[JavaBrewer]

Ok I'll pipe in. I bartended for years in La Jolla CA and have made many many thousands of espresso drinks. There are two choices for the home machine - something reliable, or something automatic. The more moving parts on these babies the more there is to break. If you are worried about reliablity than get a total manual setup (look at what Tabs has) or for way less cash a Starbucks barista (what I have). Mine has been pumping out espresso drinks for 2 years now without a hickup. Forget anything that grinds, tamps, and dumps your coffee grounds unless you want to buy a new machine every year or so. EVERYONE that I know, and I do mean EVERYONE, that had one of those automatic machines experienced total failure within 16-18 months.

As a bonus the manual machines allow you to experiment with grinds and pull lengh to get your perfect drink.