For Christmas, Kacey got me (us) a De'Longhi - EC-155 espresso maker. Amazon had it for a good price, and it had a rebate too. While living abroad, Kacey developed a taste for good coffee, and I have been thinking about getting one of these for about a year. I honestly was expecting to have to spend more money, and so far we have been pleased with this model.
I am by no means a coffee expert, but I am a little snobby. For Christmas, Eric got me a couple tins of Illy espresso. It has been great! Every time I have a cup, I imagine sitting at our villa in Tuscany, drinking my one, sometimes two, espressos each morning.
Each of these tins is around $15 on Amazon, and if you drink a double nearly every day, a tin lasts about a month. And actually, it doesn't take very long to make a drink in the morning. In fact, it is probably the same amount of time you already invest in coffee in the morning (and less expensive than Starbucks).
Am I trying to convince people to try new things... Yes! Especially if you have been thinking about or considering better, cheaper alternatives to buying coffee from someone every day.
Prior to a De'Longhi, I was using a Melitta cone coffee brewer, a hotshot, and grinding my beans every morning. This was good, but I enjoy what I now have.
