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					Originally Posted by tobii3  I don't have the $$$$ maker....mine was discussed, slammed, hammered, kicked, and basically called a POS the last time I mentioned it.
 Besides... ...even a lousy glob is ... always a learning experience.
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  hope I wasn't the one who hammered your piece of sh... I mean, your espresso maker.  

  Hey!  You start where you are and make the best of what you have.  That's always it, isn't it?  I heartily agree that any espresso machine is the route to learning the process, developing a little technique to get the best from what you've got and deciding if a next step is a good idea or not.
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					Originally Posted by md4958
					
				 ...I would rather see somebody buy a $20 moka, than a $150 espresso machine. 
 The problem as a professional barista, is that when somebody is used to drinking lousy coffee, they almost expect it.
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 That nails it down for me.  I was imprinted by a couple of years of killer coffee while I was in Europe and, upon returning home I wanted to reproduce it.  Slap wore me out with the wrong espresso gear.  And, for sure, a mokapot paired with a good grinder is 5x the value of a low-flight grinder paired with a $2000 espresso machine.
Grinders...  gotta get to grinders one of these days.  They really do come before everything else in coffeeland.  Uh, in my overblown and highly overrated self-important opinion of this topic.  I am really just guessing on all this stuff so, if anyone takes me to be too full of myself, just remember - I don't know what I'm talking about.  That my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it. 
