[shmad]

Originally Posted by usshelena725

Okay - so all this reading has me pondering.

Wife and I both love coffee, but are not insane about it. Currently we use a cheap Mr. Coffee and bags of pre-grind Starbucks Pikes Place. This has worked well and the coffee is good. Not great, but good.

In my old office, we had a Nespresso Venturoline. My God, that coffee was amazing. But expensive!

So bear in mind that my wife and I are both CPA's and rather careful with out money, but will spend if it makes sense.

Price per cup of the starbucks coffee in our Mr Coffee is about $0.24 per cup. Nespresso works out to $1.10 per cup. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that comes out to about $60.00 per month additional. FV of that over 20 years invested conservatively comes out to about $58,000.

So - how much better is it? Are these fancy coffee's worth 4 or 5 times more than basic Starbucks?

Honestly - what is the opinion, cause we do enjoy our coffee, and might make the jump if it really is that much better.

so using your own grounds is always cheaper. in my Keurig I had a refillable pod that i put my own coffee in. I found this on Amazon for the Nespresso
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZWHAKK..._QE0EBbW306TFB
I would pay for their espresso pods bc I drink expresso infrequently but coffee daily.
also the Nespresso machines are on sale now so I might do that for the time being. when I have space I'll go for the bigger better machines

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

Originally Posted by usshelena725

Okay - so all this reading has me pondering.

Wife and I both love coffee, but are not insane about it. Currently we use a cheap Mr. Coffee and bags of pre-grind Starbucks Pikes Place. This has worked well and the coffee is good. Not great, but good.

In my old office, we had a Nespresso Venturoline. My God, that coffee was amazing. But expensive!

So bear in mind that my wife and I are both CPA's and rather careful with out money, but will spend if it makes sense.

Price per cup of the starbucks coffee in our Mr Coffee is about $0.24 per cup. Nespresso works out to $1.10 per cup. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that comes out to about $60.00 per month additional. FV of that over 20 years invested conservatively comes out to about $58,000.

So - how much better is it? Are these fancy coffee's worth 4 or 5 times more than basic Starbucks?

Honestly - what is the opinion, cause we do enjoy our coffee, and might make the jump if it really is that much better.

Well if you're getting into the economics of this you can forget about pods and K Cups. For reference The Kicking Horse "Kick Ass Dark" beans I buy for $23.37/2.2 lb bag equates to $1.827 per pot the way I brew it.

[dzvero]

Originally Posted by Drop the hammer

I’ve been down the great coffee road for a long time. If 300 US is your budget buy a used breville espresso machine and a burr grinder. Brevilles can be found in nearly un-used condition (wedding gift that was never used) and they are cheap to run and maintain and they can produce excellent espresso with some tuning (Americanos and lattes). Got my first one for 100.00 and bought a simple burr grinder at a kitchen store for 80.00 and I was making excellent lattes with some YouTubing and a week of practise. Order some beans from cat and cradle mail order and be done.
I’ve since moved to a couple different machines and now onto a breville oracle. But that first used machine I got sure made great coffee!

We bought breville for work . Due to the limited space and budget we got this one https://www.breville.com/us/en/produ...so/bes870.html It makes decent coffee and if yoi are real espresso drinker you wont drink NONspresso or other cups

[infinitekidM2C]

i can't believe people use those keurig things, never had a decent cup of coffee from them. i got a bialletti thing from target for cheap and it makes good coffee.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by The Reverend

Go Italian traditional. The Bialleti stove top coffee maker is the way to go. Strong, hot coffee the way God intended. I get the coffee ground at our local coffee roaster for a "stove top" and it's good to go. I'll never go back to a traditional drip, Keurig, Nespresso or other contraption again. Plus, you can take it camping!

It's what my aunt and uncle have when we go over...cooked right on the wood burning stove.

Myself - Breville BES840xl Done my own grinds...but actually prefer Lavazza store bought

[Fender150]

I echo what some of the guys here said about keurig, experienced different machines and a bunch of kcups, never had a good one!
Went back to a $30 mr coffee, and experimenting with different ground bean brands, much better imo

[bosstones]

I'm not a coffee person but the wife is. Her current setup is the Rancilio 'Rocky' burr grinder I got her a few years back + a Chemex.

[positiveions]

:Keurig. I should have taken my 10lbs sledgehammer and destroyed that thing.
Bought a cuisinart: grinds and brew coffee. Best coffee maker I ever owned.

[wrickem]

I can't believe that only a few said Technivorm Moccamaster. It's + $9 above your budget , but it'll be $9 well spent. Looks great on the counter, easy to use even before you've had coffee, and without a doubt, makes the best coffee out of all of the coffee makers we've ever had (and we've sure had a lot!). We ripped out our expensive built in Miele coffee maker, replaced it with this and never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/Technivorm-Mo...camaster&psc=1

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by usshelena725

Okay - so all this reading has me pondering.

Wife and I both love coffee, but are not insane about it. Currently we use a cheap Mr. Coffee and bags of pre-grind Starbucks Pikes Place. This has worked well and the coffee is good. Not great, but good.

In my old office, we had a Nespresso Venturoline. My God, that coffee was amazing. But expensive!

So bear in mind that my wife and I are both CPA's and rather careful with out money, but will spend if it makes sense.

