-Mac I have a Niche and think I want an Elizabeth, so I’m interested to see Dave’s answer.
It’s really difficult, it depends on your situation….
At host 2019 I made 100s of shots per day on the Minima, sure you got to keep filling it up with water..but it did it no problem, because it’s got large boilers. In that situation, I was glad I had a Minima, pump noise and space wasn’t an issue. You want to steam, no problem, it will steam as good or better than prosumer machines costing twice as much. It just needed to work and without any fuss…which it did.
If I was in a small kitchen, needed the machine to be very quiet and not steaming huge amounts of Latte (even though Liz will do it, just slower and had particular space limitations…then Liz would do it. Elizabeth is more complex, but very clever. It’s a case of it’s not what you got, but how you use it.
Both machines can produce a great shot…both are good…..one is much simpler than the other, one is more basically made, but much thicker stainless, the other more “commercially” finished, but thinner. Boilers in Minima are superior in terms of quality…but with both machines, they won’t exactly wear out. Power consumption (without steam) of Liz is 50W, of Minima is 85 ish W
I have both and I guess if one of them is on the counter and on, it will stay there being used, until I have a reason to remove it…e.g. something else to test. This frequently happens with my machines, rarely do I get to use one for more than 3 or 4 months. My Vesuvius has not been used for over 2 years…
They are both great whichever one you choose I think you will like it…if you want E61, go Minima, if you don’t Go Elizabeth…if you want some real refinement…Bianca is your friend.