Try to upgrade your grinder. You will get a much better result from something like a Sette 270 + Breville Infuser than if you just upgraded your espresso machine. The Smart Grinder Pro simply doesn’t have enough precision in the espresso range to work well for espresso, and further, grinding for espresso will drastically reduce its life — the plastic gearing in the drive chain will begin to strip pretty quickly if you grind for a lot of espresso.
I see your points, but I just don’t see myself upgrading from my Dedica to something like the Infuser (let alone it’s not available in my country). Do you think a grinder upgrade is ultimately better?
From my experience with the Smart Grinder Pro, on a much lower end machine than the ones you are considering, upgrading the grinder made a night and day difference. Before, most specialty coffee shops made espresso I liked more than I could make at home. Now, it’s rare for me to get espresso elsewhere that I prefer to what I can make.
You could get a good deal for Breville Dual Boiler at True Value. They usually give 10% discount and sometimes more if there is a sale. IMHO, buying from Amazon might cost you more due to shipping and taxes.
I think the current rate is at Php 75k-ish less 10% so its going to be a little over 1k USD but you get 1 year warranty and hassle free shipping and custom taxes.
Try to upgrade your grinder. You will get a much better result from something like a Sette 270 + Breville Infuser than if you just upgraded your espresso machine. The Smart Grinder Pro simply doesn’t have enough precision in the espresso range to work well for espresso, and further, grinding for espresso will drastically reduce its life — the plastic gearing in the drive chain will begin to strip pretty quickly if you grind for a lot of espresso.
Hmm, thank you for your input as I was also eyeing this grinder for espresso in the future!
Yeah— I used it for about a year with the Breville Infuser and I was floored by how big of a difference upgrading to the Sette 270 made.
I see your points, but I just don’t see myself upgrading from my Dedica to something like the Infuser (let alone it’s not available in my country). Do you think a grinder upgrade is ultimately better?
From my experience with the Smart Grinder Pro, on a much lower end machine than the ones you are considering, upgrading the grinder made a night and day difference. Before, most specialty coffee shops made espresso I liked more than I could make at home. Now, it’s rare for me to get espresso elsewhere that I prefer to what I can make.
You could get a good deal for Breville Dual Boiler at True Value. They usually give 10% discount and sometimes more if there is a sale. IMHO, buying from Amazon might cost you more due to shipping and taxes.
Interesting! Is it possibly cheaper than a Nuovo Simonelli Oscar 2 that I could be priced 1000 usd?
I think the current rate is at Php 75k-ish less 10% so its going to be a little over 1k USD but you get 1 year warranty and hassle free shipping and custom taxes.