Upvote for James to do a blind test on espressos made on cheap machines vs expensive ones

Challenge of the year...you should collaborate with a manufacturer and design your own entry level unit

What I've learned from picking up a handful of hobbies and becoming a bit of a nerd in each, is that the amount of knowledge and equipment that you need for a hobby is just as much as it takes you to enjoy it. For some people, that might mean investing thousands, and seeking perfection in every aspect, but for others, it might be a cheap machine that doesn't get up to 10 bar pressure and pre-ground coffee from the Dollar General. Point being, if you like the coffee you make, and you have fun doing it, then you're doing it right.

It would be great to see this "series" continued and see which espresso machine gets your stamp of approval for a price that does not completely break the bank

"I bet you thought I was going to say ' Déjà Brew'... But I didn't because I don't hate you or me..." 😂😂😂 I love you James

“A shape that makes me slightly uncomfortable.” - James Hoffman 2020

I found the DeLonghi machine in this vid at a thrift store for AU$5... and for that it makes great AU$5 coffee. I grind my beans in a kitchen blender, it's a beastly little machine and only used for coffee.. 8 seconds for a fine grind for the Delonghi, 5 seconds for a coarser grind for the plunger. Yes, I am a heathen lol

Imagine making this guy a coffee in the office...

Love the Marc Rebillet shirt

Potential next video idea: "Can you get good espresso for under £300?" ?

some of you may be wondering what he meant by "PID controlled." Well basically the temperature of the water has a sensor which talks to a computer, the way PID control works is if the temperature gets too low, you need to add more heat to get it back to the right temp, and if it gets too high you have to remove heat, but then you get iunto a back and forth where the temperature is always dipping and rising trying to catch up. the way pid works is it uses the area under the curve to calculate the error from the desired temperature, and it also takes the derivative to calculate how fast the error is changing, that way it can correct the error and find the "sweet spot" without having lots of temperature fluctuation.

Things I learned in this video: the reason my coffee might be tasting bad is that I simply am not preparing it right. I had no clue that things that seem like small details could affect the flavor of the coffee so much. I'm glad I know now!

"Thanks Jeff" made me laugh way more than it should have

His voice is so calming. He’s the David Attenborough of coffee

He described that third one like I do my ex. "Hollow, empty, sour, and bitter." lmao

We had exactly the same DeLonghi espresso machine at the office and I can confirm it made drinkable espresso. Unfortunately, we "upgraded" to a bigger machine (as if that makes it better) that makes hot sewer water. :) And this is when my journey to discovering manual coffee started, so at least something good came out of this situation. ✨

I’m canceling my machine order just to wait and hear your thoughts on the “minimum” machine to buy for a “good” good espresso. Cheers, James!

Am I the only person seeing James so disappointed and stressed by testing these machines? I really enjoyed it James. Nicely done and I want to thank the patrons as well 😅

I owned a DeLongi espresso machine ages ago, the sound of that DeLongi pump takes me back! A lot like the one you tested, it made pretty good espresso when you did everything exactly right; but it was terribly fussy to do so - maybe one cup in 4 was "good". It was particularly sensitive to the grind, which was not good in a time before burr grinders were affordable.

i work in tech and i am convinced they make these cheaper options bad on purpose just to sell more of their expensive ones. manufacturing and tech has advanced too much for me to believe that for over 100 bucks they cannot put multiple temp sensors and a pressure gauge and a mechanism to stop the steam spewing out .. the premium ones could be sold at 100 bucks for a profit these days .

A week ago I was unaware of James. A week ago I was thinking I being cool with one of those (In comparison to those who drink instant coffee) A week ago I was still thinking: " I know something about coffee". A week ago my life was much easier as I was ignorant about all of this science behind coffee. A week ago I was also richer because I didn't feel the need to buy a coffee Crushgrind and was happy to do that with blades. A week ago KZfaq suggested me to watch a video about a guy who is buying coffee stuff from IKEA...🤦🏽‍♂️ A week later: Watching 10 of his videos a day till 3am. Thanks James for making my life more difficult but more knowledgeable about something I was in fact ignorant about.

