espresso machine recommendations?

[Pursuivant]

whats wrong with a kettle and some fish scales and salt to catch the suds, and then drinking it proper, eh?

[AnnikaL]

you're too sophisticated...

[Upphew]

I tasted the expresso and it was quite good, nice mousse on top.

Argh...
<coffeesnob>
It's espresso and crema, not expresso and mousse...
</coffeesnob>

[Rosamunda]

I tasted the expresso and it was quite good, nice mousse on top.

Argh...
<coffeesnob>
It's espresso and crema, not expresso and mousse...
</coffeesnob>

I was talking about "French" coffee - not Italian Expresso et mousse....
I doubt if the Italian purists would use Nescafé capsules to make their "espresso" anyway

[Cloudberry]

The Baby Gaggia makes a superb espresso, but with several possible drawbacks:

1) I don't know if you can get them in Finland
2) it is expensive (worth the cost if you're a coffee snob, though)
3) You have to learn the art of tamping and it's best to have a proper grinder and to grind fresh from the freezer - but then you start worrying that your beans haven't been kept fresh in the supermarket so you order online from a spedcialist company that promise to deliver them almost as though they were freshly roasted that same hour, and then you start to worry about the best 'grind' and endlessly adjust the grinder, wasting loads of expensive coffee in the process... then you start to obsess about modifying your machine so that the hot water is the EXACT right temperature... then you worry that you're not cleaning the machine properly and implement a ten minute cleaning regimen... then you get so possessive you won't let anyone else use it becase they are doing it WRONG... and actually, you can't really be bothered to use it anymore yourself because it is complicated and time consuming and you go back to the stove top coffee pot with filter on top...

Or at least this is what happened when my OH bought a Baby Gaggia

If you're not an obsessive like him, they are really very good. I just wish I was allowed to use it.........

The Baby Gaggia Twin Espresso Machine looks great. So it takes both your own ground coffee AND the pods?

PS If you want, I can take your complicated and time consuming machine off your hands