# Swiss dilemma



## Tado (Apr 4, 2020)

Hello!

New member from Switzerland🍫🧀.

I've been lurking around on the forum for a while now, and eventually think I'm ready to manifest myself and share with you my dilemma. So...I live in Switzerland and it's really hard to find a good cup of coffee and if you do then you see the price and...😭. Long story short I'd like to buy a good equipment to make myself good espresso (ristretto even). I only drink espresso (my italian roots are solid when it comes to food and coffee 😬) and that seem to be a good thing when it comes to narrow down the list of eligible grinders, my grinder would only need to work perfectly for espresso, nothing else. The machine would need to provide two coffee in the morning and one or two in the evening on a regular weekday and probably 7-8 during the weekend. I don't even need steam power as I don't drink cappuccino or other milk based coffee drinks, just good old espresso.

For this reason I kind of focused my attention on lever, HX and single boiler machines as I wouldn't need the second boiler for steaming. Now as I said I've been studying on the forum and also what is avaiable here in Switzerland as custom duties basically preclude the option of buying elsewhere and also it would be easier in case of problems to send stuff back etc. etc.
Before gathering informations and doing my studies I was 100% convinced I'd want to get a lever machine, I saw them in southern italy for the first time years ago and it's been love at first sight and have been dreaming about owning one since. I still find them incredibly beautiful but for my budget there don't seem to be many lever options avaiable and La Pavoni scares me cause of all the issues and difficulties it seems to come with (as far as I read on this and other forums). I am willing to learn and spend time on mastering the machine but I also need a machine not too difficult to use so that my gf can easily learn how to use it too. I like the idea of grinding by hand but that's also a dilemma cause I wonder if I'll still like it after a month or two or when a couple of friends come over 😬.

So these are the machines and grinders I'm considering atm but I'm of course open to other suggestions

Budget: around 1300-1400 £ for both machine and grinder

Machine:

La Pavoni (any, I just really don't like the eagle at the top of some models but the basic models without eagles are fine)

ECM Casa V

Lelit Victoria

Quick Mill Carola

ECM Classika II

Lelit Mara (I really like the X but also the older models are nice)

Grinder:

Kinu M47 (Original or Phoenix) From what I've read is better than others when it comes to espresso grinding.

OE Pharos 2.0 (I really like this one but doesn't seem avaiable anywhere in Switzerland therefore probably not possible).

Eureka Mignon (probably a basic model as the others would be too expensive, unless I can find second hand but that's difficult here)

Ascaso Mini

Lelit William or Fred (basic models but haven't looked too much into those as I m not sure about their quality)

Sage

Happy to get some feedback and recommendation from you, in particular about lever or not lever and hand or electric grinder. Thanks!

🍻☕


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## allikat (Jan 27, 2020)

You know, you could wait a while and see if Italy comes out of lockdown properly then drive down to Milan for the weekend? The big issue with buying now is that supply is running very low as the Italian factories have been shut down for a long time now.

From what others have said, skip the Lelit and ascaso grinders. If Swiss prices are anything like UK prices, then you should be able to pick up a La Pavoni and good grinder. Have you considered the ROK hand grinder? It's very suitable for espresso grind.

Example: https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s2/product/la-pavoni-europiccola-lusso-high-design-espresso-machines-10168159?tagIds=603

https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s2/product/eureka-mignon-specialita-silent-coffee-grinders-7950072?tagIds=603

No idea if Galaxus is a good seller, but they claim to have stock.


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## Tado (Apr 4, 2020)

Thanks! I've seen the Rok in some posts but I'll look more into that. Yes the prices are pretty much the same, probably slightly higher over here. I don't mind waiting a few months more, I was actually considering waiting anyway and I could go to Milan probably during the summer (if the sistuation gets better, especially there) but with custom duties and all I m not sure it would be worth it afterall.

Yes Galaxus is the probably the main seller here, at least the one with the best choice of machines and probably the best prices (for Switzerland of course).


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## Nopapercup (Nov 6, 2016)

Tado said:


> Thanks! I've seen the Rok in some posts but I'll look more into that. Yes the prices are pretty much the same, probably slightly higher over here. I don't mind waiting a few months more, I was actually considering waiting anyway and I could go to Milan probably during the summer (if the sistuation gets better, especially there) but with custom duties and all I m not sure it would be worth it afterall.
> 
> Yes Galaxus is the probably the main seller here, at least the one with the best choice of machines and probably the best prices (for Switzerland of course).


 Where in Switzerland are you?

From my understanding from friends who live in Switzerland, if you buy goods in another EU country like France you declare it at the border, claim back the 20% VAT you paid in say France and then pay the 8% Swiss VAT so the goods work out cheaper.


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