James' face always says more about how good the coffee is than his words :)

So glad your channel exists. I started out wanting to get an espresso machine to make myself some lattes at home. That led me down a rabbit hole and learning I can't make espresso for under 500 bucks. That then led me to your channel where I've learned a ton. So, Thank you.

The swan has been rebranded by kmart in Aus/NZ and has become really popular after a couple of consumer advocacy groups rated it better than a $1000 espresso machine and a $4500 fully automatic machine. I really suspect that preground store bought coffee was used in all machines but paywall prevents me finding out

Time to brew myself some filter coffee that I can sip on while watching this espresso related video.

Title: "The Best Espresso Machines Under 100" James: "no"

I bought the Krups Calvi for 130€ as an experimental secondary espresso machine to my Bezzera Magica, and I surprisingly have to admit, I tend to keep going for the Krups, because I don't have to wait for it to heat up. Especially since my Magica broke, I only started missing it after a year. My Krups makes good enough espresso that it feels rewarding to make one, and that's enough for me most of the time.

I really like the way you editing the video, very short, concise and straight to the key points, very pleasant for viewing and understanding.

Definitely looking forward to the "minimum entry level for pleasant coffee making experience" video.

coffee aside, supporting Marc Rebillet asserts your status as a man of culture

"I know you thought I was going to say deja brew, but I didn't because I don't hate you or me" 😂😂😂😂

My old Gaggia Baby was less than £100 back in 2012. Far from the best home machine but decently built with a commercial size portafilter and worked fine with non-pressurized baskets (although I think I had to buy one separately). Those were the days!

"I bet you thought I was going to say 'déjà brew', but I didn't 'cause I don't hate you or me." I laughed a little too much.

"It makes me sad that this was made in the first place. Thanks Jeff -_-" That line had me dying!

This channel is a total lifesaver. this man is saving us potentially thousands of dollars. Thank you thank you thank you

I bought the DeLonghi twice. The first one I used for years until it broke and the second one I eventually replaced with a more time convenient method. I learned to get get okay espresso by watching videos and practice. I have always had a limited budget and I wanted to make espresso as inexpensively as I could instead of spending all my money at coffee houses. I am considering going back to this DeLonghi machine because it was an easy machine to maintain and I don't have a quality experience to compare it to so I was used to having to hold the machine while removing the filter and live with it's other cheap quirks. I bought a real tamper instead of using that weird attached one which also helped.

two things about James I couldn't guess: 1- his profession (he looks like a doctor and sounds like an automotive designer) 2- his age (looks like something between 35 and 70)

Great video. You hit all the key notes I was looking for

I want to say thank you. For your charisma, for your good explanation and your sharing.

So glad I watched this as I was so close to buying another DeLonghi. I had one that I got on Ebay...worked for a while. During the height of the pandemic on the NE I thought about replacing it and found the one I wanted out of stock. That was a good thing as I've been close to trying again. You are so right...machine is noisy and not worth the effort...thanks for reminding me. I'll stick to my Moka pot and my aeoro-latte to make a very acceptable latte every morning. Used to be a barista and when you are accustomed to the pro machines...hard to get used to the at home variety. Thanks for your other videos. Moka instruction helped me fine tune my method with the easy stove top and inexpensive route.

The De'Longhi's EC152 (very similar to the machine in the video) was my first home espresso machine back when I was still a broke student. And with that, and a decent hand grinder, I made pretty good coffee in the most labour intensive way imaginable, for about two years. I pushed it to the very limits of what it's capable of, and during my time with it, it taught me an awful lot. I opened it up, serviced, tweaked, tinkered, and made perhaps a half dozen diy upgrades to it before I finally retired it. And actually, right now, with my full-size machine tragically out of service - needing expensive parts I just can't find during lockdown - I'm considering dusting off the De'Longhi again.

"Dejabrew" got my like.

Great video James. Thank you for doing this and it saved me from that impulse purchase for an espresso machine that will probably end up in the cabinet. Looking at the Flair instead now.

Gotta appreciate these videos it’s a good way to find out if something’s worth buying in stores.

