Addendum. Yesterday I put in an order for a discounted Gaggia machine to do this mod. But after searching for all the bottomless portafilter holders, tampers, knock boxes, descaling products and other gadgets you supposedly need for doing home espresso - and watching some YouTube videos on dialling in and dosing and, using filter papers, and endless other tweaks - I could see @paperdigits rabbit hole gaping before me. Cancelled the order, back to aeropress. Grind coffee, boil kettle, press, drink. Phew. One time-depleting hobby is enough.
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This topic had a lot of useful information for me, so thanks for starting it! After @hatsnp mentioned it, I looked into the Cafelat Robot and I think that I will get one next time I am in the market for an espresso machine. I was not even aware that countertop manual espresso machines existed these days.
For me, this is not a hobby but a practical concern; I want reasonably OK espresso at home with minimum effort and maintenance.
Whatever you get, make sure you clean parts that come into contact with the grind properly. Coffee residue is practically impossible to remove with common household chemicals (like vinegar etc), I use Urnex Cafiza to clean my machine and it works great.
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Never say never. Iām terrible at such decisions. Told a mate whoās been suggesting I get a La Pavoni lever machine like his for ages that I cancelled the order, and his response was: āOf course you didā
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FWIW, you have my respect for cancelling an order for something you did not need.
I try to accumulate stuff sparingly, and usually get something new when I really need it or something needs replacement. And then get a version that would last a long time.
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I bought it after watching James Hoffmannās review, plus a few others. Seemed like the best low maintenance, easy to use and without any additional work like pre-heating, which some single lever machines do require. The two arms really help achieving the desired pressure with almost no strength or effort required.
Iāve pulled two shots daily, plus a few weeks where it was used 5+ times per day, for a year and a few months, and so far itās working like new. They include grease and a new rubber seal (for where the piston comes in contact with the basket) but I havenāt used it yet.
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I got a robot in the end after a barely used one popped up on eBay. Iām still in the learning phase after upgrading my decade old Vario grinder with some metal parts, new burrs and an alignment process. The grinder was full of chaff and stray grounds when I took it to bits. Been using hand cut paper filters under the puck and reading about turbo and blooming espresso shots down in the rabbit hole. āThis is the one thing we didnāt want to happen.ā
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Everyone always makes it very clear. Espresso at home is a HOBBY, you can (or will) get stuck in.
Anything with beans from a good roaster and a good grinder will be awesome. And with a cheap filter setup, or an aeropress , or a stop-and-release brewer like the Hario switch or the Cleverā¦ All produce awesome coffee, and you can experiment a lot.
A good kettle with pouring spout (nevermind temperature control at the start ), good grinder and a simple brewer gets you far. As long as your water and coffee is good.
The nanopresso āhas no business being that goodā , the same for the flair classic for instance.
But those are still Brewers that CAN produce awesome espresso, but you need temperature control and a VERY good grinder and a lot of patience and learning.
If your not looking for another hobby and rabbit hole, stick to the other āproperā ways to make coffee.
If you donāt want a new hobby but you do want espresso at gome, be prepared to spend more. Ha automatic grinders that are good for espresso arenāt cheap. And the cheaper automatic espresso machines often have issues (temperature control is wonky, water comes out sputtering , etcā¦). Either fix those things by driving in the Rabbit Hole , or skip the hole by spending more :).
Iāll stay with my Flair for a long time I guess.
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Just tried a āblooming espressoā and it was much better than my previous efforts. Surprisingly enjoying the hobby/experimentation aspect so far, though I can imagine getting frustrated if the output fails to correlate with the input.
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Gaggiuino is community based and the creator doesnāt even accept donations, so if you can be bothered to get all the bits and pieces you need, it costs hardly anything. Of course a decent grinder is essential. I think most people who get to this point already have very good grinders or at least are aware of that fact.
If you donāt mind messing about with re-wring and doing a little very basic coding (thereās a great guide and community) itās great fun and also upgrades the steamer to pro level so it can steam and heat in a few seconds. There are different pressure and flow profiles so it can emulate a lever machine - and itās all fully customisable so you can set the pre-infusion and soak times + pressure levels to what you want and experiment. And its onboard predictive scales are excellent - donāt bother with the hardware scales add on. Obviously the grind is up to you to determine and dial inā¦ I appreciate that you may have already made your decision but for anyone in future looking for similar advise.
Cool. Are you that guy? 
I try not to be. I have a Gaggiuino upgrade installed in my Gaggia.
I try not to but do fail sometimes. Iām still interested in the Gaggiuno at some point and have been lurking on eBay for used deals. I kinda think prices have gone up for even pretty old Classics or itās my imagination. Iām also lurking on the discord a bit waiting to hear about the latest firmware/hardware updates. Cool that you got one running, btw.
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Yeah itās definitely worth doing if you can find a good deal on a second hand Gaggia that you donāt mind messing around with.
A lot of YouTubers say itās difficult or more involved than they were expecting, so I was a bit nervous to start. But to be honest I found the opposite (after all those warnings). If you take your time and follow the guide itās pretty easy. Any hurdles I came accross were easily resolved by trying out the most basic simple potential problems first (luckily all the issues were very basic things like a usb port not working on my computer or a connection was bad).
To be fair though, Iād only recommend doing it if you enjoy tinkering and modding things (which I do enjoy doing). My plain old Gaggia was great but itās nice not to have to wait 30-40mins for it to heat up, and not to have to temp surf and use a timer / scales. And the steamer upgrade is great - used to take ages to get milk to temp. The Gaggia has great pro level components in it and I think the Gaggiuino upgrade just makes the most of all that great hardware.
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Thatās good to know. Thanks. I guess you end up only seeing people who have problems asking for help online so self-selecting group that gives the impression itās trickier than it is.
I thought I was a coffee enthusiast, but after reading all this maybe Iām not. 
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