@Sprite
Grinder does a pretty good job of not transferring too much heat, you do get a little bit but no where near enough to invoke any bitterness. It's not a commercial grade machine for sure but with a combination of grind time and coarseness I've managed to get the coffee dose very accurate to within a gram consistently using scales.
It did take a bit of time and wasted beans but was worth it in the end.
The machine for the most part is metal with the odd not so important bits being plastic, the under part of the drip tray for example.
Also feels very well made.
It is however a huge step up from my old machine and being dual boiler (not single thermoblock) is a massive step up in itself and with much better temperature control.
The ability to steam milk and extract espresso at the same time is also great.
Once getting my dose and tamp correct the machine will make cafe quality coffee with ease and in the right hands out do what many cafés serve up. Right now after a few days with it I'm very close to the quality that my
roaster/café serves up.
Surprisingly for a home machine my biggest issue in the beginning was actually steaming the milk too quickly which wasn't giving that nice velvety texture. After playing a bit with how far to open the steam valve I'm almost there also. 👍