I love watching these videos not only as a coffee freak, but also as a product designer. In all of the ‘coffee equipment’ videos James mentions so many tiny details concerning design and handy usage, that’s just amazing! :) I think every product designer should watch a couple of these, thank you James!

Like already other people said: could you please do a video about a decent espresso machine around 300 £? I watch your videos now since quiet a while and i know that good a espresso machine cant cost less than 100£. But i think many of your viewers simply can't spend arround 1k (including a mill), it would be also way overpowerd for my single houshold. So jeah, i would enjoy a budget espresso machine and mill video! Thanks anyways for the good content, beside tha fact that it has turned me a bit in a espresso snob^^

Thanks! I've been researching around, and every other review seems to be biased or straight out bought, and I almost got a machine but decided to research further. Your video is by far the most educational of them all. I'm gonna save my money and got a decent machine down the line. I'm stuck on a dripping machine until then.

LOL! Love your reviews on this video! Love the humor, too!

I have the Delonghi, a birthday gift from my amazing girlfriend, yes it is basic but it's a fantastic entrypoint into coffee in my opinion, because, as students, we don't have hundreds of euros to spend on a machine so it's the best we can do right now....and honestly, I love it

I want this guy to review my life. I just know when he explains how miserable I am I won’t be ready.

I have a DeLongi that my husband bought. For both of us, the cost for a good quality expresso machine was way out of our budget. Honestly, it tastes fine to me when compared to what we can get from local coffee shops and is fine for lattes and Americanos. I only pay for iced drinks now and make hot ones at home.

I got the Delonghi EC155 for Christmas and after a little trial and error, I learned how to make a really enjoyable cup of espresso. It's my first espresso machine. I got it to get the Latte budget under control. With a little practice, people should have no trouble using this machine. One thing I learned is to tamp it lightly. This seems to make a big difference. Another thing is to drain any water out of the frother or your milk will be watered down. There are a number of helpful videos on KZfaq for anyone interested. I think this is a good first machine for anyone just starting out with making home espresso.

"The bare minimum to have a good espresso at home" .. I'm waiting for that James

Me: watches james hoffman videos Also me: drinks lidl brand coffee from a krups nespresso machine

Dear mr Hoffman, I own a really cheap espresso machine. After pressing my coffee in the basket, I put a piece of round paper filter cut from a v60 coffee filter. This way, the really bad water distribution of my machine is kind of normalised and I get a solid puc, a delicious espresso and a smile. Every owner of a crappy espresso machine like these should try it. Totally worth the extra effort.

Lol now im drinking coffee for years but stil dont know when coffee is good or not..

If I can't come up with the $2000+ that produces really excellent espresso, I'll stick with the $30 that produces really excellent drip coffee and spend the other $1970+ on good beans.

As an experiment I've been trying to get a decent coffee out of my old Dualit Espressivo (~£160 a few years ago) because I wondered the same thing. So I replaced the pressurised basket with a DeLonghi single-wall basket and bought a nicer tamper. The cheap DeLonghi grinder I used to use (~£40) wasn't up to the task of grinding for espresso. So I dialed in some tasty Square Mile beans on my Barista Express, then ground extra and extracted with the Dualit. It was less consistent, and didn't taste quite as good as with the BE, but it was absolutely better after a couple of tries than anything I used to make with it using a cheap grinder. Certainly good enough to make a half-decent cafe latte that tastes better than anything from Costa. I won't trade in my BE but at least the Dualit would work as a backup in an emergency. Thanks James.

I just love it when people are this honest. It´s a review, that´s what we want to see. Thank you sir. Have you, by any chance, reviewed the Ariete 1389 Vintage Expresso machine?

I watch this on a rainy night, gives me the most comfortable feeling you could imagine

That Marc Rebillet shirt tho! Recently discovered this maniac, he's DOPE! :D

Normal people: *enjoys espresso with these machines* James: This is Krups

I am convinced he hates coffee.

When he bent the one machine I almost died!! 😂😂😂 Great review! Extremely helpful. Thank you.

What I have found most interesting since watching your video is that there is more to coffee than espresso. Its a precise thing and for good drinking a V60, Mocha Pot or similar will do nicely. I dont need a £500 bit of machinery to make a nice drink.

