(Yes, I know the coffee in the echo title refers to chatting, not drinking coffee...)

I've been working from home since 2020, and adjusting to not paying as much for gas, working earlier hours without needing to commute into an office, and paying much more for home utilities as I keep a house warm that used to sit empty during the day.

I had an old manual espresso maker that I'd bought at a sample sale back in 2001 that finally died, and decided to splurge on a new espresso machine. I bought a Gaggia Brera in December and love it.

You put fresh beans in the top and push a button to make espresso, double espresso or lungo shots. The frothing wand makes a ton of steamed milk. There's no measuring, tamping, or messy cleaning portafilters - it just dumps the used pucks into a bin that you clean out once every day or so.

The best part? Since I work from home, I don't spend money on buying coffee out anymore - and I can make my wife a latte for the road in about 5 minutes. It's easily paid for itself in a couple of months.
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Hello Kurt!

(Yes, I know the coffee in the echo title refers to
chatting, not drinking coffee...)

The echo name SEEMS to imply coffee as the topic. There is no
moderator stepping in to illuminate otherwise.

I've been working from home since 2020, and adjusting to
not paying as much for gas, working earlier hours without
needing to commute into an office, and paying much more
for home utilities as I keep a house warm that used to sit
empty during the day.

You could still control the temperature of the rooms you are
not using during the day no? I live in a rather large 2-level
home, 1200sqft per level, and simply close off the rooms that I
do not frequent.

I had an old manual espresso maker that I'd bought at a
sample sale back in 2001 that finally died, and decided to
splurge on a new espresso machine. I bought a Gaggia Brera
in December and love it.

The Brera seems huge to feed a single cup! Why does it have to
be so big?

The best part? Since I work from home, I don't spend money
on buying coffee out anymore - and I can make my wife a
latte for the road in about 5 minutes. It's easily paid
for itself in a couple of months.

For me, the best part was to get off coffee entirely. It's just
the occassional decaf for me now. A simpe herbal chocolatey
chai (no actual tea, just chicory root, carob pod, cinnamon,
cocoa shells, cardamon, ginger root and licorice root) ..is
quite fine with or without a bit of cream. I've also
discovered that I can sweeten it up by adding a fruit-based
herbal tea bag.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
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Re: Home Espresso Machines
By: August Abolins to Kurt Weiske on Mon Mar 13 2023 11:16 am

You could still control the temperature of the rooms you are
not using during the day no? I live in a rather large 2-level
home, 1200sqft per level, and simply close off the rooms that I
do not frequent.

I do the same, but we don't have a heating system that heats the whole house. My home office has french doors leading to a deck, and the only way to get heat into there is with a space heater.

The Brera seems huge to feed a single cup! Why does it have to
be so big?

It's got a decent sized-boiler - you can pull two expresso shots then immediately go about steaming milk or pulling boiling water for an americano.

Two things that make it larger than some others are the system for disposing of coffee pucks and the front-mounted water reservoir. That makes it easy to maintain the unit if it's under a counter, like mine is.
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Hello Kurt!

** On Monday 13.03.23 - 08:38, you wrote:

It's got a decent sized-boiler - you can pull two expresso
shots then immediately go about steaming milk or pulling
boiling water for an americano.

Two things that make it larger than some others are the
system for disposing of coffee pucks and the front-mounted
water reservoir. That makes it easy to maintain the unit
if it's under a counter, like mine is.

The last machine that I had in use was a Bosch/Tassimo unit.
The coffee/tea pucks are very compact and thin. It was in use
for about 12 years. The quick/automated way of having a coffee
started and ready (walk off and do something else) was
addictive in of itself.

I was even contemplating offering "fresh" coffee at my shop
with a couple of units like that.

I did NOT appreciate having to take the system offline for the
descaler process every 6 months or so. However, I persisted
until I simply got fed up with paying the premium for the pre-
packaged pucks. Instead, I repurposed the machine to act as my
inline hotwater heater and just made my coffees with a
cone+filter that sits on top of the cup - and I used the much
less expensive loose-ground coffee - I did that for about 5
years.

Then, one day (after 10 years total) the machine reported a
fault light indicating that the water reservoir was empty,
although it was NOT. As a result, a simple descaler process
wasn't going to cooperate! I was already drinking decaf by
that time, so I wasn't really missing having a coffee. But the
machine is toast as far am I am concerned and will simply go to
landfill.

The machine only made at the most 4 to 6 beverages per day.
With those numbers it seems that 10 years of service, including
the recommended descaling, for a mchine like that seems
underperforming.

Anyway.. boiling water the simple way in a kettle, and letting
gravity and a paper cone do its magic is quite good and fast
enough.

I would imagine that your espresso machine would need far more
maintenance and cleaning than a simple water-only Bosch/Tassimo
system. I know you said that the machine "has already paid for
itself" in a few months (keeping in mind that the cost of
bistro coffees are overpriced to begin with), but I hope the
machine doesn't create maintenance headaches and added cost
down the road.
--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
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Re: Home Espresso Machines
By: August Abolins to Kurt Weiske on Sun Mar 19 2023 12:27 pm

Anyway.. boiling water the simple way in a kettle, and letting
gravity and a paper cone do its magic is quite good and fast
enough.

We did most of our coffee drinking at home with 2 cone filters. My wife drinks hers with cream and sugar, and that really cools down the coffee. Making it with water out of a kettle is the best way to keep it warm in the cup.

I would imagine that your espresso machine would need far more maintenance and cleaning than a simple water-only Bosch/Tassimo
system. I know you said that the machine "has already paid for
itself" in a few months (keeping in mind that the cost of
bistro coffees are overpriced to begin with), but I hope the
machine doesn't create maintenance headaches and added cost
down the road.

We have a reverse osmosis water filter system. Internal scale is the biggest problem for espresso machines, so I'd hope I'm going to do OK. The mechanism is easy to clean, open a door on the side and the hopper mechanism comes out and you can rinse it out in a sink. Getting coffee oils out of the grinder might be a challenge.
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