I would like to say that if this article is too long, I would suggest buying Breville or Sage Bambino Plus combined with a Niche Zero as one of the min-maxing for ease of use, quick startup, and features in making espresso.

TLDR:

Buy Breville or Sage Bambino Plus as your Entry Espresso Machine. The Grinder matters much more than the Machine/Brewer.

Intro

You might be thinking to yourself that after getting lattes at Starbucks or similar, that maybe it would be easy and cheaper to make it at home.

Or you might have started in filter, and wanted to dabble into espresso.

I would say, “Maybe.” It might be cheaper, but getting decent espresso is quite the learning curve. The equipment to make it isn’t especially cheap either, at least if you want to get good tasting shots. The machine and grinder combination I’m proposing is $1200 and then you add in additional accessories and other trinkets and it gets closer to $1300-1400 USD.

I would like to point you to a New York Times article explaining the trials and tribulations. (Making Espresso at Home is Kind of a Nightmare) But if you have good enough tools, a knack for experimenting and trying, you can get “Cafe quality” espresso after going through the learning curve.

I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole and gobbled up many information pertaining to making espresso. A friend was interested after listening to my constant stream of coffee talk and espresso making. We will call him V. V wanted these requirements:

  1. Quick Startup
  2. Can steam milk (Bonus points for auto milk steamer)
  3. Easy to Use

Given these settings, I was trying to figure out a machine and grinder combination that would accommodate. Quick startup is a feature that only the Decent espresso machine (DE1) has in the upper tier. All the E61 style machines seems to need a 20 minute warmup period. A Home Barista post intrigued me where the user used a Bambino x Super Jolly combination and was satisfied. I suggested this combination to my friend and he agreed to just follow my recommendations (thanks for your leap of faith!). The setup looked like this:

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Machine: Breville Bambino Plus (for auto steaming)

Grinder: Niche Zero (for ease of use, single dosing, and very joyful)

Accessories & Mods:

Machine: Breville Bambino Plus

Pro:

  • 3 second Startup
  • Has preinfusion (up to 10 seconds)
  • Has PID (but fixed to one temperature)
  • Pulling a shot to Steaming Milk in Seconds

Cons:

  • 1 minute total shot limit
  • Can’t control hotter or colder.
  • 54mm (not 58mm)

Use good water and the machine can run for longer. From discussion chats and forums, it seems that Breville machines are treated as appliances and often break. They take a lot of abuse from lack of care. And it seems with the ubiquity, it is somehow equated that Breville means Bad, and that you need to spend more money on a Shiny E61 Chrome Machine to make good espresso.

I’d like to deny that. There are two machines I would shine a spotlight on: Breville Dual Boiler and Bambino.

Breville machines make Great Espresso for the price tier they’re in. Breville Dual Boiler is ~$1600 and is much more feature packed than some of the $2000-3000 range E61 espresso machines.

The Breville Bambino is a thermocoil machine that can make espresso from newer technology not dependent on boilers. It can pull a shot from cold way faster than most other espresso machines. The plus version even has auto-steaming to get my friend V up to speed on lattes even quicker. This is the machine I recommended.

Some of the Bambinos in different regions ship with non-pressurized baskets. At the time of purchase, they did not in the USA, which is why there is an included IMS 54 mm precision basket. This upgraded Bambino using a Bottomless Portafilter with 54mm IMS basket makes great espresso shot when combined with an espresso tier grinder. The one I recommended is the Niche Zero.

But! It uses 54 mm portafilter you might be saying! Its not 58! This is very true. When it is finally time to move on from the Bambino, you can sell the 54mm parts and buy the 58mm parts. 54mm doesn’t necessarily make worse espresso. It is just that 58mm is the commercial standard. You can dial in 54 mm to the tastes that is wanted. It would be slightly coarser due to the puck thickness for the same amount of coffee dosage (18g).

Grinder: Niche Zero

What more can I say about this grinder? If you were living under a rock, this is the grinder that introduced Single Dosing to the mainstream. For a while, this was basically the only game in town for the price point. The price jumps significantly to the next “best” grinder. Nowadays in end of 2022, and from 2023 on, there are many choices. But for Sweet, Creamy, Thick Body Espresso Shots, the Niche Zero still rules.

