I think it matters more on which you prefer. If you prefer espressos, your likely to use the espresso maker more. James Hoffman specifically notes he prefers coffee over espresso so that not weird for him to drink coffee more

For me it was a daily source of coffee, but I wouldn’t say it was a daily source of joy. I used mine for a couple few years before deciding it wasn’t for me.

It takes more effort than I realized to pull good shots. Dialing in grind settings requires multiple pulls and you end up either over caffeinated (me) or tossing out a lot of mediocre shots. And you have to do it whenever you try new beans. And even sometimes with a new batch of “the same” beans.

My advice would be to just understand that you’re taking on a hobby; not just a different brewing method.

I’ve had a BBE for almost 4 years, I use it daily. I can create nicer tasting espresso based drinks than Starbucks and Costa and basically any other local coffee shop.

The only people I’ve found locally that can do a better job are the ones who roast the beans I use - and I’d be surprised if they couldn’t.

Got a secondhand Delonghi Dedica because I had similar concerns over how much I’d use it. Previous owner installed an aftermarket steam wand, which has been a joy.

Overall, it comes and goes in waves for me. Some weeks I pull shots every afternoon, sometimes it sits unused for a month. I enjoy taking some time to step away from the home office and prep coffee, so espresso is nice for that. I’d probably use it even more if we were more of a milk drinking household. I like my steamed milk drinks, but we don’t reliably keep milk in our fridge.

I’m also very lazy about dialing in shots. We like to buy a variety of beans for our morning French press, so the coffee available for espresso might vary week-to-week. I’m not willing to waste coffee dialing in on a 16oz bag of beans that’ll be gone in a few days, so the quality of my espresso suffers. Do most people generally keep one kind of bean around specifically for their espresso?

I started with an Areopress about 15 years ago. Still have it and sometimes pull it out but it goes on every camping trip with us.

I drank a lot of pressed coffees for about 10 years till last year when I decided I wanted to go all in on a good Espresso machine so I pulled the trigger on a Lelit Bianca that we use daily and love it.

I am due to upgrade my grinder here soon. My Brevell is starting to not grind as good as it once did. Even after cleaning it and putting a new felt washer in it. It’s taken a lot of abuse over the last 7 years. I definitely got my moneys worth out of it

So about ten years ago I had been using the aero press many times a day for my new wife and I. We got a grinder for it and it was great. I found a used gaggia classic that was being sold as is but looked brand new. It was like 100 USD or so. I grabbed it and found a wire had loosened up.

That was the start of my espresso journey. I have bought 4 or 5 of those, they never die bad enough that you can fix it, these were for friends and gifts all used and repaired by me so I could get good at it.

My wife and I were hooked…

Then back in 2016 I bought a dead 2 group commercial one. I had plans to build one but gave up. I suck at welding and small boilers are hard to find.

Then we wanted something nicer then the gaggia, for steaming milk so we found another 2 group commercial machine very very very used but working for about 700 USD got it in our kitchen and wow amazing. Plus being old you could replace anything on there with cheap bulk components you found online.

Sadly most people should not get 2 group machine. They are big. Like really big. 2ft by 3ft or larger and throw a lot of heat. Great in winter but not in summer. Because of these issues we sold that and found a nice single group one in that prosumer level.

For most of the past ten years I have made my wife 2 or more mochas and myself at a min 2 espresso drinks from mochas to Americanos.

If you like coffee go for it. Go inexpensive but do NOT get a steam powered machine make sure it has a pump to push the water. Some steam ones Im Sure work, but the pump means less chance of getting too hot water going through the beans.

Gaggia classics are great and resell value is good. They are hard to find that cheap anymore but they are all fixable and even the old gaggia coffee are great and upgradeable to match the more modern features. Just did one for our friend.

I got my machine about 2 years ago and I use it almost exclusively. I don’t think I’ve made coffee any other way in at least 6 months. I make espresso for myself and my wife about 3 times a week. I use a smart plug with my machine to turn it on and let it start heating up without having to go to the kitchen, and that has helped me use it more since I can start preheating it from anywhere.

We started with an Aeropress, then got a mid range Delonghi all in one machine and never looked back. After 3.5 years or so we decided to upgrade to their newer all in one that does cold brew as well.

We make at least 6 cappuccinos every morning, and often a cold brew latte or two in the afternoons.

Before we decommissioned the old one we checked the system settings and it said it had brewed over 2800 coffees. We stopped buying coffee out in most places because often we would decide the machine at home made better coffee.

If you like coffee with milk, both cold and hot, we can definitely recommend the Delonghi Eletta Explore. The coffee is good, the new milk carafes are way easier to clean, and the machine works well with all types of coffee.

Even the wanky app that “adjusts the grind to the variety and roast of your beans” surprisingly seems to work - though the rest of the app is trash.

I use a flair lever machine and use it every day. It’s quick, easy to clean, fine for several shots in a row, has no capacity for doing anything with milk

The longest part of it is boiling the kettle to fill it, three double shots is pretty quick if the grinder can grind quick enough, though I deputize one of the people I’m making coffee for to feed the grinder for the next shot

The best part of a lever machine is with a little practice you can pull any pressure or rate profile

Clean up is so much easier - tap out the portafilter, wipe it out, wipe off the bench occasionally for spilt drops and grounds, compared to the effort for cleaning an immersion machine

I got a Breville Barista Express a few months ago and I’m really happy with it, I use it at least once a day (always in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon or in the evening especially on the weekend). The process is not so time consuming once you get the hang of it, and it has become the most enjoyable part of my mornings

I have never found home espresso to be as good as cafe espresso, the difference between the machines, having worked with both, is just too massive. At home I do pour over or Aeropress for cold coffees in the summer as they produce what I think is the best coffee with minimal effort.

I have the Ascaso Uno PID for it’s run-through heater. There is virtually no heat up time needed so you can get an espresso when you want. I was aiming for a machine that allows me to be lazy and short-sighted and the Uno delivers that for me. I use it at least once a day but of course you have to decide if the investment into machine and grinder of around 1,4-2k$ is worth it for you. It is for me but I treat it as a hobby. You definitely need some time to tune in the grind setting, temperature, pressure and bean. But once you have your settings you usually only need to change the grind setting for each bean. I would go with an automatic burr grinder for consistency and ease of use since you sometimes have to redo a shot.

We have a Breville Oracle. Love it and it’s our “daily driver”. We rarely have guests, but in that case we just keep pumping out the cups.

The Americano function has completely removed the need in our house for any other coffee device.

It really depends on your lifestyle. Most machines will need some heat up time and if you’re not sure you won’t be pulling another shot for the rest of the day, it’ll sit there, consuming like 1000+ watt of power, at least when the heater is on.

I got myself VBM Domobar (HX) more than a decade ago, and still going strong. I don’t regret it. It was especially useful during covid lockdown.

Again, it really depends on your lifestyle. It is higher maintenance than any filter brewer. Demands higher end grinder, although those are much more affordable these days.

I have an ok machine and regularly use it.

I know a guy who works in the industry supplying machines and another who is a commercial roster. Both say similar things.

A good grinder and fresh beans are far more important. They both say the aeropress is an excellent way to brew and better than most cheaper espresso machines.

My advice based on that would be. Keep using the aeropress but if you want an upgrade get a good burr grinder.

That’s if your ultimate aim is making better coffee. If you just want to get better using a machine and have fun just pick one you like the look of and enjoy.