[carlob]

> - non-techy enough to not have built a crazy $10k coffee-brewing setup at home

I have an espresso maker (admittedly much much cheaper than that) at home, but I still drink coffee out throughout the day.

Though I also must admit to the fact that I leave in Rome where an espresso is 70-90 cents and consistently good.

[adambenayoun]

I own 3 espresso machines and have access to 5 no matter where I am (Splitting my time between Tel Aviv and the bay area) and I still drink coffee outside.

[theorique]

I own 3 espresso machines and have access to 5 no matter where I am

What's your average resting heart rate? :)

[vijucat]

Ha, I was thinking of the same thing. Who knows, maybe he's built for this kind of thing. On that note : if he can get a good night's sleep after all that caffeine, then I envy this man's constitution, which can absorb so much caffeine and still not reel from it! Poor me has to strictly follow a no-caffeine after 6 p.m. rule if I have to get any sleep. Actually, come to think of it, the only time I can handle coffee gracefully is right after I wake up from sleep.

[alexkus]

Can't put in words how much better I sleep after moving to decaffeinated coffee.

I do like a nice coffee but I'm content with instant[1] decaf (and even if I have 10 cups a day it's not more caffeine than the equivalent of a single cup of caffeinated coffee).

Not spending £3/$5 a day on coffee helps too. It means I'll pay my mortgage off 2 years early.

1. A lot more prevalent here in the UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-26869244

[carlob]

I find it's really hard to make a homemade espresso that comes close to the one you get from a café around here. But then again maybe I should invest 10k on a new machine (and then 20k to renovate my kitchen to fit it in).

[yhager]

You can get a pretty good quality espresso with a fairly cheap setup.

To me, the most important thing is the freshness of the roast, then the quality of the grinder, and and actual espresso machine comes third.

I have a $800 setup (machine + grinder), and I roast my own beans, on an iron skillet, once a week.

It's pretty difficult to find anything outside on par with the quality I can get at home (most of the time..)

[carlob]

> It's pretty difficult to find anything outside on par with the quality I can get at home (most of the time..)

It really depends on where you are. I find that espresso in the gourmet cafés in large American cities I tried is mostly on par or slightly worse than the average espresso in Rome. The grains and the roast can be pretty good, but it's often brewed slightly long for my taste.

Espresso here is so dense it's almost solid and that's the thing I can't reproduce at home.

[stephen_g]

I got mine second hand (insolvency auction) for $900 for a machine that would have cost $6,000 when it was new a couple of years ago, and later I spent $400 on a grinder that goes for $1200 new. Both in good working order, apart from having to replace the hopper on the grinder ($70 for a piece of plastic was annoying).

Totally worth it though. The grinder (and coffee beans - buy them no later than a week after roast) are the most important part really.

[iterationx]

I'm in the market for espresso machines, what kind should I buy? Looking to spend no more than $2k.