Mrs H would probably be happier with the DeLonghi than the machine I bought.
She has not tried to make a coffee with it yet, and I am not sure she has any plans of doing so.

I will be trying some different coffee soon as well, as Mrs H prefers the Illy from the old machine.
I have some other coffee from a different supplier to try as well.

The machine I bought weighs about 35kg, and is a dual boiler model. I wanted something that would last a long time, so chose a model with stainless steel boilers and group head etc. It is not cheap, and I certainly spent more than I initially intended to. I am currently running it on Volvic mineral water as it is softer than my tap water (it is not easy to descale apparently). I will be looking at fitting a BWT water filter to the kitchen sink tap soon.

Here is a picture of the machine for anybody interested in seeing it:

Beautiful looking machine.

I pitched for a dual boiler since Mrs Pinkie likes coffee ruined by steamed milk, and its just about viable to do one cup of that with my gaggia, whilst doing an espresso for me, but a PITA if our kids all want one. Really for more than 2 frothy's you need a dual boiler.  The Sage by Heston Blumenthal gets good write ups but is nowhere near as pretty as that - and was veto'd at the time on the grounds that we were only making 2 coffees at a time, and I had done a really good service job on the gaggia (they come overpressured, and you need to adjust the pressure down - which is easy if you buy a gauge).  (Mind you - it is probably easier to train the better half to use a machine like the Blumenthal than your ships boiler)

I don't pretend Grand Mere is anything other than my nostalgic favourite.  I tend to prefer a smooth coffee (bland?) to the strong Arabica types.  My coffees with Grand Mere had long been hailed the best in Quillan by all the building team, but particularly my Aussie foodie chum Ian.  Best coffee in Quillan is a low bar it has to be said.

Since you can only get the beans in 1kg bags, and there is the issue of keeping them fresh, (and my last order cost me a monstrous E17 a bag) I decided to try some others.  We liked the Illy - it has that mild roast but rich taste (needed a coarser grind than the Grand Mere) and the other coffee we tried was rubbish, but GM won the blind taste tests, and just reinforced my childhood preferences.  The Illy also furnished me with 4 very smart air-tight tins for storing GM in!!

The other coffee I like (probably to widespread scorn) is Costa shop blend.  That was the coffee I used to buy in the UK long before they became franchised and in every BP petrol station.  I'm not a big fan of Starbucks - in fact usually ruin it with steamed milk.

Also - I tend to make my espresso too watery - well, I put more in a regular cup for a single shot than I think is "pukka" based on the "Cafe Richard" cup I ponced from a restaurant.  It still gets a good solid crema, and I probably have overweight for a shot (I use the grinder timer to measure) - but I make them with more than just a stain on the bottom of a regular supermarket espresso cup.

I am sure I have said this before - the key to a good coffee is the grinder.  The usual starter advice is spend twice as much on a grinder as you do on the machine.  In your case, I'm not sure anyone makes grinders that expensive

Roll on December...

I'm sure you are right - but when you are a scruffy Grand Mere drinker and leave a full 250g hopper on the grinder routinely...

I used to keep the bag in a plastic bag which I sucked the air out of with a straw, and keep that in a freezer.  Now, fairly air-tight seems fine.  We motor through it fairly quickly - well, have done so with the builders on site.  Maybe it will last a bit longer now

I find I get through about 250g in a week.
There is no issue with leaving it in the grinder for that long.

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the coffee when you visit. I am glad I have a bit more time to practice steaming milk. You don’t get much time to do it with my machine.

The brew boiler on my machine is about 0.7l and the steam boiler is about 2l so there is no issue with making multiple coffees at a time, even with steamed milk. As for the grinder, my new one seems to work fine, but it is like HiFi. The law of diminishing returns comes into play. I have 65mm burrs, and I could go up to 83mm by changing the grinder, but will that give me noticeably different coffee?

I was tempted to get a Ceado E37s or Compak E8 grinder, but the Mazzer came up at a good price which meant I could get the better spec machine (with rotary pump etc.).

Hi Jules,

I loved Budapest and highly recommend it as a holiday destination!

Lots to do (even in November) including the Gellert Spa, where you can bathe indoors or out (weather was sunny with temperature about 14 degrees (the Spa was a lot warmer)!

The Hop On, Hop Off tour bus is a great way to get around the city and excellent value (the 48 hrs pass includes a night bus tour, daytime cruise along the Danube and Golf Cart transport up to Fishermen's Bastion on the Buda side). I purchased the Big Bus 48hr ticket plus an evening Danube cruise with drinks for £72 for two.

The real "star" was the Corinthia Royal Grand Hotel where we stayed for 5 nights in an executive room (gives access to the Spa and pool and Executive Club with 3 hour "Happy Hour" every evening, offering FREE unlimited beer, wines and spirits as well as FREE snacks served all day long. This is not just a bowl of nuts, but themed nights with a chef cooking sweet and savoury pancakes and Peking Duck for example!

I booked through Voyage Prive and hotel accommodation, upgraded BA direct flights and transfers to and from the airport cost £1,260 for two!

We took 162,000 Forints (£500) spending money and brought most of it home due to everything in the hotel being free to Executive Club members. We ended up only having one evening meal (on my birthday) in one of the 4 restaurants within the hotel during our stay.

Highly recommended

www.corinthia.com/en/hotels/budapest?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIg4mY1LSu1wIVRBbTCh15egXNEAAYASAAEgKGMfD_BwE

Coffee forum legend has it that one of the advantages of metal burrs is that they don't burn the coffee.  My upgrade from metal burrs to the ceramic Vario was such a big jump it wouldn't be possible to claim that was due to the ceramics alone.  But I'm very happy with the grinds I get.  It took me a bit of fiddling around after getting the machine to settle on dose weights, grind fineness, and of course bean choice.  Have fun!

PS - I doubt boiler temperature produces a burnt taste.  The coffee boiler wants to be at about 93 degrees.

First thing is to try to get it airtight - if you are storing beans put them in a plastic bag and suck out the air using a straw.  Most recently I have then stored in the fridge - cos air temperatures here can get over 30 degrees.
Freezing is controversial in the coffee nerd world (bit like mains cables  ).  But I've always found it good.

The stock advice is buy little often and fresh, which is just not practical chez nous.

Apparently there is a rule of 18 for coffee.
Green beans keep for 18 months.
Roasted beans for 18 weeks.
Ground coffee for 18 minutes.

I have my doubts about the times, but ground coffee goes off very quickly.

To get the best out of the coffee, you really need a grinder.