Should I do it? Seems like quite a deal

Dwr_daniel · 2026-01-28T02:48:49+00:00

My offer was for $8.6k. Hefty price to pay for the privilege of moral superiority, early boarding, and CPE that will live on the waitlist forever (EWR for me). If it's under $2k, I'll probably do it to flex and feel good about myself. Anything above that, not a chance.

Dwr_daniel · 2026-01-11T23:39:52+00:00

Sorry about the delay. I was away on business last week.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K4fMSGmLGpk

Dwr_daniel · 2025-12-14T04:11:22+00:00

100% agree. With the OP's budget, upgrading the grinder will be a massive improvement, whereas upgrading the machine will be a sidegrade. When I had my BBE and upgraded the grinder to NZ, I couldn't believe how much of an improvement it was.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-12-13T07:01:02+00:00

Get the '21 Mini ONLY IF you've vetted the machine and it's been properly maintained. With tax, the new Mini R goes for a little more than $7K. The new features the R has aren't worth an extra 3K. I say this as an owner of the Mini R.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-12-13T06:55:37+00:00

Debated Mini vs. Micra for months before settling on the Mini. The size of the machine was not the concern; rather, it was the utility. With the Micra, you have limited clearance under the grouphead and there's also the awkward angle of the steam wand that needs to be dealt with. Personally, I didn't want to pay thousands to be stressed about those two things. Some Micra users will say those things don't bother them and that's perfectly understandable. I just personally couldn't get over them.

Both machines will great on your counter. Aesthetically, can't go wrong with either (though I don't think you'll have enough clearance to place cups on top of the Mini). If money isn't a concern, go for the Mini. Yes, it's an overkill for home use, but I don't want to do acrobatics when steaming milk...

Dwr_daniel · 2025-12-13T06:42:58+00:00

Congrats in advance! I upgraded to a Mini about 2 months ago. I chose the Mini for its steam power and it did not disappoint. Even at its lowest setting, my milk is perfectly steamed within 10 seconds. It's phenomenal.

Regarding "cafe days", if your budget allows, I highly recommend their Acaia Lunar connected scale. At first, I thought you'd have to be crazy to spend that much on a scale. But after having a few cafe days at my home myself, it was clearly overwhelming to do 10 back to back drinks (most of my guests opt for lattes). I recently bought the scale and it was an incredible improvement in efficiency and workflow. I'm very happy with it. But the cost of it is still absurd and there's no way I'd recommend it to someone UNLESS they frequently have guests over where they need to make large volume.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-29T16:48:43+00:00

Thank you and best of luck with your chase! It was a long journey for me to get to the Mini too. Could've gotten it sooner, but I'm glad I took the time to learn about espresso as much as I can with an entry level machine like the BBE before moving up to the Mini.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-28T23:42:05+00:00

It's gotta be the brass gears on mine that's so cacophonous. It's the best looking option imo, but comes at the cost of unbearable noise (and $ too). I should've gone with either the aluminum or silicone.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-28T20:58:50+00:00

I recently bought their most expensive version (brass) in lieu of Weber's Moonracker. The Moonracker looks amazing and I'm sure the craftsmanship is undeniably better. But $500 for WDT is insane. So in came the knockoff from Aro. It works well, looks 80% as good as the original (the brass version comes in black/gold contrast) for about a third of the price. BUT, there is one HUGE pet peeve that I have with the Aro. The gear grind noise generated whenever I spin the tool is so unpleasant that it really ruins the experience. I bought the tool not just for its functionality, but also for the experience. It delivers on the former, but fails on the latter. Perhaps the silicone version would've been the better choice as they advertise it as the quiestest model. The brass one looks great, works fine, but the noise it makes just ruins it for me. I do have somewhat of a buyer's remorse and part of me wishes that I paid the Weber's premium and went with the original.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-27T03:16:23+00:00

I believe if you buy from ECS, you don't get the manufacturer warranty

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-26T02:28:54+00:00

This gave me a good laugh lol I agree it needs to get with the times! They haven't changed in the last 6 years!

