Ascaso Steel Duo PID

“The BDB is no slouch. It's way beyond entry-level espresso making. That machine regularly retails for very roughly the equivalent of $3000 AUD outside of Australia and is *still* considered a good deal and good buy at that price. **That's more than 3x what you're paying!** For what you get, if you're serious about coffee or thinking about getting more serious, there is *no better deal* than the BDB new in Australia. But sometimes value isn't everything. I had a friend that bought a Barista Pro as their step up for coffee and grew tired of it. For some people, a Nespresso machine is simply a better fit. A proper semi-automatic machine requires dosing, grinding, puck preparation, usually manual milk steaming. It's a lot of work and not for everyone. Most people start off with a lower end machine like a Cafe Roma or Bambino Plus (these sell for about $800 AUD in Canada MSRP) to try it out. A BDB is a *substantial* upgrade over that. It is genuine competition against many other dual-boiler, prosumer espresso machines such as the Lelit Elizabeth, Profitec Move, or maybe the thermocoil-based Ascasco Steel Duo. In North America, when we are comparing between these machines, there is a several hundred dollar spread between these machines with the Breville usually lowest priced option- again, this is at $3000 AUD tax-in. There's pros and cons for each and the BDB actually does a lot of things better, has a large user community, and lots of mods. The biggest complaint usually comes down to aging styling and build quality. These machines aren't as easy to repair. But trust me when I say that if these units were priced like they were in Australia here, it'd be a no-brainer 90% of the time.”