Coffee

Does your existing grinder do espresso? if not you may need to also factor that in.

Another factor is whether you're okay with a manual machine that can't froth milk. (E.g., Flair, Uniterra Nomad, Wacaco Picopresso, Cafelat Robot). If you're just doing straight espresso or you don't mind picking up a separate milk frothing device like a nonfoamer, this can save you quite a bit over a machine with a boiler and pump. However, the workflow will probably be more fuss.

For a full machine sub $500 I think a lot of folks go for something like the Breville Bambino or the Gaggia Classic. Some modding may be required for best results on the Classic.

(My espresso setup is an 1zpresso J-Max and Uniterra Nomad)

I absolutely love my Flair even more than a more expensive machines because you can totally geek out on different pressure profiles. But, I was describing it to a friend and he thought it was way more trouble than it’s worth. He wanted something more convenient.

TLDR; Point being here invest in the drink you want not the tools to make it.

Honestly there is a lot of coffee snobs out there making way too much money off selling us on the 5-600 or 1.5-3K model machines which only matter if your running an actual cafe that needs to serve 20 people in ten minutes. The biggest thing to consider is bars of pressure, maintenance, and basket size. Average models would do 15 to 20 bars of pressure [usually more than enough for all kinds of drink types] and hold around 14 to 16g of espresso in a 58mm basket.

So with that in mind. Here's my journey.

• Started with something similar to an IMUSA USA GAU-18202 4 Cup Espresso/Cappuccino Maker ($35 on amazon, or $20 at Walmat in the early 00's). This lasted about 8 years of heavy use [e.g. 3 to 4 servings a day]
• After my old machine's plastic bits on the handle and the steamer completely destroyed I shopped around and got a 20 Bar Braville similar to amazon.com/dp/B0C68T5Z2C. Still works great and gets twice the usage without any failure to produce great coffee.
• Instead of investing into coffee machines I put that into the quality of the roast and grinders. First thing was instead of buying pre-ground coffee which easily has at least 18 months on the shelf before you get it home.
• I got my own roaster and cooler [amazon.com/dp/B07Q3KZ5G6 and amazon.com/dp/B07S9XYC48] then explored several types of green beans. Found the flavor profiles that work best for a cafe quality city roast is from Smoking beans [amazon.com/dp/B00LSSAGPW]. Honestly Smoking beans is a great producer. Loved thier honduras sourced mexican blend [amazon.com/dp/B00LSSAOG8] mixed with sumatran or blue mountain. Made for a really clean and smooth expresso that complimented nearly every kind of drink I made. Best part is one 5lb bag lasts around two months at about 3 to 4 shots a day with a self tailored flavor profile for the price of two weeks supply of Cafe Bustelo or Medaglia D'Oro.
• As for grinder I went with a Mr Coffee Electric Burr Coffee Grinder just for its flexibility but recently upgraded to Sozen hand grinder [amazon.com/dp/B07HMTFRXC] to get actual fine powered coffee and its worth it too. That fine of a ground really pulls out all the great flavors and more caffeine than anything else out there. Plus its super quick too, the amount of time it takes for my machine to heat up I would have already ground 2.5 pulls worth of espresso meaning I'd have 40g of espresso ready for use long before my first pull and another doppio with a ristretto ready by the time I've pulled one more.

Where I'm going from here; might try a manual lever espresso (e.g Flair NEO) but since these get 9 bars of pressure instead of the usual 15 bars for cafe quality (starbucks goes for 19 bars in their machines) I'm going to wait for someone to gift it or it comes down to the $30 range on ebay. Also been doing a lot of turkish coffee which is really inspiring. The hand grinder allows me to add aromatics directly into the grind (like chicory, dried citrus peels, allspice, and/or cardamon pods) so I get a very fresh flavor added to the profile right before a pull. Even been following the trend in professional competitions to copy "drinkologists" with adding cocktail techniques into thier espresso which surprising does work to really add a bit more to the drink.

Are you looking for a traditional machine or a superauto?

Breville/Sage Barista Express. Buy it second-hand for an even lower entry point.

If you like tinkering, maybe you could get a gaggia and mod it later with https://gaggiuino.github.io/ if you want to go to the next level.

The Rancilio Silvia is a indestructible, reliable machine that will fit perfectly.