Thank you for the lesson, rather enjoyable, since I found myself confronted with the same question about two years ago. I did some research and went with a Gaggia Baby from the early nineties for 80 Euros. These are identical on the inside with the Gaggia Classic of the same time, but go for about half the price. There is no use pretending I know a lot about espresso, but I really like what I get from it and so do others, so much so, that my girlfriend who used to work as a barista got one for the same amount just a few month later and her friend, after drinking espresso at her place, bought one for herself as well. My point being, everybody I know who owns one, including myself, enjoys using it and the resulting espresso from it. I also bought a Gaggia MDF grinder for about the same amount. Also, if you want to, still every single part of the machine is available as a spare and the internet offers plenty of advice on fixing them. I like the idea of something lasting for a while and repairing instead of replacing. The Gaggia is already sought after, but prices for working units still seem decent, might go up though if more people pick up on them. Anyway, I appreciate the content, entertainment and knowledge you provide, please keep up the good work.

I have a similar machine, a Krups Il Primo circa 1994 with a “Made in Switzerland” stamp on the bottom. It’s true that every coffee puck has a blast mark from the water, but I’ve been using this for decades and I enjoy my cappuccinos far more at home than at most high-end coffee shops, which to me taste bitter and acidic. Maybe I’m a coffee wimp but to me it should taste bold, rich and full-bodied and not have me needing to add sugar to compensate for bitterness. With the exception of a few fine Portuguese restaurants, it seems no matter where I buy coffee from out, I need to temper it with sugar. Krups of course doesn’t make machines under $150 in Switzerland anymore, but maybe that is the secret in my case. Heck I don’t trust myself with a grinder so I have a subscription for Lavazza Qualita Rossa which I’ve enjoyed for ages now. To each his own I suppose! Thanks for your video, it was entertaining and educational. I don’t know how many more years I will get from my 27 year old machine so I will keep the deLonghi in mind... :D

Thanks for the review, this was very helpful.

Used to have an earlier version of that DeLonghi that I managed to find in a thrift store for €3,50. For that money it was easy to manage expectations and it served me well through uni. I do agree that the tamper is shite. These days I have a barista express, improving on absolutely everything the DeLonghi had to offer, but what I want to say that (as James points out) you could do a lot worse than the DeLonghi if your budget can't stretch.

I think at some point when James conducts a survey of some sort of what kind of contents his viewers enjoys the most from the channel, he will find that we all kinda enjoy seeing him struggle drinking terrible coffee or testing terrible coffee products. I don't even know why myself, maybe it's that frustrated response that he shows that's so genuine it's delightful.

"The whole machine actually just... Bends." That was beautiful, James.

The delonghi was the machine i came into coffee with. I modified the portafilter and used a basket from another delonghi model and managed good espresso from it before grabbing a Rancilio Silvia and Mazzer Mini Electronic. Now looking for another upgrade.

aside from the actual content of the video, my first thought was "if your local cafe is charging £100 for espresso, you should find a new cafe"

I love how much James hates everything in these cheap reviews. I'm going to keep watching in the vain hope that one day something surprises him

Wow love the Marc Rebillet shirt! He is a crazy but very good artist, i love his music. 😀 And really like the videos, just starting out on my coffee exploration and almost watched all of your videos already haha

I actually bought a delonghi because of this video a few years ago and it’s been great in my experience. It looks like that one but it’s metal on the front (ECP3630). Totally recommend it if you wanna get into making espresso without breaking the bank.

he would have a heart attack knowing i'm drinking instant coffee while watching this

As much as I love the educational and informative content (and find it really useful, more of these!), I'm really here for that "I can't believe I just drank that" expression

Great review for starters. In 2008 I received the Delonghi as a gift. That got me started. Some research in 2011 got me a Rancilio Silvia (second hand) with Nemox grinder. Only in 2019 I bought a first new one. Liked the Rancilio, but went for a Ascaso, although boilers might give you some extra. I appreciate the thermobloc.

