Beginner Looking for Machine

[TheFoxRocks]

Hey guys I hate to come here looking like an addict, but I was in a hospital waiting room the other day and hit a button called French Vanilla and what came out can only be described as delicious. So I have been contemplating whether or not I should slam my head against the wall and return to this hospital just so I can get this drink again.

Right now we have a your standard Keurig machine which I am sure this community probably hates? They are just difficult to clean and leave something to be desired for me. I have a million questions such as can I make good coffee from an espresso machine? Does espresso have that "wake up" or "boost" effect that coffee has? Because even though this French Vanilla drink was amazing it did not seem to wake me up any.

I have never had to grind my own beans or have any knowledge past your basic coffee making skills. Could I purchase a unit like the one at the hospital or a home owner model similar to it and get a similar result? Are they easy to clean/maintain? The unit was entirely black, had blue circles on it as buttons beside selections, and was a standing unit. As in it was not on a shelf of any kind. It had like Bold Coffee, Long Espresso, French Vanilla, Double Espresso as options which probably does not help.

Basically I want something to make me a warm drink in the morning that tastes good and wake me up. Also being able to make that French Vanilla thing would be awesome. I feel the Keurig will never do either of those.

 

[PinkRose]

Hey guys I hate to come here looking like an addict, but I was in a hospital waiting room the other day and hit a button called French Vanilla and what came out can only be described as delicious. So I have been contemplating whether or not I should slam my head against the wall and return to this hospital just so I can get this drink again.

Right now we have a your standard Keurig machine which I am sure this community probably hates? They are just difficult to clean and leave something to be desired for me. I have a million questions such as can I make good coffee from an espresso machine? Does espresso have that "wake up" or "boost" effect that coffee has? Because even though this French Vanilla drink was amazing it did not seem to wake me up any.

I have never had to grind my own beans or have any knowledge past your basic coffee making skills. Could I purchase a unit like the one at the hospital or a home owner model similar to it and get a similar result? Are they easy to clean/maintain? The unit was entirely black, had blue circles on it as buttons beside selections, and was a standing unit. As in it was not on a shelf of any kind. It had like Bold Coffee, Long Espresso, French Vanilla, Double Espresso as options which probably does not help.

Basically I want something to make me a warm drink in the morning that tastes good and wake me up. Also being able to make that French Vanilla thing would be awesome. I feel the Keurig will never do either of those.

Before you go to any great lengths to try to reproduce the taste of the coffee by other methods, I think you should take a quick field trip back to the hospital waiting room and take a good look at the coffee machine - so you'll have a better idea what type of machine they use. Is it a pod machine? Is it a K-cup machine? Is it a regular coffee dispensing machine that gives you coffee that is flavored with French Vanilla syrup? Buy a cup of the French Vanilla again and see if you like it as much as you did the first time. It's possible that the stress of being there the first time, and your frame of mind that day, along with how much you were craving coffee at that particular time all played a part in how much you liked that particular coffee.

I have a feeling you won't like the coffee as much the second time around as you did the first time you had it.

 

[TheFoxRocks]

Before you go to any great lengths to try to reproduce the taste of the coffee by other methods, I think you should take a quick field trip back to the hospital waiting room and take a good look at the coffee machine - so you'll have a better idea what type of machine they use. Is it a pod machine? Is it a K-cup machine? Is it a regular coffee dispensing machine that gives you coffee that is flavored with French Vanilla syrup? Buy a cup of the French Vanilla again and see if you like it as much as you did the first time. It's possible that the stress of being there the first time, and your frame of mind that day, along with how much you were craving coffee at that particular time all played a part in how much you liked that particular coffee.

I have a feeling you won't like the coffee as much the second time around as you did the first time you had it.

This might sound ridiculous to some. However, I am one of those guys that takes time for things to grow on me. Honestly, if I hate something at first I stick with it because chances are it will grow on my and I will love it. If I love it up front chances are I am going to hate it later.

You are trying to get me to slam my head against the wall aren't you? So this thing is in another waiting room, I took my father there and the procedure was no big deal at all. However, I would not feel comfortable just walking back in there.

So I think this machine was fully commercial. I think they call them "fully automatic machines" or "instant machines" if that helps. So it was a complimentary vending machine. You take one of the free cups put it on the platform, it beeps, and you make a selection. It was literally an instantaneous process and was nice but guess I do not really need it to be instant.

I am not sure if repeating my self helps but it was a single standing unit. As in it did not sit on anything and was pretty slender width wise. It was maybe 12-14 inches approximately. Like I said it was entirely black and to make a selection the buttons were blue circles.

 

[TheFoxRocks]

Yes, there are fully automatic machines out there but costly. My Krups EA 9010 can do all those and clean up itself afterwards. The problem with this kind of machines is not just the initial cost, you have to do maintenance on them very couple of years, which may cost as much as a regular whole brand new machine.

I personally think I would be cool with that. I am not looking to take out a bank loan to get one of these thing but I want better coffee/espresso/mystery french vanilla. I think the issue with the Keurig we have now is we have not cleaned it in about a year or so and it is at least five years old. So I would not mind cleaning them up and paying to replace parts every couple years or so.

I remember being at a store that was known for coffee and smelling some of the beans that literally made me want to grind them up with my mouth. I will check out the model you listed. I appreciate it. So how does it work do you just grind up whatever it says and put it in the compartments?

I also remember this French Vanilla drink have a decent amount of "throth". Is that how you spell it?

 

[Musicphan]

If it was a commercial self serve machine you are into $5-10K for the machine... obviously out of the question for a casual drink. Almost all of them use a non-dairy flavored creamer and sometimes even a coffee powder for a 'french vanilla coffee'. Most however will extract at least extract a fresh shot of espresso. Best thing to do for low $$$ is brew a fresh cup of coffee and try diff french vanilla cremers.

 

[shadow745]

During a recent lengthy hospital stay I actually tried that type of machine for 'double espresso' and I will say it was better than nothing, but that's about it. Those things typically use some sort of fine powdered coffee to brew that concentrated/fast. I can only imagine to how rough the flavored stuff from one would be compared to a decent home setup, fresh coffee, real milk, etc.

To make that type of concoction you can buy powdered/flavored mixes and whip with hot water to achieve something drinkable for most people and a lot cheaper than a machine/grinder.

https://www.folgerscoffee.com/coffees/instant-coffee-products/vanilla-cappuccino

 

[TheFoxRocks]

You can YouTube Krups EA 9010 to see how it works, pretty amazing.

Yes, good coffee has to come from freshly grind beans each time, so called bean to coffee machines. If you hear grinding sound when you made that coffee in hospital, it's this kind of machine.

All I remember is it was pretty fast. I would say that I have this French Vanilla drink in under a minute. However, the machine was obnoxiously loud throughout the process.

I have been watching videos of the Krups EA 9000 series it looks pretty cool. However, they are all easily over $1,000 though which does not sit well with me. No offense because the machine looks like it is worth it. I was assuming that I could get something similar to what I saw at the hospital for that, I guess not. I saw another user recently mention they can easily cost several thousand dollars. That is definitely out of the question for me.

So I am sick of the coffee that comes out of the generic Keurig machine. Are there any other recommendations? So if the machine is fully automatic it means that you place the beans in the machine select what you want and go about your business? It grinds them up and everything?

So how do you guys think a French Vanilla drink like that could be made in the first place? You use your own milk and some kind of powder?

 

[TheFoxRocks]

Guess I should have read the next post huh?

 

[mawil1013]

I have one of these superauto, has built in bean grinder, auto fill, auto tamp, pre-infusion stage and then as adjustable water amount and adjustable bean weight, built in steamer, which you turn on until it steams, then turn it off to place milk under and then turn back on, self cleaner to an extant as water flushes through head before and after.
https://www.delonghi.com/en-us/prod...-coffee-makers/magnifica-esam-3300-0132213148 $516.00