Hello coffee lovers, Im brewing my coffee in moka pot 
for 10 years already. Im dreaming coffee machine with bean grinder after I tried delonghi magnifica, but didnt have room for one. Soon Im moving to a new place where I will have more space so Im finally buying coffee machine.
Me and my lady drink espresso multiple times a day and we dont need best cappucchino maker, but doesnt hurt to have for friends.
I never owned one so I was looking at models simmilar to one I tried:
- 22.112.B
- 22.115.B
- 21.117.B
- 21.110.B
They are all about the same price and description. Are they any different?
Also, is there anything else you would recommend instead?
Thx
Thanks so much for the detailed answer! I think a semiauto would be a good fit for me and the Bambino does look quite nice :) How big is the effect of freshly ground vs preground beans? I have no grinder at the moment, but am not opposed to getting a dedicated one. However, if I were to say go to my local coffee roastery and buy some fresh ground beans, would I be missing out on the experience?
I think the Bambino fits a lot into a pretty compact machine, making it great if you have limited space. As far as preground vs. fresh beans, I really think that you’ll be alright with just preground as long as you drink it fast enough. Especially if space is a concern, since an electric grinder takes up a pretty large amount of space. I’d say that if you’re comfortable going through the bag of beans in about a week, getting them preground at the shop is a totally fine option until you decide you want/need a grinder. This will vary based on your preferred roast level (darker roasts will offgas more quickly, which means their flavor will peak sooner, but also stale more quickly), but as long as you store it in an airtight container I’m sure this won’t have too much of an impact.
There is one excellent case for preground that might actually make the experience better: the quality of the grinder at the coffee shop. Even a basic shop should have a Mazzer Super Jolly, and a nice third-wave shop in the area will have a grinder that costs thousands. If you go through the coffee fast enough, these grinders will outperform any entry level grinder when it comes to espresso. You would only be missing out on the experience of dialing in a coffee, but I don’t think that’s necessarily worth the money it’d cost to buy a grinder. I’d explore the free option first, but once again I’d be more than happy to make some grinder recommendations if you’d like.
Great! That is sort of what I had hoped you would say. Having the option to start without taking grinders into consideration makes everything a little easier. However, since you are now officially my coffee guru, if you have any tips for grinders I would welcome them as well. One thing I am a little unsure of is what ranges of fine to coarse it is possible to get in a single grinder, without affecting the overall quality of an espresso grind in particular. If I could have a bag of beans that I could grind appropriate for filter, french press and espresso at the same time, that would be really neat.
Many grinders can go from extremely coarse to extremely fine, but the important mark of an espresso capable grinder is the ability to make miniscule adjustments to the grind size. The difference in grind size between a perfectly extracted shot and a passable one is pretty marginal. This is not the case for filter and french press coffee, where there’s not as much need for fine adjustments. You might also find that what you prefer in a grind profile for an espresso is different from what you’d like in a filter coffee. People who prefer traditional espresso with a silky texture and stronger mouthfeel to it will probably like burrs that produce more fines, which give the shot more body. In filter coffee though, this will just lead to a muddy, overextracted brew. This difference is so stark that some people buy aftermarket burrs to swap out for their preferred brew method. A company called Niche recently released a grinder called the Niche Duo that has an almost hotswapping system for the grinder to make this process easier. You probably won’t find an electric grinder capable of doing both espresso and filter for under a thousand without some work on your part.
The alternative though is to use hand grinders. There are multiple premium hand grinders that produce amazing coffee for much cheaper than their electric counterparts. Relatively upstart brands like 1zpresso have multiple different hand grinders targeted at specific brew methods, but the 1zpresso JX Pro is really capable of doing both brew methods to a surprisingly good degree. There’s also established titans like the Comandante, which is featured in many barista competitions. Hand grinding for espresso isn’t too hard, but it will definitely work out your forearms, and I wouldn’t really recommend it for people who have arm/wrist issues. I can grind enough for my morning shot in about 30 seconds.
If you really wanted to get a grinder, I would focus on just getting one for now, and potentially picking up another to supplement the original grinder later. I went with a hand grinder to start with, but now I use both a hand grinder and an electric grinder. I hand grind for espresso, since I pull fewer espresso shots and have an espresso-focused hand grinder, and I use my electric grinder for filter brews. It was just a bit of a pain to swap back between grind settings for espresso and filter, especially when espresso requires such careful adjustments to it. This was really just a quick rundown on grinders, and was by no means exhaustive. If you’re interested in going down the rabbit hole, Lance Hedrick on YouTube has numerous videos on the topic of hand grinders, and is far more knowledgeable about the topic than I could ever be. His full reviews are lengthy and nerdy deep dives, but it’s useful to have this repository before spending money.
I’ve watched through a few of his videos and they seem like a good resource for deep dives. Will definitively keep watching while pondering some of these questions. Thanks so much for all the tips and guidance! :)
Absolutely! Always happy to help someone get into the hobby :) feel free to reach out anytime