The end extremely spoke to me Thanks

I had a somewhat older DeLonghi, but similar in build and style to the one listed here. The best thing I can say about it was that it was an interesting way to learn about espresso. And I did have a lot to learn about the basics, and about general machine maintenance. And I even jury-rigged an unpressurized portafilter, and got some decent shots out of it. But ultimately, when my skills were a bit better, I still couldn't get reliably good results, and it was difficult to clean and maintain. I switched to Aeropress for a long while. Then recently I got the Flair on a bit of a whim, and I've really enjoyed using it. It scratches the itch of "occasional espresso" without large investments of money, counter space, or maintenance. That's all to say that I tried, for a long time, to be content with a machine in this price range, but ultimately I recommend against it. I've also started recommending against home espresso in general, unless you're already pretty familiar with coffee and cheaper brewing methods. To make concentrated coffee, I think most people would be much better served by an Aeropress or a moka pot.

I finally got to a point where I wanted to try and start making my own coffee as opposed to Starbucks or 7-Eleven in between pay periods. With that said I don't think I know what a truly great espresso can be but I started on my journey. I purchased an "espresso machine" the Mr. Coffee Cafe Barista and then came across your videos (unfortunately lol). I hope eventually this machine makes one of you comparison/review videos so I can learn a thing or two that may help me. Anyway, keep up the awesome work James!

James: "I don't wanna put my hand on a warm-ish machine, to remove the portafilter." Also James: *Will put both his hands on the machine just to mock the quality of the plastic*

I'm loving your videos, James!

Why do I have a sinking suspicion that James Hoffman is actually jacked as hell

Omg im so happy to find this video before ever having to buy a cheap espresso machine. Thank you so much for the insightful reviews

Do you think using a puck screen or fliter paper might improve the distribution ?

There are some really interesting options on the Under £200 range espresso machines, with many options of makes like Gaccia and DeLonghi . That would be a great entry level option for a budget . And would make for a great video

Hey James, thank you for being such a fantastic resource for us! An idea I would really love to see is a review of some machines with grinders built in; I’m curious as to how quality they may be, something like the Breville barista express or DeLonghi La specialista. For me personally I’d rather one unit that I can work at than several machines, but not at the expense of quality

the marc rebillet shirt was unexpected and delightful

My home setup right now is a delonghi ec702 I got used for $35, a better tamper and a distributor, around $30 or $40, and an unpressurized basket for $15. I also cut the bottom off the portafilter. All in all I think it pulls decent enough shots for a little under $100 and it was fun assembling all the little accessories and diving into the hobby! I've pulled some horrendous shots learning how to dial in the grind settings and ratios I want, but I've also pulled some very tasty shots. And overall it's just been an absolute pleasure to fiddle with the process of prepping a puck and sip my morning coffee thinking about the flavors and the extraction and all the variables I can continue to play with. The EC702 is, however, I think over $200 new and very much not worth that price 😅 but I think buying used may really be the way to go for people who KNOW they're interested in the hobby of espresso

I got the Delhongi machine in this video as a gift from work several years ago and honestly it's served me well. It's a bit cheap, definitely noisy, and not super consistent but it does actually make espresso most of the time, which is about the best you can hope for at this price point.

Me before watching the video and recently got a delonghi espresso machine: nervously sweating edit: I'm glad the best one out of these was delonghi, I dont actually have that exact model and mine was a bit more expensive as a beginner to coffee I enjoy my first machine lol

5:20 Subtitles say "Craps" for the "Krups" 😅... Even KZfaq knows it is bad!

James, you are hilarious and very knowledgeable. I love your content. Please continue to make your videos!

I drink folgers coffee with a bunch of coffee mate and have never had an espresso... but I think your videos are making me see the error of my ways

Finally, he reviews something I can actually afford.

I've been waiting for the video on what machine is the bare minimum for a good home espresso experience. I'd love to see that!

Thanks, James. Have been looking at that "Retro" and DeLonghi machines. But now I will go for something else.

I’ve had the delonghi for over ten years and I’ve always liked it. Admittedly it’s only in the last two weeks (thanks to the KZfaq algorithm and yourself) I’ve realised I needed to up my coffee game so I’ve bought a distributor, a spring loaded tamper and a bottomless portafilter!