Total budget is 400 dollars for both, buying used is fine, and I only make espresso and the occasional flat white. Everything I read says grinder first, but a 350 dollar grinder leaves me with a 50 dollar machine which cannot possibly work. Where does the split actually go at this budget?
If you can wait two months and save another 150, the used market opens up considerably. Not the answer you asked for, but at this specific budget the jump from 400 to 550 buys a disproportionate amount.
One honest warning about the hand grinder route at espresso fineness. It is 40 to 60 seconds of real effort per 18g dose, every time, and if you make two drinks a morning some people quietly stop bothering after a month. If that sounds like you, weight the split toward a used electric grinder instead even if the burrs are slightly worse.
Counterpoint, I have ground by hand for three years and it is the calmest 45 seconds of my day. Genuinely depends on the person.
Also budget about 30 dollars of the 400 for the small stuff, a decent tamp that fits your basket, a scale that reads to 0.1g, and a bottomless portafilter if one exists cheaply for your machine. Those three change more shots than the last 100 dollars of machine would.
@krausen_line · 10mo ago · 3 replies
The grinder first advice is real but it is not absolute, it assumes you already have a machine capable of making espresso. At 400 total I would go roughly 250 grinder and 150 machine, both used.
That gets you a decent hand grinder or an entry electric with proper burrs, plus a used single boiler with a real 58mm portafilter from someone who bought it for lockdown and used it twice. Those come up constantly. What you must not do is spend 300 on a shiny machine with a pressurised basket and 100 on a blade grinder, because that combination cannot make good espresso at any price.
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@krausen_line · 10mo ago
Run water through the group and check it does not leak at the seal, steam for 30 seconds and see how long it takes to recover, and check whether the basket is single or dual wall. Descaling neglect is the usual killer and you cannot see it, so factor in a service kit.
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@burr_and_bloom · 10mo ago
Used market it is. Anything I should test in person?
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