Price per cup of the starbucks coffee in our Mr Coffee is about $0.24 per cup. Nespresso works out to $1.10 per cup. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that comes out to about $60.00 per month additional. FV of that over 20 years invested conservatively comes out to about $58,000.

So - how much better is it? Are these fancy coffee's worth 4 or 5 times more than basic Starbucks?

Honestly - what is the opinion, cause we do enjoy our coffee, and might make the jump if it really is that much better.

Forget Nespresso, it's way too expensive.

Comparing Pike Place to a properly fresh ground and pressure released coffee with a half inch of crema from the fresh beans is a tad ... well ... it's just not right.

Buy the Breville, we make about 10 double coffees per week and a bag lasts about a month, so 40 doubles or 80 singles at $11 bag on sale for outstanding Kicking Horse Beans.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

It's what my aunt and uncle have when we go over...cooked right on the wood burning stove.

Coffee this way is too thin and no crema.

[saeyedoc]

Originally Posted by shmad

so using your own grounds is always cheaper. in my Keurig I had a refillable pod that i put my own coffee in. I found this on Amazon for the Nespresso
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MZWHAKK..._QE0EBbW306TFB
I would pay for their espresso pods bc I drink expresso infrequently but coffee daily.
also the Nespresso machines are on sale now so I might do that for the time being. when I have space I'll go for the bigger better machines

They won't work for the Vertuoline because of the barcode that tells it how much water to use.

[a4nut]

Originally Posted by wrickem

I can't believe that only a few said Technivorm Moccamaster. It's + $9 above your budget , but it'll be $9 well spent. Looks great on the counter, easy to use even before you've had coffee, and without a doubt, makes the best coffee out of all of the coffee makers we've ever had (and we've sure had a lot!). We ripped out our expensive built in Miele coffee maker, replaced it with this and never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/Technivorm-Mo...camaster&psc=1

This. Best there is. Only way to improve is to start roasting your own beans.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by SFCM3

you guys have alotta time on your hands or something... I have had my Keurig for about 6 years, bought the most expensive one they had in the store, and it still works great. Fast, easy, no clean up. Just have to buy the good K-cups.

It's really not a lot of extra time. I push the grind bucket forward and it auto grinds, I tamper and insert then hold the pressure button.

Only extra steps from keurig is a quick tamper and a quick rinse of the bucket. It's a myth that it is time consuming. it's also far better coffee at half the price.

[saeyedoc]

Originally Posted by a4nut

This. Best there is. Only way to improve is to start roasting your own beans.

Best drip coffeemaker for sure. I still prefer either a french press, like the Espro which has double filters, or for one cup, the Clever coffee maker, which is like a Melitta filter with a stopper. Either way, you need a good grinder.

[shmad]

Originally Posted by saeyedoc

They won't work for the Vertuoline because of the barcode that tells it how much water to use.

damn.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by wrickem

I can't believe that only a few said Technivorm Moccamaster. It's + $9 above your budget , but it'll be $9 well spent. Looks great on the counter, easy to use even before you've had coffee, and without a doubt, makes the best coffee out of all of the coffee makers we've ever had (and we've sure had a lot!). We ripped out our expensive built in Miele coffee maker, replaced it with this and never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/Technivorm-Mo...camaster&psc=1

That's because it's just a glorified drip machine.

There's not the same depth and as has been said before, no crema.

[saeyedoc]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

That's because it's just a glorified drip machine.

There's not the same depth and as has been said before, no crema.

It's not even glorified, just a well built drip that gets the temperature right.

[Kid Eh]

As many have mentioned the most important part of making a good espresso is the grinder. Dialing in the perfect grind for a specific bean is key. My set up is pretty simple and cheap.

Manual Grinder:
http://www.madebyknock.com/handgrind-grinders.html

Gaggia Classic (modified)
https://www.amazon.com/Gaggia-Semi-A.../dp/B0001KOA4Q

One day I hope to own a machine from this line.
http://www.victoriaarduino.com/

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

Originally Posted by wrickem

I can't believe that only a few said Technivorm Moccamaster. It's + $9 above your budget , but it'll be $9 well spent. Looks great on the counter, easy to use even before you've had coffee, and without a doubt, makes the best coffee out of all of the coffee makers we've ever had (and we've sure had a lot!). We ripped out our expensive built in Miele coffee maker, replaced it with this and never looked back.

https://www.amazon.com/Technivorm-Mo...ster&psc=1

Agreed. I prefer the Moccamaster KBT 79112 because it forgoes the hot plate for a thermal carafe. Either is a gem... Just depends on your pace of consumption!

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

That's because it's just a glorified drip machine.

There's not the same depth and as has been said before, no crema.

Yes, because that is what it is, but about the best one I've found and could recommend...the OP asked about coffee...regular coffee but espresso would be "a plus". If they're like most people, they probably don't want espresso all of the time. I've got a 15 bar espresso machine too, but can't even imagine only drinking that all of the time or playing around with that in the morning while trying to get out the door for work!

[Red Bread]

Massdrop and Williams Sonoma frequently have Technivorms on sale.

They're great for the ease of use, I'd never use one over a pour over, but I buy good beans and use a great grinder, unlike some of you heathens.