Breville Bambino Plus vs Eureka Mignon Specialita

Personally, I actually do like this machine for who it's targeted for. What I will do though is just update the portal filter to a Pasado Portafilter ...

I do enjoy the flavors i get out of this grind and am pleased with it. It very heavy with quality construction from Italy and should last a long time.

But I *am* buying a Breville Infuser, from another vendor. There's really nothing comparable, feature-wise, in this price range (or the next range up; the Infuser is more expensive by about $80 or so, and is more focused on tweaking the temperature and pressure variables). And let's be real - if this wasn't a device designed for the precision extraction of an addictive stimulant from a bean, I wouldn't be nearly this invested in getting it right, and I certainly wouldn't be typing up several hundred words' worth of review at 12:30AM, or incrementally inching my way towards some thousand-dollar monstrosity that looks like a chromed section of a WWII battleship's engine room. Don't do school, kids, stay in drugs

First espresso setup was a Gaggia Classic and Rancillo Rocky. Upgraded and tweaked it as far as I feel like it could go before upgrading to the Decent DE1+ and Eureka Specialita.

Here's what the happened with the Breville Bambino. My friend didn't have the right kind of coffee grinder for whole beans, so she bought a few ounces of beans at a Peet's Coffee and asked the barista to grind them to the consistency appropriate for making espresso. She brought it home, and we tried it with the Bambino and---nothing, almost no coffee came out, and what did tasted terrible. Even after making sure NOT to tamp down the coffee in the filter with too much pressure, the Bambino proved INCAPABLE OF 'EXPRESSING' A SINGLE SHOT OF ESPRESSO, GROUND TO ESPRESSO MAKING CONSISTENCY AT A PEET's COFFEE coffee bean seller

Found a local barely used Eureka Mignon Specialita for $250, super excited to upgrade from my hand-grinder Lido E. I loved my hand grinder for the last two years, but it's finally time to move on from hand grinding over 60g of beans every day.

all i mean to say is, the breville bambino is underpowered and that single boiler machines will allow you to grind finer and extract more flavor. so i do think you will notice a difference if you go to a more expensive machine.

I just pulled my first shot with Eureka Mignon Specialita + Gaggia Pro Classic after using shitty grinder for a while, and IT’S EYE OPENING. I’m very far away from sophisticated coffee snob, so couldn’t imagine that I could taste such a huge difference with the same type of coffee but only changing the grinder.

My older cheaper ugly Delonghi never had that problem. I'm hoping they can improve the design of the interior of the basket or the holder to better split the water. As for the price, it is not cheap; but with Starbucks' cappuccinos at $3.65 you'll start saving money within a few months

::::: END UPDATE ::::::: So due to these gripes, I give the machine four stars. If you aren't too OCD about the mess and trapped grounds after each use, you'll be happy with the machine because the complaints are mostly mitigated by other features and/or the incredible price point. And the stepless grind adjustment makes this is an ideal entry level machine with lots of room to grow for someone really interested in learning to dial in shots. This machine is a great value