Pressure is also the reason most of the sub $1000 non-lever espresso machines are a joke. There’s just not enough power in those things to get to 9 bars. And most of them have a little spring frother to sort of fake the crema. Below $1000 the only real espresso machines you can buy are lever machines.

You are right about the beans. Some of the best beans for filtered coffee make absolutely terrible espresso. When you’re starting out, it’s best to stick with one bean you know is capable of good espresso and master that before experimenting with others.

I think that lever-pulls are better, but you need to train and keep in practice. Plus your guests will expect you to serve them.

If you don’t go with an automatic, spend the money on a burr grinder if you will be making espresso. For drip it isn’t quite as important though.

Don’t go for the coffee pods — the coffee is more expensive and you have little control over strength.

Each brewing process needs a different grind that complements that brewing process. The French press requires a coarse grind so that, when pressed, as few of the grinds as possible make it into your cup. But a cheap blade grinder (one of those little Cuisinart deals with the press down top) will chop up some of the beans (nearer the center of the apparatus) much more finely than other beans. Now, since you’re using a French press you’ll be steeping the beans for about 3.5 minutes; that’s a good amount of time to extract flavor from a big, coarse ground, but it completely leaches the smaller grinds that your cheap blade grinder left you, which leads to an acidic taste.

Similarly for other brewing methods. Coarse chunks in the pour-over method, for instance, just don’t have enough water time to brew; and the more consistent the grind the fuller and more consistent the flavor you’ll get. The grind is perhaps most important for espresso. It needs to be super super fine so that you can compress it evenly, allowing the steam to pass through the puck evenly under great pressure. Even one bad ground can ruin a shot of espresso (as mentioned in #59).

But ultimately the proof is in the tasting; there’s no way to believe it until you’ve actually invested in a good grinder and figured out how it works. And I’ll say that that’s the single most important investment you can make in your coffee experience.

Alternately you can grind the beans where you get your coffee and put them in the freezer when you get home; the grounds won’t be as fresh as grinding them yourself, but if the choice is between a good grind two weeks ago and a cheap blade grind today I’d say take the former.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html

The bottom line – it truly depends on the bean. Take away all other variables, and let the bean tell you how to smash it and boil it and extract its delicious essence.

By the way, in my experience, a coffee is best starting about 36 – 48 hours after roasting – it’s old enough to have degassed a sufficient degree but young enough that oxidation hasn’t really affected it and that it still contains all the idiosyncratic and lovely volatile aromatic chemicals that distinguish one varietal from another….

I learned that a few years ago on alt.coffee. Reading the alt.coffee archive at groups.google.com for a couple of months before jumping in would be a good starting point. I know… who’s got the time…

Also, a website started by a (former) contributor to alt.coffee is providing good information in general about espresso and coffee in general:
http://coffeegeek.com/

He reviewed the “Elektra Micro Casa a Leva” in 2002:
http://coffeegeek.com/proreviews/detailed/microcasaleva

P.S. My grinder is a Mazzer Mini, and it’s one of the best things I bouth… ever.

That elektra is rumored to be amazing. As is the gaggia achilles. I’m a big fan of the lever machines in general, as it makes it cheaper (and more fun and ritualized) to pull a perfect shot.

You can’t really go wrong with a lever machine. I myself bought the very very cheapest one i could find, (the gaggia factory – also sold as the la povoni europcola or something like that). And I love it. It gets a bad rap for overheating, which it does if you pull more than 2 doubles in a row. But I rarely do that, so it’s great for me.

Whatever you get, be prepared to fiddle. It took me 6 weeks of daily use to finally pull an amazing shot. You have to dial in the grind and the dose of coffee exactly right to really get a great shot with lots of crema.

The general rule of thumb, unfortunately, is to spend more on the grinder than on the espresso machine. Which is entirely unsexy and irritating advice. But it’s solid advice. Most of a good shot is in the grind. And you need a high dollar grinder to get consistent, fine grounds for espresso, with no random big chunks to kill the necessary pressure. Even a little off, and you’ll get channelling in the puck, which makes for a bitter shot.

Or … you can do what I did, and spend $100 on a german conical burr hand grinder. Adds more time, and more ritual, but it doesn’t cost $1000. And it’s kinda fun.