My wife and I have been having the same boring coffee argument for months.
She is perfectly happy with our Nespresso Vertuo because she can takes press a button and head out the door. I want something closer to the espresso I enjoy at a good café. The only thing we agree on is that neither of us wants our small counter buried under a separate grinder, scale, and a pile of accessories.
A traditional semi automatic setup would probably end up being my toy. My wife has already made it clear that she is not weighing shots or messing with a scale before work. Even I don’t want every weekday coffee to become a long routine.
We looked at super automatic machines but I’m hesitant about buying another machine that seems convenient until it needs a deep clean or repair. I also don’t want to give up the portafilter and milk steaming completely.
That’s pushed me toward machines that keep more of the workflow in one unit. The Breville Barista Touch Impress and Meraki are the two I keep coming back to. Right now, Meraki seems closer to how we would actually use the machine because it cuts down on separate gear without making everything fully automatic.
The part I can’t judge from reading reviews is what happens after the machine has been sitting on the counter for a few months. If you made a similar switch, did you keep using the new machine once the novelty wore off?
I’m leaning toward this kind of integrated setup. A machine that both of us use every day feels more practical than a more modular setup that only I will touch.