Best Super-Automatic Espresso machine to make lattes?
 

Best means a decent quality brew AND easiest to run with the fewest steps for those pre-caffeinated mornings...

I saw the Jura call outs on the other thread, red...

more to go wrong with the autos

I have had a Delonghi automatic for 10 years.....absolutely no issues. Put beans in the top, water in the container, plug the milk container in....... push button.......awesome Latte!!!!!
Every morning

I have a very basic non-auto machine. It is killer. Simple. Repeatable.

I’m on vacation now and can’t remember the brand. My wife spoiled me with it a few years ago.

Shoot a pm if you want me to do some research or to chat.

I am a fan.

Also, my client that sells millions of coffee was slightly impressed. So there is that.

I've got a Breville Oracle. I got my nephew an Oracle Touch for the baby shower.

I think it's great. Paired with Lavazza Perfetto.

I have the Delonghi Magnifica S. Reliable now for over 2 years.

Grab the milk jug out of the fridge and plug it into the machine. Hit Latte. Done.

It grinds, tamps, froths, pulls all with no drama.

If you're making lots of milk drinks

Gaggia Cadorna prestige (new model)

Or find a NOS gaggia accademia (ended last year.)

Also The saeco Incanto is nearly identical machine to the Gaggia Accademia and shares parts.

Whatever you do try to find a machine where You fill the milk pitcher and leave it in the fridge and only pull it out when you need it, as opposed to a carafe/milk straw like many other mfrs.

I like the ones I listed because the milk lines get flushed after every single drink, which is a good thing.

Juras are great design-wise but they are 98% plastic. Jura does seem to have better parts availability than some other brands, however.

You cannot go wrong for making COFFEE with a Super-Auto, especially pre-caffeinated. Mrs. Beard does still regularly press the wrong button.

On a "Latte", I guess it all depends on what you mean by a latte. if you are just steaming the milk, ANY of the Jura Capresso machines have a good steaming wand. If you are trying for foaming crap, I do not know which do it better. The super-serious Jura Carpesso machines have milk bottles and you just press a button and it make whatever you want, mixing an foaming automatically.

Again, I have an E8, and it makes fantastic medium roast coffee with a single button press. And you can dial it from 1oz of water to 8oz, and 3 strength levels (by pressing the coffee button three times).

Ms gogar has an e8 and it does a nice job.
I rebuilt it a few months ago and it was a little fun puzzle but not too bad.

I've rebuilt 3, and one required quite a few parts (pump, main drive motor). Most of them just need o-rings replaced (leaks). Opening the top, vacuuming out the machine and then lubricating the main group really helps. They should have made it easier to do this.

Replacing the rear screw with Philips or torx makes a lot of sense.

(jura guy here - so take it or leave it)

I only hook up the plumbing for an event - as in four or more latte/capps in a session. The cleanup has me too stressed out. I've never had a bad time with it but just the thought of a bad-milk-time has me sketchy)

Can you do some sort of microwave/handheld whipper thing and keep everyone happy wile keeping the coffee side just the coffee?

We do that with our Jura at work. Total "you'll be beaten with toilet brushes if you put milk in this" territory.

Nearly ten years and we're milk-free.

Espresso life! Go get your coffee milkshakes elsewhere...

I have a Gaggia Brera. Bought it 4 or 5 years ago on sale at WholeLatteLove $500.
Used it daily with zero problems.
You do have to steam the milk manually which I like doing but it grinds and brews automatically.

Got it. profitec. Could be mis-spelled.

Very pleased.

I have a non-milk Jura. It is called the micro 5. I have had it for 4 or 5 years and easily 5 shots per day. Having a foaming wand with milk will make things messy and not turn key. Milk calcifies and the stuff will eventually get into the steam valves etc. I see this at work where we have had Jura and other milk steaming machines. My MO if I want a latte is to warm up the milk in the microwave and then put it under the micro 5 for a double shot. If I want to get fancy, I can whip the milk coming from the microwave with one of those high speed battery operated stirs. I really could care less about the foam. I mix it up, I like a latte in the morning, I do a long double shot (just a large cup of coffee) mid day and evenings after dinner I usually have a double shot of espresso.

Funny thing I bought this "broken" gaggia accademia off nextdoor yesterday for $400. It Has a bad safety thermostat. $30 and it's back in the zone!

I like the complexity of these things just for the puzzle. I understand how if you're really going crazy about pulling shots these aren't the thing.

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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1616693378.jpg

Thx for the replies folks!

That’s a lot of complicated stuff,.

My delonghi requires I turn a dial to clean the milk circuit. Then it goes back in the fridge. Once a week I soak it all in hot soapy water. Two years running.

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I had to take my Saeco Incanto down to clean the grinder. HUGE pain in the butt.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618178469.jpg

The grinder was so clogged with powdered coffee that it was kicking half-ground beans out of the grinding chamber and back into the hopper.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618178469.jpg

The coffee is supposed to go down the center, through the burrs, into carrier chambers that take it around and out to the ejection chute.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618178469.jpg

Looking through the ejection chute you can see the carrier chambers were packed with finely ground coffee beans. I dug it out with a small screwdriver because even blowing 120 psi compressed air at it didn't get it all out. After cleaning them I sprayed them with food grade silicone.

This is what happens when the beans you are using have too much oil in them. My old Incanto would choke down any kind of beans, but this one is a real prima donna.

I repaired one of my Jura Capresso units. They are not that bad once you open them up. Not like a 911 engine or transmission.

Most of the time, water leaks are just bad o-rings. And most of the brew group issues could have been prevented with an occasional internal vacuum and lubrication.

