bump.
i came up on one of these a few months ago. barely used for $45 and i know ive gotten my moneys worth out of it. i use it only for espresso, anything with the milk frother thing is beyond me, and im not into lattes or anything like that so i really dont need it. before i started using this, i really didnt know much about espresso, or what is considered good, so i dont know if this is even a good machine. i think this thing cranks out a pretty good tasting shot with a really nice crema though. if i make espresso in the morning i usually go with two double shots. it doesnt get me super wired, but a good strong buzz that lasts pretty long. its also a great thing to have when you need a little pick-me-up later on in the day and it hardly takes any time to brew a double shot.
if i dont drink espresso i use a french press. i was drinking a lot of starbucks coffee because costco has big bags for super cheep, but ive been getting sick of it lately. there is really no good places to get high quality beans where i live unless i want to drive over 30 minutes, so ive been considering buying some coffee online. anyone have any good suggestions that would be around the $12-20/lb range?