I used a flair for a long time and loved it. Find a bean that’s got a lot of body and richness at a very light roast, and then grind it as fiiiiine as you can get it. Then you can crank the absolute heck out of it and overcome any heat or extraction issues with some huge pressure. Gauge add-on is highly recommended, but as far as other solid cups from budget machines, Breville makes great user-friendly machines at around/under $500, my rec being the Infuser/BES840XL
Yeah I had the original, and the pressure gauge for that had something similar at 12+ bars, but honestly I pulled it at like 13-15 bars every day for ~2 years and never had an issue so long as I had put it together neatly and sealed well
I used a flair for a long time and loved it. Find a bean that’s got a lot of body and richness at a very light roast, and then grind it as fiiiiine as you can get it. Then you can crank the absolute heck out of it and overcome any heat or extraction issues with some huge pressure. Gauge add-on is highly recommended, but as far as other solid cups from budget machines, Breville makes great user-friendly machines at around/under $500, my rec being the Infuser/BES840XL
The 58 that comes with a dial has a damage warning above 12 bar
Yeah I had the original, and the pressure gauge for that had something similar at 12+ bars, but honestly I pulled it at like 13-15 bars every day for ~2 years and never had an issue so long as I had put it together neatly and sealed well