I will sound like a broken record on this. But the Grinder matters more than the Espresso machine (or any machine for that matter). Given a budget of $1000, I’d take the $700 grinder paired with a $300 machine over the $700 machine with a $300 grinder.

Back at the height of the pandemic, people were paying Scalper prices of these on Ebay for $1400-1600. (It is 500 British Pounds. So conversion of USD ranges from $650 to $800 depending on the conversion rate). It is much more available today. It takes about 4 days after shipping from the UK to USA.

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Relatively quiet. The hum is very pleasant white noise.
  • 63 mm Conical Burrs.
  • Single Dosing

Cons:

  • Grinds slowly.
  • Might not be the best for filter coffee.

Mixed:

  • Aesthetics

The Result & Combination

Now that we have both the Espresso Machine and Grinder setup, we look at the results of the combination. Once V got the setup, I visited to demonstrate how I’d pull an espresso shot. We pulled 6 espresso shots of different beans and they all tasted great! The Niche Zero made nice fluffy grinds and the Bambino was a joy to use.

The above statement doesn’t help you much since I obviously can’t give you one to sample over the web through text, but I can at least guide you through the workflow. The above combination also gets you espresso capable machine setup so that there is less decision paralysis.

Workflow

  1. Get the Niche Zero Catch Cup.
  2. Put it on top of the Weightman Scale.
  3. Weigh out 15 grams. (This was the dosage my friend uses so I kept it the same. Feel free to change to whatever dosage you wish.)
  4. Adjust the Niche Zero Grind settings (if needed) for the coffee roast level
  5. Toss the 15 grams into the Niche Zero, and put the dosing cup underneath.
  6. Turn on the grinder to let it grind.
  7. Get the bottomless portafilter with the 54mm IMS basket and 54mm Funnel.
  8. Deposit the grounds from the Niche Zero dosing cup into the portafilter. (It doesn’t fit flush since it was made for a 58mm, so it is just a flip upside down).
  9. WDT the grounds to evenly distribute it.
  10. Tamp through the funnel (if possible). if not then depending on the grounds, give it a light tap to collapse it. and then lift the funnel and then tamp.
  11. Put the 54 mm puck screen on top.
  12. Lock the 54 mm portafilter into the Bambino.
  13. Put the Weightman scale and a cup underneath it.
  14. Push and hold one of the buttons (1 cup or 2 cup). hold it for the full 10 seconds for 10 seconds preinfusion
  15. Press the button again to stop once the ratio is reached. (For 15 grams in, ~30 grams for 1:2 ratio, ~45 grams for 1:3 ratio. and ~38g for 1:2.5 ratio.)
  16. Once stopped, substitute a separate cup to catch the drips.
  17. Espresso is made.
  18. Optional: Steam milk using the auto frother / or manual & combine to make latte.

I have one satisfied friend. He has been practicing on his setup, and makes much better latte art than me now. (Practice makes perfect, and I don’t practice. But excuses, excuses…)

It seems like a caricature, but on r/espresso, you’ll see many pairings of expensive machine (La Marzocco Linea Mini, or Decent DE1) with a Niche Zero. and for some and maybe a lot of these people, the Niche Zero is a great match. Which is to say, in the future, my friend V could change his espresso machine for a more expensive one. The Bambino has served its purpose as an entry into espresso to figure out what features he values or not. It is minimum tier viable. The Niche Zero is great and can be used with these more powerful machines. In fact, it is even used in a coffee shop in Seattle, Cafe Vivace. The owner thinks that the low speed of the Niche Zero makes the coffee taste better.

Budget Substitutions

But! But! I don’t have the budget for a Niche Zero!, Or a Bambino!

Be aware that the lower amount you spend, the more manual you will have to be to make great espresso shots. Feel free to substitute any with any of the following or similar capable machine/grinder not listed here.

Espresso Machines:

Grinders:

Handgrinders

Minimal Quality Price Setup as featured by Lance Hedrick:

Conclusion

To recap, I wanted to share a min-max combination Espresso machine and grinder combo I prescribed to a friend as the “ultimate entry level espresso setup.” My friend, after following the above procedure detailed above was able to get up to speed very quickly. You too could follow the same recipe and procedure!

In the future, V can trade Bambino Plus for a Linea Mini, Silvia Pro X, or E61 styles in case of upgradeitis. The grinder, Niche Zero, can stay through the upgrade.

Bambino Plus with Niche Zero from another angle