Good Thread!
I happen to be an avid espresso drinker, and average a double a day straight. I think first you must know what to look for in an espresso maker, in other words what constitues espresso. There is actually a body within Italy that controls the criteria for espresso. First off espresso is not just dark coffee beans, its a variety of things.
-Dark coffe beans
-a internal temp of 90C, give or take about 5 degrees (200F, give or take 9 degrees)
-900kpa (130 PSI) of brewing pressure pressure
-Optimally the entire brewing process should take about 20 seconds, however it wont happen unless your machine is professional, that being said, you WILL notice a differnce if you leave you espresso in the machine at temp withouting hitting the brew buton, it will taste bad
-You should drink the espresso within 2 minutes or it starts to degrade and taste very bad
Now Factor all of those things into a machine then look at the optional things:
-Automatic of manual pressure pump, the autos are quick and easy, but the Manuals look really cool and are definitly out there
-some machines will actually take whole beans and grind them, pack them and brew all automatically
-if you want a steam bit on the side for steaming milk, make sure the time for that to pressurize and heat up is as quick as possible or else it may cause issues when you try to brew espresso before or after
So, hope thats some good info, go to an italian store and get something from Italy, make sure whoever is selling it to you says ESSPRESSO no eXpresso, get good espresso beans/coffee, youll notice a diffference. And finally anyone who says those little tiny stove-top machines are espresso makers are wrong as outlined by the criteria above, those actually make whats known as moka.
Heres a link to an Austrian coffee site with some really cool recipies
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/countries/austria/coffee.htm
Hope this helps,
Jordan
I have the UK version of this:
