I recently streamlined by espresso prep by switching to a blind shaker and bean cup with built in scales, saved about a minute of time vs. having to WDT and RDT plus the time moving my shot scale to/from the espresso machine. The other big change was switching to a 58mm to 49mm step down basket as deep basket depth really does seem to make it easier to dial in shots as they have a bigger sweet spot. Couple that with adding in flow control so I have greater control over pre infusion timings and shot ramp down means I have to spend far less time dialing in that I did for a great shot.

Its probably not worth the expense to do this for most people but for me its helped me stay motivated to keep making espresso shots first thing in the morning.

Longest part of using my e61 is the pre heat, that’s about 15 minutes. This I turn on remotely using a smart switch so its not dead time. I am either out with the dog or in the shower while its pre heating.

Weighing and grinding the beans is about a minute, I tend to run some hot water from the group head into the cup to pre heat during this time. Decanting into the portafilter and tamping is less than a minute. The shot pulls in about 40 seconds including pre infusion. Banging out the puck is another 20 seconds or so. I would guess about 3 minutes end to end.

I do clean my espresso machine every day, which means about 5 back flushes and a portafilter less flush at the end. Wiping everything down, emptying the drip tray, refilling the water, thats a good 7 to 10 minutes. Its excessive but I absolutely cannot stand dirty espresso machines.

While I am away from home I use a picopresso with a 1zpresso J Ultra hand grinder, thats considerably more time to make a shot as hand grinding takes over a minute alone. I pre heat by running a full basket of water through the pico for every shot, and clean up has to be after every shot as well. Its probably closer to 6 minutes per shot with the pico. With the upgraded basket and pressure gauge its capable of very good shots considering its size and cost, at least with the J Ultra.

This is a great question! I don’t know!

It’s a while. I have a lever espresso machine; it takes a good 15-20 minutes for the boiler to come up to pressure. I can use much of that for prep, though, so once it hits 1.25 bar, I’m ready to pull a shot. The actual shot is about 30 seconds, so to get an espresso, no faster than 15½ minutes. I’m usually making cappuccinos these days, but steaming milk from that giant boiler only takes 30s or so. Pouring has to be less than 15s. Cleanup does take a minute, mainly b/c of the milk pitcher, which I fully wash. Rinsing the portafilter takes a hot second. I usually empty the knock box as needed as part of the prep.

I used to do this daily for several years; get up, fill (if necessary) and turn on boiler, then go do something else to get ready for work.

My time? A minute or a little over to prep the shot, maybe a couple extra seconds because I pour milk while it’s pulling. A few seconds to steam, a few more to pour. A minute or two for clean up. Maybe 10 minutes on those days I’m emptying the knock box, washing out the drip tray, wiping up the counter that’s accumulated coffee dust - but that’s just kitchen maintenance, and I don’t think that counts as “time to make an espresso”.

So: around 20 minutes, all in. If the boiler is heated and we count my time prepping and cleaning, probably 3-4 minutes.

James is a perfectionist; he’s going to take longer to do almost everything.

My routine was to open the coffee machine, wait a bit or do something short, then grind, mix the ground coffee a bit, tamp it and brew a shot, simple as that. No more than 5 to 10 minutes.

It’s not long, its about the right time I believe, since its not a commercial machine, that stays on all day long. And if we compare it to other types of coffees, still it must be faster.

I’m in a hard spot with a heat exchanger machine. On one hand I love it because the build quality is top notch, parts availability is excellent, and on and on, but on the other hand it takes about 15-20 minutes minimum for the E61 group head to warm up.

Measuring beans, grinding, and puck prep is pretty quick. 2 or 3 minutes.

Espresso does not mean fast but is from “cafe espresso” - pressed out coffee.

It’s not the coffee express.

Btw, in the morning I get up go to the coffee machine, turn it on, take my meds, sit on the sofa while the coffee makee heats up.

I start browsing lemmy, forget the coffee maker, the timer turns it off again, while I answer to some posts.

I get up, turn it back on, sigh and wait until it is heated up (which is quicker the second time)

So my morning cup espresso takes about 30-45 minutes to make.

Oh wait, let me check for my coffee.

Heat up is slow for me, around 20 minutes, but I have it connected to a smart plug so I can fire it up remotely before I want it.
That’s the downside of dual boilers and E61, I guess…

Making the coffee itself is quite quick: Probably 3-4 minutes. That “slow” because I have the machine far away from the sink so I need to go back and forth a few times extra.
If I have a nordic roast, I would probably have to add a minute on average just to clean up the potential spray.

It takes ~30sec to prepare an xl cup of instant coffee for me. It takes a minute for a cup of “turkish” coffee, or two minutes if I wait for it to settle down before pouring.

It’s not great coffee, but I’d say it’s above average.

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2 and a half minutes for just the shot. Turn on scale, drop beans in into I get the dose I want, chuck beans into grinder, slot dosing cup into holder, hold button into beans are ground, attach dosing cup to portafilter, tap a few times, remove, tamp and level, shot!

Now the rest depends on if I’m going hot or cold. If hot, double prep time from 2.5m to 5m. If cold, add a minute.

This was a deciding factor for me choosing to get Thermoblock rather than a boiler. I keep it on the counter ready, so there’s no unpack time.

By the time I’ve ground the coffee the machine is warm and ready to go, and I use a distributor rather than a tamper because it’s less fuss and I don’t notice a difference.

Espresso takes around 30-40 seconds including grinding, steaming milk another 70 seconds but this can be done at the same time. So maybe 90 seconds plus clean up.

I’d say about 2-3 minutes all in total.

Quicker than a V60.