I am sorry to have to inform that my Salvatore joined the union and no longer worked right after 12 years of daily use. The options were to fix or replace. To replace that machine is now 2800 and is a custom order, hand built in America machine (my name is inside that machine for christ sake), or find something else? Since it is all commercial grade components it really was a fix it solution. Problem was who to trust in LV or send it back to Salvatore. I tried a large restaurant equipment repair company and for 300 it still didn't work right..my distrust was justified.

So it went back to Salvatore where he had a backlog of repairs and was extremely busy building new machines. So it sat for 5 months. They called last week with an estimate.there goes most of my Stimulus check..I said go ahead and by Saturday emailed it was ready. It has had a complete refurbishment of all the major moving parts..and is essentially a new machine again.

the major problem unbeknownst to me was that RO water causes internal corrosion of the copper boiler and lines.. It is pure water which seeks content so it leaches the metal. The rest was preventative after long years of use. LV has very very hard water at 16 grains, where water using appliances have shortened life spans. So water filtration is a must to avoid scale buildup, just not RO.

So now I have to use non RO bottled water like the recommended Crystal Geyser or go with a filtration system like BWT which in of itself has a much shorter cartridge lifespan because of the water hardness. Regardless of which way I go I do look forward to getting my Salvatore back in operation again for some good Joesph.

After using up a small cheapo Krups, using a Bodum SS I finally wound up using a Corning Ware 6 cup peculator all found on the cheap at the Thrifts..

I have 2 Juras..an Impressiva S8 and F10...both for under 60 total. I never fooled with them to find out exactly what they needed..both work at least minimally.

Internally, most of the Jura units are the same or very similar. They are differentiated by the features, looks and cost. 'Cause you know if you spend more it HAS to be better...

I get the impression that Jura units overall are better built (from online research w/o seeing any of these things).

But I dunno about the outboard milk frother. That makes we want to go with a Gaggia.

I haven't seen the Saeco brand listed at either of the big places that sell online.

the major problem unbeknownst to me was that RO water causes internal corrosion of the copper boiler and lines.. It is pure water which seeks content so it leaches the metal. [/QUOTE]

I've replaced the copper heating elements in my simonelli twice for the reason you describe. you pull them out after a few years and although they still work, the metal is surprisingly soft and barely holds together.

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Whole Latte Love has 1 model, but it is $1899

Well that’s interesting. We’ve been using RO water in ours for some time...

Honestly, RO water is not good for people. You need calcium.

Tabs, could you feed it bottled water from the supermarket. Those big cheap four or five gallon containers of natural spring water.

My Vibiemme needed a few new bits too :( so I've started looking after it better by doing proper two monthly deep cleans. Mind you, it's only eaten through one heater element in 15 years.

Gaggia / Saeco / Phillips are identical machines, rebadged.

The RO water issue is pretty well known in the coffee geek community. It also messes with water level sensors, which requires minerals to work. For that reason, folks that don't want to use tap often use the big carboys of spring water.

I've replaced the copper heating elements in my simonelli twice for the reason you describe. you pull them out after a few years and although they still work, the metal is surprisingly soft and barely holds together.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1618190367.jpg[/QUOTE]

It took 12 years for it to not run right.

The Boiler on the Salvatore is copper as well as all the lines. There is no plastic in a Salvatore except for the Reservoir

As you all can figure I am quite enamored of the Salvatore..when I bought it back in late 2003 Whole Lattte Love was a distributor for them...their description was glowing.. It is a custom order, hand-built machine from Buellton, CA. using all commercial parts..what is not to like.

Back then who knew about RO water..

https://youtu.be/OAaNWrVlveU

The oxidation potential in RO or demineralized water is quite high. Typically, you use a resistant form of Stainless Steel.

The other issue: When the copper leaches, it goes "somewhere". That somewhere is in your coffee. And that copper ends up in YOU.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_toxicity

Not an expert on RO systems, but a good one should have a re-minerailzation step after you practically made DI water. I lived in a rental once that had a very elaborate RO system - the owners were esoteric folks that were afraid of traces of medication and what not in the drinking water. There was a 2 million year old piece of coral reef in the remineralization unit - calcium long built up before human presence. :) I know all this because the unit broke and the service guy came by to fix it and educate me at the same time. After all that, I decided to just install a carbon filter in my house.

G

The last place I saw an RO home system, I do not remember seeing a re-mineralization system. I always wondered if the people with RO systems ended up with osteoporosis.

Then it is no wonder why I fall in love with copper pennies..ohhh you are so beautiful my love..

You don't use CA tap water in your espresso machines. Period.

We're stuck on the side of a volcano and have so much silicates in our water that you need a hammer to clean your glass shower doors. Ten years in now with RO and the Jura and the fridge are still OK. Interesting on re-mineralization though -- it's worth a look. I'd really rather the expensive toys not poop the bed...

Well, I don't know the chemistry; maybe there's some chemist types in here

Tabsys machine has a brass boiler with a copper heating element that directly contacts the water and sits in the water at all times, regardless of use.

The thermoblock-style boilers (like In your Jura) are aluminum and stainless, and generally contact the water much less; they act more like an on-demand water heater in your home would.


So maybe it's less of an issue.

The copper heating element I replaced a few times in my simonelli sits directly in the water, all the time. So maybe it's a different story or chemical reaction.

SmileWavy

tap water here is great - the utility co. wins national awards for it, so I'm good there

a guy at Whole Lotta Latte Love or what ever that place is named told me the machines are very reliable as long as you clean them (and that lots of people don't)

- what's the consensus on that reliability claim?