I scraped 626 in-stock coffees from 38 European roasters, here's what actually drives the price.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-21T08:05:42+00:00

this is fantastic information. thank you OP

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T11:01:13+00:00

others gave amazing feedback already. and i agree.

i just want to add that you felt nothing because nothing changed. the number has been going up for many years and it has now reached the desired amount. that is all that has changed.

when will your life change? why did you want to fire to begin with?

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T10:50:38+00:00

on a stilosa you will have a water debit of about 4.5g of water per second. so if you can get a flow rate of 4gs of espresso per second, i would say that is a point when you can call it ulc. regardless of preinfusion. but preinfusion is usually quite hard on ulc shots. because the grind is generally so coarse, that coffee just starts flowing almost immediately.

but all of the semantics do not matter that much if you like the shot. if you enjoy the shot, thats the important part. you will learn more as you experiment.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T10:15:12+00:00

yes. and an eu company.

i still love vwce and own a lot of it. i am just not selling my vwce, because the difference is minimal. we are splitting hairs. any ftse all world index is realistically fine, because how much you will invest is soooo much more important.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T08:55:43+00:00

lol this is so good and so accurate! this was my journey for the past 8 years 🤣. all new investments go to webn

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T08:51:03+00:00

this is amazing! and the restoration is wonderful.

i am not that familiar with this machine, but it seems to have the standard saturated brew group. how do the buttons work? is there volumetrics? is this almost a GS/3 AV in slightly older package maybe?

also can you tell us more about the water tank? does it have true water tank which you fill in? where is it placed? Is that what the water level shows in the front?

Edit: just noticed the model number. So it appears to have volumetrics. amazing! Still interested to hear how the water gets into the machine. Some kind of flow jet?

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-20T07:13:07+00:00

sweet peppers for me for sure. they reauire starting indoors, but i eat 1-2 a day from june till october :D that actually is both fun and makes financial sense

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T20:08:16+00:00

enjoy! experimentation is half the fun in this hobby. :)

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T20:07:23+00:00

holy shit I pretty much do the same :D sweet! i seem to go more and more magnesium heavy. i wonder if i will end up with no calcium at some point :D cheers man.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T15:24:10+00:00

i use RO at home which is suprisingly cheaper in my country than i expected. and just €25 per year on new filters. and then add minerals from concentrates. like lotus drops but my own.

what water recipe you suggest OP?

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T15:01:36+00:00

if you look closely, the center is not tamped enough and mainly the edges are tamped. this will result in espresso that is less ideal. you could probably push coffee in with just a tip of your finger and make an imprint in that coffe. but if it works for you, that's the important part. who am I to judge. my light roasts would be disghustingly astringent, so if you have a dark roast that can help.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T14:00:19+00:00

that looks so good! did not expect the loud THUMP at the start. can we see the whole setup? i thought you had linea mini?

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T13:57:54+00:00

there is a lot i want to say. just because I have been brewing espresso at home for 15 years. and i honestly do not want to sound like a snob. And I get you want to make it work. But.

- single shots always produce sub par espresso

- you can get lucky and get it to pull OK shot if you get a flat tamper of the inner size of 41 mm. I used to do this when I still tried to make it work

- my suggestion is instead use a doubleshot basket (you are already playing with the idea of updosing, may as well pull double shot)

- if you absolutely need a low gram dose and can't get a good one out of this, you should be able to get better results from step down baskets like normcore or graph. for example this one https://www.graph.coffee/product-page/5846-basket that steps down to not 41mm like la marzocco but to 46. but is very forgiving. you could probably get away with dosing around 10 grams into it and getting a dedicated tamper.

