Espresso Machine Choiceses

ShAwNeX

What's a good and solid professional espresso machine for commercial use (a popular machine if there is such a thing)? With 3 groupheads.

DoubleRistretto

Hey SNex - there are a lot of average machines like San Marino, La Cimbali, Wega, La San Marco and Faema that tend to be given away as part of deals by coffee roasters. There's also ECM which used to make a couple of pretty good machines, but I'm not sure what's happened to their commercial machines [seems to have been some changes recently]. If you want to go for the top end, it's usually machines like La Marzocco, which are great but expensive [you can easily spend $15K] and the Synesso's are fantastic. You should probably decide what sort of league you're going to operate in, and then spend a bit of time on their websites? -dR

takeaim

You need to figure out what you need it for, how many kg's, how much takeaway, space available, what sort of support is available in your area etc DoubleRistretto, dont put cimbali and wega in the same class as san marino, they're much better. Just because a particular roaster is "giving" them away doesn't mean they're cheap/bad.

ShAwNeX

What about Rancilio espresso machines?

Koffee_Kosmo

I am partial to Bezzera However my uncle has at one stage used in a cafe a Boema and for the needs of that cafe it was fine. Dont forget to do the sums x+=  if the cafe fails what machine will return a fair price if it needs to be on sold second hand KK

psaigh

Well i'm partial to synesso for sure (but would happily recommend la marzocco as an equivalent), for those that haven't seen the new synesso hydra, check out their website (www.synesso.com).  But with the current aussie dollar these machines are priced through the roof! Expobar represent good value for money, particularly the expobar elen, which is a genuine PID dual boiler.  At the class of Heat exchangers (see brands mentioned above), for the most part the guts are relatively the same, and most of the price differences come in the form different features.  Be sure to hunt around and get something that suits you.  One major thing though, is if it is a Heat Exchanger, make sure it has a HUGE boiler or else you'll come into big issues servicing the aussie market (big volumes of steam for milk and hot h20 drawn from the boiler cause big problems on Heat exchangers with small boilers and low watt heating elements).  The ECM is good for this. I can't comment much on the rancilios, except that parts (genuine or alternate brands that will do the job) seem to be fairly easy to come by.  The 6series look great (i love lever piston machines).