> Before you spend many thousands of dollars on a machine better suited to a coffee shop, consider getting a minimalist lever machine.

Nope. I agree about enjoyment factor but still: no. Unless you are single and don't like cappu's.

With lever machines it's going like this: you turn it on, wait few minutes, pull espresso... and it is too cold. You pull second and third and those can be good but by 4th espressos are too hot so they are bitter. So it is time to turn off your lever mini-espresso machine... And milk frothing ? n/c

Oh, and boiler size in "lever" machines :) La Pavoni Stradivari is 16... But what you do when boiler is empty ? You have solid piece of metal with temp 90-100 C, how you like to unscrewing and refiling it ? :) And then 5 minutes of warming it to 90's again...

Now cost... 1k up to 2k dollars for lever. So when "many starts" ? For 2k-3k you have more available machines then you want to choose from :>

And belive me: you _want_ a plumbed one. So we are almost in "commercial" territory, there is no way around it.

There are now new generations of "lab" espresso machines but usually they are not cheaper then plain e61. And still some Rancilio made tank is preferable - Epocas are dirt cheap, almost :)

But if someone want cheap coffee gear then Chemex or Hario v60 is perfect option. Perfect! We use it almost daily at home. Or few times a day. :) Almost same amount of ritual like with Robot :)

Full agree on grinders - better one makes difference.

So, 20 years of coffee forums reading in one sentence: espresso machines need to be heavy and they costs.

In secret I can tell: Stradi is still on my wish list :)

And then there is one thing even or maybe especially commercial shops avoid: actual good coffee. You need to pay 2x or 3x or more for 1kg of coffee beans or you just serving black slops. Some chemistry you dilute with milk. Look it is easy to one-time pay 5k for some chrome machine but every day paying for good coffee beans is beyond most coffee shops on the globe...

Used La Marzocco machines are coveted by cafe owners and collectors