My neighbor Bill totally flipped my view on espresso machines

So I was out in the garage last Saturday and my neighbor Bill comes over holding this beat up old espresso machine... the kind that looks like it's from the 80s. He says he found it at a garage sale for 20 bucks over in Riverside. I laughed and told him good luck with that junk, but he just smiled and said you don't need the fanciest gear. He pulled a shot right there on his driveway using some stale beans from a can and it honestly tasted better than my $600 machine from the shop. I used to think you had to drop serious money to get good espresso at home. Now I'm wondering if I've been overcomplicating everything with my temperature surfing and fancy grinders. Has anyone else had a cheap setup that blew their mind?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret2345d ago

Oh come on now... a twenty dollar garage sale find beats a six hundred dollar machine? I'm not buying that for a second, sorry. Good technique matters way more than price tags, sure, but stale beans from a can don't magically turn into top tier espresso. You probably just got caught up in the moment standing there on his driveway.

mary_kelly5d agoTop Commenter

That 20 dollar garage sale machine was probably a Gaggia or an old Rancilio Silvia, something built like a tank back when companies actually made things to last lol. I bet @margaret234 has never had to swap out a busted pump on a 600 dollar Breville before because the plastic housing cracks after two years. Put some fresh local beans in that old machine and dial in your grind right, and it'll pull shots that blow away something you bought off a shelf at Best Buy any day.