I understand the appeal to "hackers", but if you just want coffee, there are more, proven reliable, less expensive, options.
It has PID temperature control (typical) but _also_ pressure control. You could build a Gaggiuino for less money and the same effort, but you'd be left with a far lower quality piece of hardware as the Gaggia hardware has a shitty boiler, plumbing, group, and casing.
I'm not a huge fan of vibropumps either, but they're common for pressure profiling machines (up to $3-4K) because they're easier to control and compact. Moving to a rotary pump would cost ~$300 more at the component level, so while I'd a reasonable upgrade it would hurt the overall economics of the product to make that standard.
I still think it's expensive -- I personally would try to hit the market with a $999 kit cost if at all possible. The market for big spender espresso geeks without a machine is indeed small.
I’m not an enthusiast. I just want a high quality espresso machine that makes consistently good espresso shots. I’m never going to be someone who wants to spend 15-30 minutes on creating a shot of espresso.
I’m bewildered that a machine that makes hot water push at high pressure through a puck of grounds costs more than a high-end computer.
What do people buy who don’t decant the smell of their own farts who just want an espresso machine?
What’s the ATH-M50 or the IBM Model M of espresso machines?
But what I didn’t realize is that espresso machines, much like other consumer hobbies was already a fairly expensive area to get invested. You get the machine but then you need a grinder, a milk steaming container, the beans, the tamper, the portafilter mesh screen, a deeper basket, bottomless portafilter, the “better” steamer tip for the wand... On and on you can invest money in this consumer hobby, middle man cornered market. Do you have the special tool to loosen your grounds if you didn’t tamp correctly? You’ll use it once or twice before just dumping out the grounds instead.
I have definitely reached my financial limit on the coffee experience. And most of the extra crap I bought bundled. At some point if I continue investing, I would not be saving money from buying a $3 cup of coffee from the cafe and the awkward barista waiting for me to tap the tip screen.
When I sell I’ll probably just buy a moka pot and milk steamer of some sort instead.
I am Italian, so coffee is almost a religion for us
The brass in most high end heads slowly leaches lead into the boiler water. Arguably, this doesn’t matter at a coffee shop, since the boiler turns over the water in a few hours. At home, it takes a month or so.
Anyway, I settled on a Flair Classic lever machine (one moving part, all stainless steel and silicone gasket on the water contact path), and previously, a PID kettle.
It turns out that water boils at espresso temperature at ~ 2000 ft, so when the PID kettle died, I replaced it with an antique enameled cast iron kettle (my induction range heats it up ridiculously fast).
I boil the stainless espresso machine head in the kettle with the espresso water, which achieves the same thing as continuously circulating hot boiler water through it in commercial espresso machines.
I put the money I saved on the machine into a small commercial-grade burr grinder (like for the decaf beans at a coffee shop).
I haven’t noticed any consistency issues vs. a $3500 machine at work. That thing can crank out four espressos in parallel all day long, but I don’t need that at home.
Anyway, I really like my Flair. It is fun to press the thing manually. And it is nice to have espresso still during a power outage (as long as I can get ground beans and fire).
I think this is a different definition of “do it yourself” though, hahaha.
That said, not everyone is looking for a machining project, but this is basically "some assembly required" not really my flavor of "DIY".
Having an open firmware appliance is cool. But latching that technology onto an espresso machine, something that’s existed for hundreds of years is ridiculous.
This device is for tech yuppies. Guys in the Bay Area who can boast about how their espresso was made open source.
Although now that I look a little more, according to the quick start guide, wifi isn't yet enabled in the software, although I imagine that means they have plans to. Plus of course, with open source software, I guess it wouldn't be too hard to do yourself.
I like this thing! Would love to see James Hoffman review it
Dont understand me wrong, love the idea, but selling it for this price is just crazy.
Consumers should be more aware that if they can afford something, this doesnt mean it is worth buying it.
I tend to use Nespresso, especially now that the cups are simply available in the shop (and cheap aftermarket options), it's pretty perfect.
I know the manual process is more environmentally friendly but when I wake up in the morning I have no headspace for fussing with coffee grinds. I just need good coffee right away. And I don't even own a car or anything nor have kids so my footprint is pretty low.
I've been dailying a Breville dual boiler since 2019, and I've tried a few other machines at coworking spaces and friends' places over the years. For me, as long as I can hit 9 bars with a decent puck extraction, the machine itself doesn’t make a huge difference in flavor. The challenge is finding the right beans, and the fine-tuning through the grinder and puck prep.
It's not that my machine struggles to push water through consistently, it's that I struggle to nail the grind size, achieve even particle distribution, and tamp evenly. Mornings especially—I just don’t have steady hands right after waking up. Funny enough, my best shots are usually in the afternoon. Sadly I try to avoid drinking coffee past noon, so it’s often for someone else, and I just take a tax with a tasting spoon.
The way I see it, upgrading the machine helps with drinks per hour throughput, not single shot quality. I think that's also why the at-home coffee community is more into things like the niche grinder and blind shaker.
Had a gaggia classic for a couple of years and I would never go back to single boiler.
Sidetrack: the website mentions "driving espresso innovation forwards". Is this a thing? I love coffee but mostly just use a french press or a moka pot (which are more "great old school tech" than "innovation")
Why even use any software, why can't it be fully analog manual control?
Gaggiuino Gen 3 is free to use and will offer free software updates, but the source code is no longer available.
This decision was made to maintain high standards for the hardware required for the project and prevent individuals from fracturing the community with subpar, non-standard components and processes that were untenable for Gaggiuino’s community-driven support to accommodate.
Sincerely, *The GAGGIUINO Team
My thinking is that this machine appeals mostly to people who already has an espresso machine. It's not particularly technologically advanced. It's a single boiler, an E61 group and a vibratory pump. If you're buying this machine, you're probably replacing a machine at a similar technology level, and that's not really a sustainable choice.
A well maintained espresso machine has a lifespan in the range of decades. Many recent innovations in espresso machines is mostly controllers, sensors and actuators. Also better pumps. These are all things that can easily be retrofitted to an older espresso machine.
There has been innovation in other areas not easily retrofittable (saturated groups, dual boilers instead of heat-exchangers, to name a few), but this machine doesn't really feature any of those.
I strongly believe that in this particular demographic, it's a much better (more sustainable, cheaper and all around more fun) idea to retrofit new and advanced parts to the espresso machine they presumably already have, than to buy a whole new machine. We don't need old espresso machines on landfills.
On the off chance that a prospective buyer doesn't already have a similar espresso machine, this isn't too bad of a choice, and the price is decent, but on the other hand, there are a lot of used machines on the market that are looking for a new owner and can be upgraded.