The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

One for the amateur baristas:

I'm thinking about investing in a half decent coffee machine for home, any recommendations? In an ideal world, I would prefer a super-automatic machine which does the lot from bean to cup and has options around shot size etc, good ones tend to be pricey though (> €500). A Nespresso machine is also an option but I'm not gone on the idea of having to buy pods

CJ

Nespresso makes good coffee and you can choose your flavour and strength as there's a large selection. Apart from that, a bean to cup self cleaning job is expensive.

Have a look here: http://besthomecoffeemaker.com/

My main gripe with the Nespresso process is the cost over time in terms of buying the pods, I know they're individually cheap but work a lot more expensive than beans in the long run.

If money wasn't an object, I'd be looking at Jura / Gaggia units, realistically I'll be focusing in on the likes of DeLonghi or Siemens instead.

CJ

What kind of budget are you looking at. At the end of the day with something like a coffee machine you're going to be using it for a long time so an investment solution is probably best here.
http://home-garden.shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=ESAM4200S&_sacat=20625&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_sop=2&_odkw=de%27longhi&_osacat=20625

Looking at some of those prices..... I think I'll stick to the good ol' t-bag....

We spent about €200 a few years ago for a decent enough machine that takes both beans and pods - I think it's important not to tie yourself to pods.

We bought a Briel in the end as I saw a good review in Consumer Choice when we were buying. Not sure what's best out there now.

Go on CJ take the plunge You’ve had 2 and half years to think about it. Since that post, had you put away just €4 a week towards your coffee machine fund, you’d have the €500 by now for a super duper one. Let me know anyway I'll bring the doughnuts.

You've a good memory Mustang, I should have splashed the cash a few years back on worthless material items (i.e. flashy coffee machines) when everyone else was at it! I'm back on the hunt again after 2 years of manually grinding beans and tricking about with French coffee presses, I'm getting lazier as I get older it would seem....

CJ

CJ wrote:You've a good memory Mustang, I should have splashed the cash a few years back on worthless material items (i.e. flashy coffee machines) when everyone else was at it! I'm back on the hunt again after 2 years of manually grinding beans and tricking about with French coffee presses, I'm getting lazier as I get older it would seem....

CJ

Ok, here we are almost a year later. Did you take the plunge CJ? I'm toying with the idea of a purchase myself....
Ideally I'd like a Gaggia -I used one in a former life, Similar to this one and it seems to be the benchmark. €200 appears to be the entry level for a domestic unit, I'm not sure whether these are a good budget buy or wheather, you'd be better off moving further up market? Those bean to cup machines while simplifying the process do seem quite big, I think you'd need a fairly decent sized kitchen to accomodate one. Also they seem to make the whole process just a bit too easy...where's the ceremony and clean up? Like having a gas fire instead of a real fire -easy and clean but just not the same.... That said I think I'd be more likely to use a hassle free machine like that for an early morning shot on a work day. Time is a bit too precious first thing in the morning to be playing barista.
I've seen a Gaggia platinum on sale -but even at that I'm not sure I could justify the cost, or find space for it....

I'm guessing you have researched these fairly extensively -did you come to any conclusions -do you have any nuggets of wisdom.

I see the Gaggia Irish distributor offers a free training course with every purchase....nice.

I have a very fundamental question, all these machines ae described as "espresso" machines and not the more generic "coffee" machine. What if you just want a simple Americano. When I used the big commercial machine linked above, You basically used the same coffee shot in all cases, the only real difference between espresso and americano was the amount of water that flowed through the filter. One button for espresso one button for americano.
Some of these samll domestic machine seem a bit too short to accomodate a full sized mug under the dispensing point.

I'm obviously not the connoisseur you lads are but I've never liked the coffee from these machines.


Yer only man!

With Mc Donalds coffee at 2 quid a go, those machines would pay for themselves in under a year

Not that you'd dring the stuff since they stopped doing decent Kenco and started using Full Bean (which isn't nearly as nice)

Bernard wrote:I'm obviously not the connoisseur you lads are but I've never liked the coffee from these machines.


