Me too. Besides, I have just enough space for my AeroPress. Gettin a machine of any type would make it difficult for me to do other things in my small kitchen.

Besides, I’m not entirely sure I would appreciate the flavors I can get out of coffee using an espresso machine. I’ve tried a bunch of different drinks at several cafes and I just don’t see the value in owning a machine like that. AP coffee is just fine or even really good as long as you use the right type of beans.

Aww cmon, you might be able to find a used flair lever machine for under $100 like I did, and then it's game over

Have you reached the gaiwan stage already?

I agree but disagree on it being expensive.

I have a temp controlled kettle that only cost like $40, some really nice french presses from thrift stores, and a couple really nice pots ranging from iron to ceramic but they were a one time cost about 10 years ago.

You can cold brew tea in a big mason jar and strain with a dollar store strainer even.

The scale for weighing was expensive but is super useful in a kitchen anyways.

So the expensive part of Tea is mostly just the tea but that varies all over and is down to taste preferences and marketing. And per glass is pretty negligible in cost. As long as you aren't buying like the aged fermented monkey picked stuff.

Tea is a lot about patience and remembering organization of steps to get it perfect and that can be prohibitive but not cost if you don't want it to be.

Even low-grade Dragonwell is eyeopeningly expensive. And nothing tastes quite like it.

It tastes a ground up $20 bill soaked in hot water ;)

I genuinely almost did!

Not branched out into different brewing methods yet though. I've already claimed enough kitchen surface space, my GF will kill me!

Not op, but ours is a Lelit Elizabeth dual boiler. Not cheap but I expect it to last like our Gaggia Espresso Deluxe did, about 15 years. I could've gotten away with a single boiler, truth be told but the ability to preinfuse (in a somewhat proper way) depends on it. Non negotiable was the PID temp control. Timed shots is nice to have.

But really I could've spent more on the grinder and less on the machine. The grinder I first got wasn't up to the task of espresso. Didn't have the range of settings and the grind quality was subpar. Had to get one a year later (grr) and settled on the Eureka Mignon Silencio. The flavor profile is so much clearer (this was obvious from the first shot I made with it) due to grind quality and it has stepless adjustment. So I can dial in the shot pretty well. Timed grind is nice too.

But damn what a lot of money for all this. Still worth it. It's not much over 10-15 y. And it pays for itself quickly. I can have an espresso drink every day that is far better than many places offer and it costs significantly less even for the super expensive, fancy beans.

Sage Barista Pro. Definitely an entry level machine, but I'm very happy with it... I'm not invested enough to go for a dual boiler or higher end machine quite yet - They start to get very big and very expensive very quickly, and I have limited space.

I have an ECM Classika. Though when I get a house I want to replace it with a Decent :x

I would say budget restaurant class?

That is the next level in this hobby.

If you don't want to splash out too much to start with, I can highly recommend the Beko bean to cup machine for about 250. I've had mine three years now and it produces better coffee than any shop

Sage Barista Pro. Really happy with it to be fair.

It goes on sale fairly often so you could save £100 or more on the price I quoted.

I'm still learning myself, but it's potentially because the machines are already warmed up and the grinder is "dialled in" for the beans on offer. One very important aspect (among other things such as temperature, pressure etc) with espresso is the grind size, which will need adjusting between different bean types and roasts. Everything else being equal, a grind that's too coarse will let the water through too quickly and give you an under-extracted "sour" tasting coffee, whereas too fine and the water moves too slowly and you end up overextracting (and/or choking the machine) and it gets very astringent and bitter tasting; not pleasant at all.

Alternatively, they could be using a pressurised portafilter, which give much more consistent results, but do take away some control and limit the end result. If it's a high end machine though it's probably an unpressured filter basket.

Edit: Also the roast makes a big difference to how difficult it is to pull a good tasting espresso. Many restaurants/ chains use fairly dark roasted beans which are generally a lot more forgiving than lighter roasts. At least that's been my experience.

I might not be able to tolerate the type of coffee that happens to be available to me at some random gas station or cafe along the way. That hasn’t been a problem for me yet, but how about you?

Not really been an issue for me either. I'd say I notice more now when a coffee is slightly under/over extracted, but I'd probably have noticed it tasted 'weird" before and just not known what was wrong. That said, I've found it to be very rare. A lot of places just use quite forgiving dark roasts that are a LOT easier to make than more lightly roasted beans.

I do enjoy my tea.. I think it might be my next rabbit hole to go down. I just got back from a business trip to China, and was gifted a few different black and green teas, loose and bagged. Really enjoying them so far.

I really want one of their...uh... Tea tables(?), which has a tap and temperature controlled kettle and drain built in. I'd drink so much tea...