I received wrong item and no one contacted me yet to refund of fix my issue
Great one, I don’t have anything to compare it to but it works really well :)
I have waited quite a long time to make a purchase on an espresso maker. My favorite machine for aesthetics is made by La Pavoni, but I found reviews that complained of the consistency with pulling shots. My budget was originally under $2,000, but I splurged and went over to purchase the Ascaso Duo PID Plus. My reasoning for purchasing this specific model is that it has a double heating element, got great reviews online, and I figured spend now and save myself from purchasing something else again in the future. My other reason is that my favorite coffee/espresso I’ve had was while traveling briefly to Seville, Spain. With so many options to choose from in an espresso machine, that was ultimately my deciding factor to pull the trigger on buying a machine. I bought the i-mini along with the DUO Plus, both in Inox color (Aluminum). I bought the machine refurbished, so I also saved a bit of scratch by going that route.
My coffee background, I just love coffee, dark roasts especially. My favorite coffee I’ve had is Vietnamese, brewed via pour over with a paper filter. Other coffee makers I own and use, Mokapot stovetop espress maker, pour over sometimes, and a Yosemite percolator. For machines, I’ve gone through quite a few, Mokamaster, Nespresso with the pods, Keurig, etc., but the Nespresso has too much waste, and Nestle is a horrible company to give money to, even though it made decent coffee. I’ve also owned another pod machine made by Williams Sonoma that was pretty good, but again, nothing really scratched the itch of owning a fancy, real-deal espresso machine.
I found some videos on Youtube along with suggestions through Reddit that give some great advice on initial settings and tailoring the process to get great results right away without getting too lost in the rabbit hole of trying to achieve perfection on your own. I pulled some shots on my own without too much tinkering, and then I bought an espresso scale (smaller increments than a normal kitchen scale), a WDT tool to replace the sewing needle I was initially using to even out the grounds in the basket, and some other random crap that came along with the WDT tool, but I feel like everything that comes with the machine out of the box is just fine to start out with. And the only reason I bought the scale and WDT was to see if there was really a big difference in result after fine tuning the preparation, which still remains to be seen by me.
I am extremely, extremely happy and satisfied with my purchase. The machine is weighty and solid, so it doesn’t move around when rotating the espresso basket handle into place, unlike some machines I’ve used in the past. Same with the steam wand, when I rotate it down and up the machine doesn’t jump around at all. I also like that there is a separate hot water spout aside from the steam spout because it allows you to make an Americano that won’t burn your lips off when you go to take the first sip. I’ve owned my machine for about a month now, and I didn’t use it for over a week after getting it because I was intimidated by the process. But once I started using it, I can barely remember what it’s like to use my old stovetop Mokapot anymore. The only downside to owning this machine is going to be leaving the house and having coffee somewhere else. I’ve gone full-on espresso snob/douche. Pinky to the sky when drinking my espresso every morning, never looking back!