My motto is, "nothing happens before coffee & durn near nothing happens after coffee" - I take it seriously - but I admit I'm not familiar with any of these new gadgets. I watched a few YouTube demos - seems complicated. Does it deliver a measurably better shot than the old standby?
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Short answer is, yes, it does produce a better shot.
However, America, IMO, has a twisted understanding of Italian coffee.
The picture you posted is called "la caffettierra" in Italian homes and that's what Italians use to make "a coffee" drunk from a small cup (demitasse) and also to make cappuccinos (breakfast only) and macchiatos (up to 11:00am).
Expensive espresso machines are not the rule in Italian homes.
When Italians go out for "a coffee", they do expect to get a heavier, crema-laden shot of coffee (what we call espresso) from a machine as the ordered drink or as the base of a cappuccino or macchiato. Still a small quantity and still from a demitasse although perhaps a plastic, disposable demitasse depending on the nature of the coffeeshop or restaurant.
Starbucks, the evil empire and Wal-Mart of coffee, has distorted America's understanding of Italian home coffee and purchased coffee with the introduction of gluttonous proportions and all variety of non-sensical flavor combinations.
Tell an Italian truck driver he has to forego a morning coffee from a simple stovetop caffettierra and diddle around instead with grinding his beans and that he must only use some little doo-dad with a NO2 cartridge in it and you're likely to learn about Italian mood swings and gestures. Serve an Italian after lunch a venti soy vanilla cappuccino with a single pump of chocolate, whipped cream and some $&@)/;-( sprinkles on top and you're also likely to cross things up.
While I share in American enthusiasm for café style coffee at home and on the road, I never lose sight of the fact that a coffee produced from a stovetop caffettierra is as authentic as a coffee produced from an expensive, commerical machine.
One interesting way Italians produce crema from a caffettierra just like you posted above is to pour the first few drops of espresso into a demitasse and mix sugar into that and beat it into a loose paste which produces a sort of crema. Once the caffettierra finishes producing the coffee, it's poured into demitasse cups and a small layer of "crema" is spooned on top of the coffee. All Italians I've been around used pre-ground coffee and some who had electric machines even used (gasp) pods.
Anyways, don't get hung up on all the perceived or purported mandatory equipment and techniques....what you're getting out of that caffettierra with some pre-ground coffee (roast and grind ARE important) is as authentic as a coffee produced from an $18,000 Faema/Rancilio/Elektra/Simonelli 6 grouphead machine. The quality of the coffee is different but both are the real deal.
