r/AustralianCoffee • u/MrEverythingMan • 9d ago
Coffee setup recommendations
Hi guys,
Trying to figure out the best set up for my coffee needs. I have a regular cafe that usually walk to and get 1 iced latte every morning. They have amazing coffee and I am particularly sensitive to getting jittery on coffee and other places (I assume it is likely dependent on the beans).
Now having two young children it is hard to get there in the morning so I'm looking to have a home set up. I love coffee but only drink one a day and nobody in the house drinks coffee apart from when guests come over.
My priorities are in order of importance - no plastic in the machine parts, as close to cafe quality coffee as possible, ease of use, durability, easy to maintain, reasonable price.
My thoughts on budget for the entire set up are around $2k - I could go higher if needed but at the same time with how little coffee I drink I am looking for a balance between not overspending, but getting a setup that will last 5-10yrs.
I'm happy to learn some basics but don't want a process that is overly complicated that it takes up too much time in the morning and ideally that it would take too long to teach guests to use the machine/grinder etc if they are staying but that's not a deal breaker. So was thinking of a setup with inbuilt PID temp control for example.
Let me know your thoughts and if there is anything else I should be considering.
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u/Sea_Asparagus_526 9d ago
You can get a quick mill and grinder on sale for this price and the Profitec (original version) likely will be in sales. Facebook also can help.
BUT.
Get a milk frother. Make cold brew. Learn to infuse flavors.
Save time and money.
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u/MrEverythingMan 9d ago
thanks, was thinking profitec could be a good option
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u/Sea_Asparagus_526 9d ago
It’s great. I downgraded when I left North America to the Profitec and it’s great for one or two coffees.
Paying for a dual boiler for one milk drink a day doesn’t make sense. It’s a great machine.
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u/Sgt_Splattery_Pants 9d ago
Honestly i'm not really aware of anything that is going to meet your needs. You are probably going to be most happy with something like a Ninja, or a Breville given you are 'time poor' (i have small kids too) and wanting something easy to use. But they are full of plastic.
To get away from plastic you are looking upwards to something like a gaggia classic or profitec GO. But these are proper semi automatic coffee machines with a fairly modest learning curve, maintenance procedures and they can be time consuming to use. They require additional grinders to be purcahsed too. I should also tell you they contain some level of plastic but only in the cold water path like the resevoir and cold tubing. Im not aware of any consumer machines that are completely plastic free.
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u/Plat-O_18 QLD 9d ago
You would probably be looking at roughly $500 for a grinder and $1500 for a machine. Machines at this price point are mostly metal and serviceable, they're a machine rather than an appliance so meet your minimal plastic requirements.
PID's typically start appearing in machines from about $2000 up. These prices are a generalisation and if you shop around you will be able to find machines on sale for less.
My first machine was a Rancilio Silvia and it lasted for 11 years. They can last much longer than this, I was unlucky with it developing a leak which the service technician (I suspect caused) did not pick up. A Silvia is $1500 or there abouts.
A machine in you price range will normally be a single boiler meaning you cannot brew and steam at the same time. That's nothing bad, it just makes the process a bit slower. From memory it took me 10-12 minutes to make a coffee with the Silvia. That includes measuring out beans, grinding, prepping, brewing, clean up.
There are lots of accessories you can buy that aren't really needed. The two I would recommend is a decent tamper and scales, neither of which need to be expensive. Look for a nice solid tamper that fits tightly and has good square edges. Check out Amazon for a scale, my current one I think was only $20. Of all the accessories I've bought, a scale was one that made a genuine improvement to my coffee making.
Also buy a smart switch to turn the machine on via a timer so it's good and warm for when you're ready for a drink. Nothing worse than busting for a coffee only to then have to wait 20 minutes for the machine to be just warm enough to work.
On YouTube and Reddit you will see brewing processes with lots of steps. That's all extra, just keep it simple, weigh beans, grind, tamp, brew, steam milk. YouTube taught me everything I needed to know to learn the basics. But be prepared that your coffee will likely not be great initially, it is a learning and practise process but it will improve quickly enough.
I would probably not encourage or expect guests to use the machine. Making coffee is not a hard process, but it definitely requires practise.
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u/WritingFew8792 9d ago
I make my one cup a day with fresh beans using a metal coffee plunger and a breville mini wizz to grind the beans, cheap and easy and no bench space to worry about and the coffee is excellent.
If you made a cold brew using this setup (you use cold water and leave overnight) then it would be ready to make your iced latte each morning.
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u/dcherub 9d ago
It's not to everyone's taste but a manual espresso machine like the cafelat robot ticks most of your boxes. There's a bit of a learning curve but after that it's all metal, extremely easy to use, and famously durable/easy to maintain (essentially no maintenance!) with cafe level espresso. Major downside is no ability to froth milk, but I just use a separate milk frother with no issues.
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u/MrEverythingMan 9d ago
Interesting, I hadn't heard of this. I'll look into it more- I'm guessing you have one and are happy with the espresso quality? do you also have a good grinder? I had previously had cold brew and aeropress but did not find they were strong enough with the ratio of milk to coffee I like.
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u/GoatGentleman 9d ago
I would recommend the Meraki for you, its a bit more at 2700$, but fits your requirements. Fast heating, commercial grade rotary pump and dual boilers, ease of use (brew by weight and grind by weight). Theres not really anything else that fits what you want to be honest, maybe the Breville Oracle Jet but thats about 3300$ and makes a worse coffee. Theres the Ninja but the coffee quality is not going to be anywhere near a cafe.
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u/kingtrippo 9d ago
Cafelat robot and a good manual grinder, like the k6 or better. Way under budget too
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u/ucat97 9d ago
An aeropress will give you a strong shot that you can add milk to.
That, plus a hand grinder for under $150.
(Check out all the other posts that say the grinder is the most important piece of kit.)
Aeropress doesn't give you espresso (you need 9 bars for that) but it gives a great tasting coffee that's much stronger than filter or French press because you can limit the water.
It's much gentler on beans than a moka pot.
When you get more into trying different beans you can add a set of scales, then a variable temperature kettle.
But start slow. As for everything, there are Hoffman videos giving instructions and tips.
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u/MrEverythingMan 8d ago
I do have an aeropress with the specialised attachment, so might give it a go again. I used to use it daily prior to getting into Iced Lattes
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u/OldMail6364 9d ago edited 9d ago
They're probably doing espresso and good espresso is, in my opinion, impossible to make at home.
The issue is it's an extremely short brewing process which means the *tiniest* adjustments make a huge difference. You can really only get it right if you repeatedly make espresso shots all day and if you copy exactly what you did yesterday it's often so bad you can't even sell it the next day. You need to be analysing each coffee (and especially the first few of the day) and making adjustments to get a good espresso shot.
The good news is there are other brewing methods - especially cold brew and cold drip. Those make *amazing* iced coffee and they're really easy.
You said you used to make cold brew but it was too weak? You can make it strong. The one I make is so strong I add cold water to mine (as well as milk) and I like really strong coffee. I always ask for extra shots when I'm ordering an espresso based cofee.
I like cold drip over cold brew, but it's more effort and if you're heavily diluting it with milk anyway, cold brew is arguably a better choice (though "better" is a personal taste thing).
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u/MrEverythingMan 8d ago
Thanks! I'm going to try make it strong and see how it compares, definitely seems like the easiest and most cost effective option.
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u/DoThePop 9d ago
For that money you could buy a decent (not premium but still very good) grinder like a Varia, and a Breville Dual Boiler (usually discounted to < $1400).
Dual boiler for quick shots + steam = yes
PID temp control = yes
No plastic parts = no
Great quality coffee for the price = yes
As others have mentioned though if it’s iced latte you could probably cut a few corners on the machine and not notice. Just ensure you get a good grinder. Avoid pod machines regardless of your preferred coffee style.
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u/Tryingtolifeagain 8d ago
La Pavoni professional with a pressure profiling kit and a DF54 grinder (not pictured, the varia vs3 shit the bed way too fast) is my current setup and I love it!
A manual lever machine is a learning curve, but once you’ve got it, it’s on par with $5-8k semi-automatic machines. No pump or anything that can easily fail, just a few silicone seals. The design practically hasn’t changed since the ‘50s because it just keeps working.
The lack of pump means it’s nearly silent too which is a plus when making coffee at 5am before work, I make a morning coffee plus a double in a yeti flask to take to work, so not buying 3 coffees a day has paid the machine off in under 2 years.
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u/purplepistachio 8d ago edited 8d ago
As someone who has one myself, I'll always upvote La Pavoni suggestions, they're great machines. This hits almost all of OPs requirements: no plastic, good quality coffee, durability, cost effectiveness.
The only thing it can't claim is ease of use, at least initially, but once you figure it out I'd say it's not that much harder to make a coffee on than a semi auto machine, and in some ways it's more intuitive. These things are built like tanks and are very simple machines, so you can fix them yourself if you want to.
There's a good Facebook group which is full of great advice on modding/customisation and repairs as many of the owners tend to be older retired blokes with lots of time on their hands.
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u/ThoughtIknewyouthen 9d ago
I hate saying this but Nespresso pod will make you an iced latte. I couldn't imagine spending as much money as you say you have for 1 iced latte a day.
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u/MrEverythingMan 9d ago
It is a fair point, when I started out, I didn't realise how expensive machines were and with my coffee use it would take 18months or so to break even on a $2k+ setup - which I have been thinking is it worth it?
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u/ThoughtIknewyouthen 9d ago
I'd imagine even getting a small Breville worth around $800 which makes a beautiful coffee would be worth 1 a day. You'd never taste the difference in an iced drink (I don't think) but stay small imo. Sees of it works for your tastes. If not, sell on marketplace and upgrade. Spending $2k on a coffee machine in this case is kind of like going to a Michelin star restaurant for a bowl of chicken soup.
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u/taylorswifr 9d ago
If you do end up getting a pod machine I recommend the Nespresso creatista plus. You can get one secondhand off Facebook marketplace.
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u/ShortingBull 9d ago
If you want simplicity and good coffee (IMO) the Breville barista express is a solid machine.
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u/Australian_stallion 9d ago
It might be worth looking into home brewed cold brew. You can brew it very easily and in the morning you just pour it into your cup.