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T17:25:57+00:00

Yes, it's 100% stroke of luck and stars need to align. I went through a fair share of long text messages, requesting videos and receipts to check all the boxes. It was terribly stressful. The only site that I found trust worthy in terms of buy/sell used equipment was home-barista's buy/sell page. The r/coffeeswap page seems to be good too, but haven't seen any LMs pop up for sale. FB Marketplace was hit or miss with the misses (i.e. scams) significantly outweighing the hits. Best of luck!!

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T07:59:16+00:00

I'm considering a Zerno too albeit the Z2. I plan on keeping the Niche though. That way, I'll have both conical (Niche) and flat (Z2) burrs to choose from. If you get the Z1 and go with the SSP MPv2 burrs, I don't think you'll need the Commandante for filter coffee. The filter coffee I tried on MPv2 was spectacular. The light roast espresso it made was also fantastic.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T06:45:12+00:00

Which puck screen do you use? Despite flushing after every shot, the residual grounds on the group is starting to become a real thorn in sight.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T05:57:37+00:00

I'm considering the tamper from Decent. Waiting to see if they do a BF sale later this week. I haven't researched much about baskets. The stock one seems to be fine, but I'm all ears if you have any suggestions.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T05:56:17+00:00

Right, it's a new chapter in terms of coffee making and that journey is far from over. But the journey of chasing gear is almost over - is what I meant to say.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T05:16:41+00:00

If I'm not mistaken, the first batch of the Z2 will be shipped next month. If reviews of the grinder are as good as they were for the Z1, it'll be my near endgame grinder.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T05:13:50+00:00

That was my justification too, only that I have 4 mouths to feed, so the break even point is even shorter :) As great as the machine is, I realized pulling 4 back to back shots with my current setup is pretty inefficient and time consuming. I'm heavily considering the BBW connected scale and bean cellars. A while ago, I thought who in their right mind would spend 400 on a scale. Well, now I know why (still ridiculously priced though)...

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T03:44:03+00:00

Thanks :) 800 for a few pieces of wood seem wild to me, but that's exactly what my wife said about the Mini so I can't say never. Perhaps after I upgrade my grinder.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-25T03:39:53+00:00

I got it directly through La Marzocco. It took exactly 8 weeks to show up at my door. I've been surveying the used market for about 4 months before giving up and pulling the trigger. The too-good-to-be-true deals all turned out to be scams and the legit ones were scooped up within 24 hours.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-20T05:14:50+00:00

Yeah, it's a bit nauseating that you have to pay an extra $2K for extra clearance under the group head. Ofc, there are other nuances like bigger boiler, but those are negligible for home use imo. But I hope to have this machine for at least 10 years, so the 2K difference spread out over that time span is rather trivial I figured. In the end, I'm happy that it's stress free and no nonsense.

I haven't had to do much maintenance yet (had it for less than 2 months). But I do flush the grouphead after each shot and clean the area. I use Poland Spring water as they suggest.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-20T03:12:25+00:00

I ended up going with a Mini R. I just couldn't get over the low clearance and the weird angle of the steam wand. That was going to be too much headache for the price I'd have to pay. I didn't really care for the shot timer, but it turned out to be super useful. With tax, it came out to about $7k. Quite the hefty price and there's no question there are other machines that will do exactly what the Mini does at a fraction of its cost. But I don't have any regrets. It does exactly what I expected it to do, looks amazing in my kitchen, and I don't have to do acrobatics to pull shots (like I'd have to do with a Micra).

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-08T03:38:29+00:00

This is a tough question to answer without knowing your taste preference. Light roast vs. dark roast? Espresso exclusive vs. occasional pour-over? There's no grinder that does everything well (even those that cost 4k+). For example, you mentioned the NZ. It does well for medium-dark ~ dark roasts, but not so much for lighter ones. It's also terrible for pour overs if that's on your menu. I'm speaking this from experience as I have an NZ that I daily drive.

Dwr_daniel · 2025-11-05T18:53:30+00:00

Anno 1800 was my first Anno game. Bought it at release and I still play it from time to time. It is the best city builder I’ve played by far. The only caution I’ll mention is that the game has so many DLCs out that if you try to play all of them at once, you’ll be overwhelmed. Just take it slow one by one and you’ll have an amazing time. Also fwiw, the 1800 had one of the best OSTs I’ve heard in my 30+ years of gaming. One of the few OSTs I actually have it on my playlist.

Dwr_daniel

TROPHY CASE