This $99 lever pulls legitimately cafe-quality shots with budget hand grinders once you dial in, and the 2024 steel brewhead finally eliminates preheating for medium-dark roasts. The workflow becomes punishing at scale: one shot is meditative, two shots is a chore, and three shots sends people shopping for electric machines. Disassembly and cleaning between pulls takes longer than the extraction itself, and the puck screen traps grounds in tiny holes every single time. Buy this if you're the only coffee drinker and genuinely enjoy the ritual, or if you need something portable for travel. Skip it if you're making back-to-back drinks for guests or thinking this will replace a real espresso machine for volume.
A super-automatic that learns your beans and lets you clean the brew group yourself, rare at this price point. The body is mostly plastic, the grinder is loud enough to wake housemates, and the 1.2L tank empties fast if you're making more than two drinks in a row. Strength runs weak out of the box until you turn the dial up. If you want to tinker with portafilters and chase god shots, buy a Classic Pro. If you want to push a button at 6 a.m. And get consistent espresso without thinking, this does exactly that.