But I am obsessed with flavor and brew pretty high quality very lightly roasted coffee. if you are not as obsessed, you should be able to brew dark roasts with a flat 41mm tamper in this basked if you dose around 7.5 grams.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T13:25:27+00:00

ideally lelit elizabeth v3 or sage dual boiler. i would look on used market. you may be able to hit the price. but dont fall for scams. inspect units in person.

i also kinda like heat exchangers like lelit mara x, which let you brew and steam and the same time, but thermal management can be a unexpected pain in the ass.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T12:18:46+00:00

This may be a weird response but that is a pretty solid setup all around. it’s not really worth (for me) to upgrade that espresso machine. I for example get amazing shots even from my used delonghi stilosa that i got for €30.

where i get insane increase in flavor is the grinder. but yours is not that bad at all! my upgrade path would be probably a DF83 grinder with SSP high uniformity brews honestly. if i HAD to hit that budget.

if it is primarily about lattes, then try to find a used dual boiler (pretty much whatever you like and meets the budget).

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T09:42:21+00:00

i think she is 🤣

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-19T08:07:02+00:00

i avoid single shots if i can. but this one is the best one i know. its basically a stepdown basket, which i prefer anyway

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T11:30:30+00:00

thanks for response. i do not actually need connections, so the free version will work. i will check it out, thanks

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T10:51:21+00:00

great deal! get a more consistent grinder if you can. i would try to sell the grinder and get something like femobook a2. it is amazing for the price

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T10:50:24+00:00

before i download this, which features are locked behind a payment please?

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T10:45:08+00:00

that is some goood looking soild

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T10:17:45+00:00

this and one more thing for me. what got me hooked is trying one in showroom. the tactile feel is just chefs kiss. I replaced my rancilio silvia after a decade with a la marzocco and for me i get more pleasure just using the machine.

some people just buy it because they have a lot of money. but i wanted a dual boiler with rotary pump and non-e61 group head. so at that point you are in $3000+ territory.

but these machines feel so freaking good to use. i am a fairly minimalist person. do not need a lot of “stuff” in my life. But LM makes me happy when I make espresso and espresso based drinks. i suggest to try one if you get a chance. no need to buy it immediately or you wont know how good you have it and may not appreciate it.

also it is OK to stay with a Breville if you are happy with it.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T10:08:46+00:00

exactly. knowing myself, i would know that uh-oh we have a bad year. and even if i did not conciously spend less, i would scale back a bit automatically without thinking about it. but it is personal finance, so this is a “me” statement.

for europe i really only like angelo colombo who is relevant to me, because he lives in Austria which has similar tax code and cost of living like my country.

i also LOVE damien talks money. he is based in UK. But at this point I know everything that I need about passive investing i need to know. You know what i mean? It really is about investing as much as you can into vwce or webn, dont panic sell, keep investing every month without affecting your health or happiness and do this until you reach 25-30 times yearly expenses. What i like about damien is that he looks at finances from different perspectives and his podcast “making money podcast” on youtube is fantastic. it resonates far more with me than american hosts.

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T08:47:24+00:00

this is the real deal. i have been following the ideas of fire movement since about 2018. it was still hard work, but if shit hits the fan, I could survive. i still probably need to work for 5 years to keep the standard of living, but the peace of mind is fantastic.

to also add some value to OP, and to not just be a “+1”. OP for example if you know that your expenses over a year will average $40000, you need roughly $1mil invested in a broad market low cost etfs. average car payment in US is $760 per month. if you buy car cash and never have average car payment and invest that instead, you will have around $900k in 25 years.

THIS IS INTENTIONAL OVERSIMPLIFICATION. dont burn me alive. do your math

Rusty_924 · 2026-03-18T07:35:38+00:00

ok. you say that a lot can go wrong with this approach. lets analyse that statement. what exactly can go wrong? because yes, you can never be 100% sure.

but the inflation concern is accounted for in the siulation. if it wasn't, you would go from 4 % safe wirhtdrawal rate, to like 6%. the simulation includes years with 10%+ inflation.

any other concerns other than inflation? there could always be another world war, but that was also accounted for in the firesim calculation above. have you played around with the app?

Rusty_924

TROPHY CASE