Yer only man!

We have a Cuisinart grind and brew type yoke..
it works really well - but it doesn't heat the water a massive amount, the taste is something else tho.

http://www.cuisinart.com/products/coffe ... 900bc.html

Muad_dib77 wrote:We have a Cuisinart grind and brew type yoke..

I got one myself and then got rid of it due to noise (the grinder is loud!), the need to use a fair amount of beans to get the desired strength and I only really wanted one or two cups at a time. They're good for large volumes of coffee and the brew is certainly good.

In the end (and against my initial thoughts), I opted for a Magimix Citiz & Milk Nespresso machine - the espresso is exceptional, you have the option of using 'Lungo' capsules for a larger cup of coffee. The milk frother is the best I've come across on any coffee machine, I can't recommend this model highly enough.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nespresso-Magim ... 856&sr=8-1

Nespresso isn't for everyone due to the cost of the capsules but the quality of the coffee produced is top class - I'm happy to pay a premium considering the results.

CJ

Muad_dib77 wrote:but it doesn't heat the water a massive amount, the taste is something else tho.

http://www.cuisinart.com/products/coffe ... 900bc.html

I have a filter machine at home -it was a present. There is a thermal jug but no hot plate. The coffee produced is barely luke warm, so every cup needs to go into the microwave -have not used it in years.....

CJ wrote:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nespresso-Magim ... 856&sr=8-1

Nespresso isn't for everyone due to the cost of the capsules but the quality of the coffee produced is top class - I'm happy to pay a premium considering the results.

CJ

That is a tidy looking machine, and seems to be highly regarded. Does it have a hot plate or some means to preheat the cups? Does it matter?
Applying your own original logic I don't really want to go down the capsule route. I'm leaning towards a Gaggia platinum swing

Mustang wrote:I have a filter machine at home -it was a present. There is a thermal jug but no hot plate. The coffee produced is barely luke warm, so every cup needs to go into the microwave -have not used it in years.....

Guys - an easy fix for this luke warm thing. Boil the kettle and put this into your coffee maker. Don't ever rely on existing heater in these things if you like decent heat in your bev.

Mustang wrote:I'm leaning towards a Gaggia platinum swing

Gaggia make class machines but a Platinum model is worth about the same as half an FTO. If cost was no object them I'd have one.

CJ

CJ wrote: but a Platinum model is worth about the same as half an FTO. If cost was no object them I'd have one.

CJ

You make it sound extravagant when you put it like that. But it's gotten to the stage where a weeks grocery shopping or a tank of petrol is a significant percentage of the FTO's current market value....
Anyway I'm going for a demo tomorrow -so as a minimum I'll get a free espresso!

I know it was a year ago, but Nespresso really is a good machine. Buying in bulk is possible to make savings on the pobs and I think you can get them abroad even cheaper.

If anybody here is into the classic filter coffee experience i spotted a pretty decent looking yoke in LIDL (!!?!) last night for 37e

Had timer, thermos all the bells and whistles for 40e.. I know some peeps are into their espressos and what not - this machine would clearly not fit those needs - but for someone, like myself, who just wants a decent LARGE BUCKET of black goodness to last them through the commute I'm pretty sure it would be damn near perfect.

Cheaper than a tank of petrol.

Mustang wrote:Anyway I'm going for a demo tomorrow -so as a minimum I'll get a free espresso!

I picked up the machine that day afterall -I've been away since, and only picked up some espresso cups during the week, so had very little time to get acquainted with the machine. It's been a bit of a trial and error experience but so far so good.
The choice of coffee beans in the supermarket is a bit limited though -and at ~€4.50 a bag for 227g (i.e. ~€20 per kg) they ain't cheap either....
Must see if there are any good online suppliers, looks like there's a few on Amazon at ~£10-£12 per kg. Can anyone recommend a supplier?