I figured it’s cheaper than buying a new machine. And the stepdown has many positive reviews by people using smaller diameter portafilters with thicker puck sizers. Also the ability to grind courser. Being a coffee nerd am always looking for ways to improve my espresso ☕️
Lance actually makes a good point in his latest live video where he says … traditionally when people are using Delonghis, Brevilles or other cheaper machines with small portafilters (54mm or 51mm) … most likely they were using cheaper grinders with those machines (most likely the built in grinder). So the quality wasn’t that great most of the time. So they assumed that 54mm or 51mm were the ‘poor mans’ espresso, and that upgrading to 58mm was ‘professional’ in a sense.
When in fact the main problem with their espresso was not the actual machine with the small portafilter, but it was the cheap nasty grinders they were using with it.