Ever since I had my first cup of coffee at 11 years old in Seattle (aka a mocha Frappuccino), I have been hooked on caffeine. While my tastes have changes a bit since I was 11, my obsession over drinking coffee has not. I’ve gone through phases with my coffee machines: the drip machine, Keurig, Nespresso.

But I’ve always wanted to venture into the world of the espresso machine. I wanted the thrill of “pulling a shot” myself and not spending $9 each time I wanted a latte. So, after many years of thinking about buying one, I finally took the plunge and did it!

My Set Up

Figuring out which espresso machine to buy was more stressful than anticipated. It’s not a cheap machine, so I wanted to make sure that what I was getting would be the best option — and one that will run for a long time. I spent a lot of time looking at subreddits and different articles to see what people recommended.

Ultimately, for my machine, I purchased the Breville Bambino because it was well reviewed as a beginner friendly option. I’ve now had it for about two months and can confirm that it’s very easy to use and maintain. I hope that it stays that way as well!

The grinder I ended up going with was the MiiCoffee DF54. I don’t know much about grinders, but it’s working so far and it was highly recommended when I was learning more about machines. It’s also easy to clean, which was another thing I was really keen on when looking into options.

Coffee Beans

It’s been really fun to try different coffee beans! I’ve been checking out different local places to see which ones I’m liking the best, and this is what I’ve gotten so far:

Partners: Miracle on North 6th Street

The first one I purchased was Partner’s seasonal coffee, Miracle on North 6th Street. It’s no longer available, but I believe they come out with this each year around the holidays. I ended up buying this one because it has the nice cozy flavors I’m looking for in the winter.

It’s description says it has flavors of spice-mulled wine, sweet orange, honey, ginger, cinnamon and Malbec. While I did get those, it wasn’t as strong of a coffee as I normally go for. It was a very nice cup of coffee overall, but it’s just a bit more mellow. I would recommend giving this one a try if you like lightly flavored coffee. A 12 oz bag costs $22.

Partners: Brooklyn

I purchased this bag of Brooklyn coffee from Partners at the same time as the Miracle one above. I wanted to try one of their flagship varieties as well. This is one of their most popular coffees from the look of it, and I can see why. It makes a very pleasant cup of coffee.

Brooklyn has flavors of cocao, toffee and dried fruits. Compared to the Miracle beans, these ones has a much stronger, richer flavor. It is a very smooth coffee and it tastes good with or without milk, which is nice. I could definitely see myself buying another bag of this one in the future. A 12 oz bag costs $17.25.

Poetica: Ruba’i

The third bag that I’m on right now is Poetica’s Ruba’i. I snagged a bag of this the other day when I went in for a latte at one of their locations. I learned that “Ruba’i” is a classical Persian poetry style, so it’s cool that I got to learn something new while buying some coffee beans.

The flavor of this coffee is definitely much richer than the other ones I’ve tried so far. It has a bolder flavor that is still very smooth with tasting notes of milk chocolate, cacao and prune. So far, it’s definitely my favorite that I’ve tried. I definitely will buy another bag at some point.

A 12 oz bag costs $17.25. It looks like you can only buy at their cafes, though.

So far, it’s been really fun switching to an espresso machine! I’ve really enjoyed making my own lattes — plus it’s been a huge help to my wallet that cries every time I need to pay an extra $1 (or more!!) for oat milk.

I’m looking forward to trying more beans and seeing which ones are my favorites. I’m also looking into other ways to “step up” my coffee game. I’m not a bit flavored coffee fan, so I’m not making a bunch of syrups yet. But I do like those as a little sweet treat every once in a while, so I think I’ll look into it at some point.