DCJ Welcome to the forum. There are so many interesting machines/grinders on the market nowadays, it can be confusing and hard to choose. The only way to get the "right machine, is to think about your unique use situation and needs. Also be very honest about how interested you are in the “process” and "experimentation of making coffee. Super complex or nice and simple, especially with regard to maintenance (cleaning, servicing etc,,).

That path should lead you to the right machine.

P.S. Usually the more complex a machine, the more sensitive it is to bad water, so don’t forget that aspect.

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    8 days later

    Thanks Dave, I use Volvic water in the espresso machine, hopefully that will keep it going for a long time.

    At the moment I tend to use the machine less as it wastes energy heating up for 30 minutes, which is why I am interested in something that has a short start up, the MaRa looks like an interesting machine so hopefully more affordable ones will follow, or I will have to save up much longer to get one.

      DCJ the MaRa looks like an interesting machine

      Welcome to the forum. I’m just a little confused so want to clarify something. I noticed you’ve been consistently using the casing/spelling/name “MaRa” for a coffee machine. Is this a new machine I might not be aware of or are you referring to the Lelit MaraX? If you are referring to the Lelit MaraX, I’m then curious why you use such casing. 😊👍

          Camel case

          La Marzocco Linea Mini - Mazzer Philos

          Ikawa Roaster

          Gagaryn I’m curious why you used the word “casing” rather than capitalisation. ;-)

          🤪😊 - most likely because in computer programming it’s called uppercase and lowercase :) - something I’m daily exposed to. 👍

              MediumRoastSteam 🤪😊 - most likely because in computer programming it’s called uppercase and lowercase :) - something I’m daily exposed to. 👍

              Impressive. 🤣

                MaRo is named after the two young chaps who developed it, Max and Robert, the warm up time is 3 minutes, which is what interests me, but it will cost over 4,000 Euro!

                https://maro.coffee/

                  11 days later

                  Dublin, Ireland based long-term food and drink scribe. Now retired.
                  Been roasting coffee 24 years. Started with a big black iron skillet, a gas stove, a Black and Decker paint stripping gun and the wife’s hairdryer. Thence to a manual and the programmable Hot Top, the first of which pegged out while under guarantee. Then discovered the saintly Mr.Li and purchased an early Huky which I’ve enjoyed for the past 13 years.

                  I own almost every coffee making device known to mankind. Percolator (the manmmy’s); Kona; Turkish ibrik; French Press; Aeropress; Clever Dripper; Bialetti; cute little handmade single espresso gadget made by ancient artisan halfway up a Sicilian hillside and, of course, my treasured ECM Synchronika, teamed with a Rocket Espresso doser grinder.

                  Love,love,love Central American coffees - El Salvador,Panama,Nicaragua,Guatemala.

                    I’m new to the forum, been a home espresso fan for the past 4-5 years or so, had a Gaggia Classic Pro and recently grabbed an ECM Puristika. I absolutely love learning about this stuff and am psyched to be here.

                      New here, and I stumbled across this fine coffee forum in search for @DavecUK ’s Lelit Bianca temperature offset settings….still looking for it :)

                      I currently have no espresso machine but looking for the next one, in this process read and watched some 2087 reviews and narrowed my selection to 3 prospects: ECM Synchronika, Profitec Drive (I wish it came in black also!) and Lelit Bianca, Lelit Bianca being the reason I’m looking into the temperature offset settings. I have also thought about the La Marzzocco Micra…the price though, plus not sure I’m going to be able to get over the plastic spout.

                      I really wanted to like the Micra, but a lot of things added up to my looking elsewhere. But, those plastic parts help for a really fast warm up time.

                      Hi all,

                      I started on my manual espresso journey just over a year and a half ago when I got rid of my Melitta bean to cup machine and bought a Sage Bambino Plus and a Niche Zero.

                      I probably would have stopped at that for a while if the Bambino Plus hadn’t locked up with all lights flashing at the end of November.

                      I decided to take the opportunity to get something with more temperature and pressure control and after researching for a little while found the Gaggiuino. I spent a couple of days over the Christmas holidays modifying a Gaggia Classic Evo and thankfully it worked first time.

                      I’m now enjoying experimenting with lighter roasts and different pressure profiles (very early days) and found this forum when looking for some more balanced opinions on the Niche Duo after deciding to take the next step and also upgrade my grinder.

                      Looking forward now to my Niche Duo arriving and hoping that my taste buds are good enough to tell the difference.

                        Banjaxe Welcome to the forum…I am sure you will enjoy the Niche Duo, same great workflow as the Zero, but flat burr taste profiles. easy to dial in and consistent.

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                          7 days later

                          Hi my name is Ad from Australia, and I was actually directed here by the fine folks at ACS after asking if they knew a good community with some fellow Vostok users. Hoping to learn more about the nuances with the temperature control and hidden menu along with best practices for light roast extraction. My machine came damaged so I have some good insight into the internals of the machine, as I needed to do the repair myself since there are no distributors where i live.

                            Adhod My machine came damaged so I have some good insight into the internals of the machine, as I needed to do the repair myself since there are no distributors where i live.

                            Welcome to the forum, shame the machine came damaged, they are exceptionall;y well packaged, so must have had some really rough treatment from the couriers.

                            Plenty of Evo/Vostok owners on here as the machines pretty much have identical internals for the 1 group.

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                                DavecUK Yes it was definitley a bad delivery with the courier, nothing wrong on the ACS front. but as you can expect Paolo was very patient and acknowledged that it was a very abnormal issue and worked with me through several part deliveiries until we had it fixed. To be honest i was really excited that it was damaged internally as bad as it was becuase it forced me to get really intimate with the inside of it, so i feel a lot more comfortable working on it in the future.

                                Actually Dave he personally recommended I join and introduce myself to you. So I am happy to be apart of this wonderful community!