We are addicted to coffee. But not good coffee. Shitty Starbucks or Peet's coffee. Only a few of us truly live and drink small shop ethically sourced but we know that's for rich folks!
A simple cup of filter coffee is easy enough to make at home with cheap equipment, sure, but espresso/milk drinks are a different story, and some people prefer milk drinks to filter coffee. A decent home espresso machine that can also steam milk is gonna run you around $150 at the low end. Some people don't have that much laying around at once, but can afford the $3 cappuccino a couple times a week.
Thats just poor personal finance then. Paying 3$ a couple times a week, so let's say 4 times, runs you up at 12$ a week. So within 13 weeks you'd have the money to buy a machine.
Exactly, thank you. It takes so long just to break even with even the cheapest home espresso equipment, plus you then have to learn to use and maintain said equipment - for some people, the convenience of having a barista fix you a better cup of coffee than you could make yourself at home is worth the $3.
A venti drink is like 20oz, is probably at least 3 shots of espresso, and is not comparable to the drinks I'm talking about.
You can get a short cappuccino (8oz) from Starbucks for around $3. This is comparable to most cafe prices for a reasonably sized, single-shot milk drink.
Depends on whether you consider a Flair a "machine" I guess..
But yeah, I would agree you're probably better off with a moka pot than most $150 or less espresso machines. For $150 budget to make strong coffee with milk type drinks, I'd recommend most folks get a moka pot and milk frother.
I use a moka pot at home with milk and sugar. It's like half way to espresso for much cheaper. When I'm feeling fancy I have a cheap milk frother too. It isn't as good as a real espresso drink, but I get those occasionally as a treat.