Coffee is life. The addiction is real for me. I currently drink pour-over coffee from a Chemex and have largely retired my trusty Rancilio Silvia after years and years of use. I drank 4-8 double espresso shots during a normal workday. A while back, I tired of espresso and shifted to a French Press and then to the Chemex. Both cost less than $50. I immediately had to watch when I saw that James Hoffmann was reviewing a $20,000 espresso machine.
Unsurprisingly, you get a good espresso machine for twenty thousand dollars. I have to believe that the beans one uses to make the coffee and the grind are more important than the machine. I'd like some side-by-side taste testing between this monster and a cheap but respected unit. I doubt any, but the most precious tastebuds can tell the difference.
Also — try running good beans in the cheap unit and Starbucks in the expensive. I bet everyone wants the Not-Starbucks!
