our saeco royal has quit grinding. need new machine; we cannot go too long without one; THIS IS EMERGENCY STATUS. please give recos asap. espresso preferred, but mostly interested in strong grinder, good brew. NOT INTERESTED IN ANY POD COFFEE MACHINE.
It’s a sign from God that you need to quit coffee. It’ll make you go batty for about a week, but you’ll love coming down the other side - smooth and serene.
who do you work for? who sent you? (pointing gun and trembling)
Oops… (backing away slowly now)…
for the love of God people, don’t any of you have any recommendations?
this is an emergency! i need some help!
sobbing…sobbing…
your nervous twitching friend,
kitty
Get yourself a stovetop moka expresso as a backup to cover you until you can get another Saeco.
Since coffee brewing, and grinding are such a personal thing, I will refrain from product advise. What I can give you, for what its worth having been where you are, is a strategy to help you through this. Find your nearest Starbucks, or the like. You may also stock up on the stuff in the little glass bottles. There is enough caffiene and flavor in them to save your marriage, and possibly keep you from hurting anybody else. Take your time in buying a new machine, if it is different than your current(broken) one.
Kitty,
Hard to say without knowing your budget and willingness to climb a learning curve. If you're talking making espresso at home, well the king (queen?) of prosumer machines under a thou is the Rancillio Silvia. Mated to either a dosered or doserless Rocky and a good tamper & knock box and you'll be pulling 27 second shots of the best espresso you'll ever have--after the learning curve. You could also go with the latest version of the Baraza Virtuoso grinder and a Bodum presspot.
Just in case you do not spend enough of your day on SlowTwitch, here is the crack cocaine of the espresso/coffee world: http://www.coffeegeek.com. IF that's not enough, there is homebarista.com.
I guess we'll be seeing a lot less of you now. Seriously, if I can save you three years of frustration and thousands of dollars, just go with the Virtuoso and a presspot. If you have the slightest bit of Type A in you (you do frequent a tri-site), the prosumer espresso world is enough to make your cranium implode...
Not that I speak from experience or anything (cough-cough).
Brett
i use a moka stovetop machine and espresso or french roast coffee. 9 times out of 10 i have the store grind it. i can’t tell much difference when i do the grinding myself. it works great.
thanks everyone!
it is not uncommon to make 10 large a day between my husband and i. so, alot of prep isn’t good–we like the combo of good coffee with convinience. of course we paid the price to get that…but now it’s not working.
so–i like the lever systems, but the time invovled is not realistic i don’t think. spending 20 minutes for a shot isn’t what i’ve got in mind.
so, this rancilio looks good; but is it a true pain in the ass to have to grind it seperately, then tamp it and pull it? did you see that some of the reviews are not actually very good–many say the machine is inconsistent and takes a long time.
shit.
thanks everyone. the first step is admitting a problem…guess i’m not there yet. lol.
Get yourself a stovetop moka expresso as a backup to cover you until you can get another Saeco.
thanks–i see this is only 25 bucks. our grinders have been within the units on both our espresso machine and drip.
so, i can get a grinder and this moka thing until we figure it out.
thanks for that reco! i’m on my way, but not without stopping at starbucks first. 
kitty
Can you get your saeco repaired? My mom has always had great success in sending things back to the manufacturer.
I’m not a coffee snob, in fact I don’t even drink it anymore, but when I did it was French roast in a press pot. Good stuff.
yes, maybe get it repaired…my husband is going to look at it tonight. i just hate fooling around with sending shit everywhere; only to have it be more problematic down the road. but that might not happen, maybe it gets fixed and that’s that.
we’ve got almost 1000 cups out of this thing; i’m not sure how long it’s supposed to go, but in the research i’ve done this morning i can most certainly see that getting it repaired is more cost effective and better than buying a whole new system ($$$$).
Have you looked at the Jura Capresso’s? We have/love the S7. Just over a year now and not a hiccup.
i just ordered the la pavoni napolitana . i think it’s going to work out very well! thanks everyone, you were most helpful! i got a good deal–and we’ll need a second machine once we get office space anyway. what can i say; i like to get things done.
.
As someone who might drink a half dozen cups of coffee a year, I really don’t get it.
If this was beer or red wine however, I’d feel your pain. 
bingo.
I’m not really a fan of the all-in-wonders, and would recommend that you purchase a good grinder, and then a separate brew system.
For espresso, the old-skool stovetop makers work great. I also really dig the “La Pavoni” lever machines, but those are for people who cherish the process as much as the product, and don’t mind screwing around for a good while, tossing out the rejects in order to get the perfect cup.
I’ve recently become a convert of the vacuum brew systems for “regular” joe.
I don’t drink beverages that require frothed milk, so I’m not much help on that end.
You said no pod machines, have you looked at a T-Disk machine? I recently replaced my Cuisinart Grind n Brew (that I loved for over 5 years) with a Braun Tassimo Coffee on Demand.
I’m really picky about coffee, I have a local roaster in town that roasted Jablum for me weekly - and I paid out the ears for it. My Tassimo makes a wonderful cup of coffee, and has MANY different roasts available for it.
Only complaint - I can’t stick a large travel mug under it.