Anyone deep in the espresso rabbit hole?

I have the same questions as KosmoCramer.

Also, what setup did you get? I'm close to pulling the trigger on something myself.

I'm 5+ years in of running Prairieville tap hard plumbed into my Rocket machine with zero issues. I switch it to tank every now and then and run descale through as a precaution. Mostly if I've ever noticed any haziness in the water it dispenses.

I bought some test kits and was satisfied with the quality I saw out the tap.

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I have the same questions as KosmoCramer.

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Two things that I've found. The first is that having some minerals in your water improves the taste of coffee. If you have no minerals, like distilled, it just tastes kind of flat and watery.

The second is that distilled water can have the opposite effect as too hard water, and it could be corrosive to the boiler in the machine.

I'm not sure to what extent the corrosion vs scale is a factor, but that's what I'm trying to find out.

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Also, what setup did you get?

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An ECM Mechanika V Slim with a Eureka Mignon Specialita grinder. The ECM came with a free Acaia Lunar scale ($200 value) and was a couple hundred dollars off for Black Friday. The grinder i found on espresssocoffeeshop.com for $300 cheaper than the US, and the shipping from Italy wasn't any longer than a domestic order.

I'll post a pic once everything is on the counter.

Are you Gale Boetticher?

I'll chime in here. I have a simple DeLonghi EC85, I've made a few mods to it over the years. It works awesome. Anyway, as mentioned, distilled water can actually harm the heating element by causing the metal to corrode. They claim it causes the metal to leach out of the heating element into the distilled water which has no concentration of minerals, sort of trying to reach an equilibrium. Sounds crazy, I've never witnessed it. I've used nothing but distilled water in engines over the years but it was mixed with antifreeze, maybe that's the difference.

I've opened up the boiler on my DeLonghi after 5 years of use only using spring water. It was pristine. Not a drop of mineral build up, no corrosion. I used only spring water from a gallon jug at the store, probably Kentwood most of the time. Now I use filtered Primo water from the store that I get from the Primo water machine (Walmart)

For best espresso, it's hard to beat fresh home roasted beans that are only a few days old after roasting. Grind, pull the shot immediately. You'll notice way more crema than all that stale store bought crap and way more smooth and rich in flavor. There's a big difference.

For personal use it wud take years to scale up especially if u clean periodically. Still worried then buy 5 gal of distilled water jugs...

I was looking at the profetic 600 or 700 yesterday, what model do you have and if you could do it again what would you buy?

I was looking at the eureka grinder as well. What was your reasoning on the profitec?

To be honest, I was set on the Lelit Mara X for a long time. I wanted a heat exchanger, but the Mara X drew me in because it doesn't require a cooling flush like most HX machines thanks to Lelit's engineering.

Then on Black Friday, Clive Coffee ran a special where the ECM Mechanika V Slim was $150 off, with the $200 Acaia Lunar scale thrown in for free. It was too good of a deal to pass up. The build quality seems better on the ECM, and because I have to drag it around to refill the tank, it was a better choice than the Lelit which has cheap rubber feet that I've heard pop off easily.

Plus I'm a basic bitch and really like the mirrored panels vs the brushed look of the Lelit.

The grinder, I was going to get a Baratza Sette 270 because it grinds fast and has low retention, and I didn't mind how loud it was. Then I found the Specialita on espressocoffeeshop.com for $360, almost exactly half the price you can get it for in the US. Came in original packaging and was shipped from Italy to my doorstep in 3 days. Unbelievable deal.

I'm big on build quality, so I'm very happy with the combo I got. You can't go wrong with the Profitec either, it just so happened that I got a good deal on my gear.