tastes good enough for you, You've got your perfect drink.  This can't be emphasized enough. A refined taste is a curse more than a blessing. The best place to be is where you can appreciate the good stuff, but can still enjoy the basic stuff. I run a rocket Mozzafiatto and a Sette 270Wi. They are relatively high end machines among the general public, but nothing special here. I own the Mazzafiatto because it's reliable, repairable, uses fairly standard parts, can be plumbed, and it allows me to steam and brew at the same time. The Sette 270Wi has low grind retention, so I don't have to purge the machine every morning when I make my one cup of coffee. And the scale means I don't have to adjust a timer every time I change the grind setting. Both are functional decisions. If there were cheaper machines that suited my needs, I would have bought one of them. I originally had a BDB, but it didn't last as long as I'd like. It was cheaper to buy than the Rocket and had more features, but the Rocket outlasted it by a large margin, and has had a lower amortized cost.

There are already great comments here. I will just throw in the rocket mozzafiato (1500-1600€). Its so beautiful, comes with PID and shot timer. The steampower is great. Coming from Breville Barista Pro (basically Bambino plus but with integrated grinder), it is a huge upgrade. https://preview.redd.it/ytu4tguhzsse1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1216463a2915407cc2682cd1257cd05799415192

Had the exact same Lelit machine and am now sitting on a big rocket mozzafiato tank and coffee doesn‘t taste better. I also doubt that you will get any significantly better grinder than a niche. I changed to bigger burrs and didn’t notice any great difference to my Eureka Mignon. My next machine will be a compact one again..

My office uses a rocket mozzafiato and it works well. No plumbing and paired with a Specialita grinder. Only people allowed to use it are coffee club members so it stays pretty clean

I will be the oddball probably, but something about my Rocket Mozzafiato taking its time (\~11 mins) every morning is something I enjoy. A tactile feeling reinforcing slowness in life, given how everything else is built to serve you with zero wait time. I enjoy looking out the kitchen window while the machine makes its usual noises. I have optimized it by putting the machine on a wemo smart plug, so I can remotely turn on the machine while I brush my teeth in the morning, so by the time I come downstairs, the machine is primed and ready to go

Not one that you mentioned, but Rocket Mozzafiato uses a heat exchanger, allowing for simultaneous steaming and extraction. I love mine and would save you quite a bit of $$$.

But an upgrade from OPs current setup

GE Cync works fine for my Rocket Mozzafiato

Recently descaled my Mozzafiato for the first time after 3 and a half years. Have cleaned and greased the group a couple of times in that time thoug. It's easy to do but takes a bit of time. Keep an eye on the boiler pressure gauge and listen for your pump. Both because there is a lot of extra steam in the boiler with the descaling solution present. The guy at my shop told me that rockets don't usually have an issue here but some machines will recognize the thick steam for water and not pull fresh water from the tank which can kill the heating element. So let off some extra steam while the solution is doing it's thing and kill the power if it's heating up without the pump drawing water first. Took me about 2 and half hours with all the flushing and heating etc. I guess that's where most of the cost in a shop comes from. Just labor cost. Happy to stand corrected if I said something wrong and always willing to learn.

Rocket mozzafiato... 6 years old. Turns on every day at 6am and turns off at 5pm. Pull 2-3 shots per day. Always purge after each shot and back flush every 3-4 months .. Have never descaled it and still works great... Probably should descaled it tomorrow.

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