Late to the party here, but I’d caution against buying sets. They often come bundled with lots of superfluous pans that your giftee might not use. If you know their normal cooking habits, I’d purchase individual pieces to make your own set. To that end, I’d probably say that you want to pick up just two skillets, a saucepan, and a pot, unless they’re starting from scratch and tossing all their other cookware.

For the pan, I think that a regular cast iron is a good choice. Cheap options here for a brand new pan are Lodge and Victoria, and they work as well as the more expensive boutique cast iron brands. You’ll likely have trouble finding nicer antique cast iron at thrift stores because it’s become rather popular to buy and resell Wagners, BSRs, and Griswolds for the price of new Lodges or more. If your giftee doesn’t mind used antiques, these three brands are all quite nice if you know what to look for. Definitely check for any signs of pitting if you look for a used one. If you really wanted to though, Field, Stargazer, and Butter Pat all have more expensive pans that are polished to have a smooth surface. This will not affect the performance of the pan in any way, shape, or form. If they cook with tomatoes or other acidic foods a lot, you’re going to want to opt for an enameled skillet. Le Creuset and Staub are the default answers here, since they have a long history and lifetime warranty. However, if you want something cheaper, Tramontina and Lodge also make enameled skillets. As for size, a 10-inch skillet should be sufficient for a family of 2-4, while a 12-inch skillet or larger would be necessary for larger families. These skillets get much heavier as you increase in size, so there are some downsides to just picking up the largest size available.

Personally, I find that I only ever need one cast iron skillet, because I just don’t ever cook two separate dishes at the same time that would take advantage of the main advantages of cast iron (great heat retention and the ability to go from stovetop to oven). If you think they’d like it, I would suggest going with stainless steel for a second skillet. It’s capable of handling acids, heats quickly, is oven safe, and can be used to build fond. It’ll also last a lifetime with proper care. Here, almost any fully clad skillet is suitable, but some of the splurge options are Demeyer and Hestan. I have no personal experience with them, but the lack of rivets does look rather nice. I use All-Clad skillets myself, but the handle shape can be unwieldy on some of the lines so they aren’t for everyone. Great Jones is a direct to consumer brand that makes some pretty looking cookware, but aren’t necessarily cheap. More budget options that still do the job perfectly well are Calphalon and Tramontina. I’m sure many other fully clad options out there are also great, these are just the ones that I could think of off the top of my head and believe are worth taking a look at. Given the sloped edges of most stainless steel skillets, you’d probably want something in the 12-inch range. Alternatively, a stainless steel saute pan could be good. A 3qt size could bridge some of the gap between a skillet and a pot.

On the topic of stainless steel, I also think it’s the material of choice for a small saucepan. In my opinion, cast iron is just too heavy and changes temperature too slowly to be suitable for a saucepan. All the same brand recommendations apply when looking for a saucepan. I like the 1qt size and it’s probably what I use the most, but anything from 1-2qt is probably good. Too large and you end up with something too similar to the dutch oven

For a pot, I wouldn’t recommend anything other than an enameled cast iron dutch oven if you must have cast iron. It provides more flexibility to cook with acids and liquids without worrying about ruining the seasoning. As above, Le Creuset and Staub make beautiful pieces that carry a lot of social cache, and they both feature a lifetime warranty. I have experience with the Le Creuset warranty, and was able to get a free replacement dutch oven after mine suffered some chips in the enamel. However, Tramontina and Lodge both make perfectly good options at a much lower price point. Here, I’d buy a dutch oven that’s anywhere from 6-8qt, depending on personal need. I’d err on the side of larger, but they can take up a lot of space.

These four items should be enough to cover 99% of a home cook’s needs without taking up a bunch of storage space. You can always add more if you’d like, and I’d be happy to make more recommendations if you know what sort of cooking your giftee likes to do. I know that personally, I’d be happier with a curated selection of nicer pans than a set that comes with more pans than I know what to do with. Best of luck, and I’m sure your giftee will love it no matter what!

Assuming that you want to keep your budget in a price range similar to the Capresso Infinity Plus, you don’t have too many electric options that will be suited for espresso, let alone suited for filter coffee and espresso.

That being said, I think the Baratza Encore sounds right up your alley when it comes to longevity and reliability. It’s more expensive than the Capresso, but it’s durable, repairable (and popular enough that you’ll find lots of documentation online from others who have had to repair the grinder), and definitely a capable-enough grinder to get tasty cups with. In my personal experience, it’s the cheapest electric grinder where you aren’t necessarily conceding taste for convenience when it comes to grinding for filter coffee. And if you for some reason get the itch to upgrade your setup, the Encore can be made to fit a different burr offered by Baratza, the M2, which does improve the filter coffee. The original Encore makes claims that it can grind for espresso, but you should take that with a grain of salt. While it can technically grind at the espresso range, the grind adjustment mechanism simply cannot make the minute adjustments necessary to dial in your espresso properly. You can probably get a drinkable espresso, and maybe even a good one depending on the particular bean, but I don’t think you would get enough control to ever be satisfied if you are particular about your espresso, or ever think you might become particular in the future.

That being said, Baratza has also recently released a different version of the Encore, the Encore ESP, that they claim is capable of making minute adjustments for espresso. I want to stress that I have no personal experience with this grinder, unlike the Encore, so I cannot vouch for its suitability for espresso, nor whether it’s worth the additional cost. It is worth doing more research into if you think that you’ll want to get more into espresso.

I know that I wrote quite a bit about the Encore, but that’s really just because I made the assumption that you were looking for an electric grinder. Others have mentioned hand grinders in the sub 220USD price range, and I personally would tend to choose a hand grinder of the same price versus an electric grinder. This might be due to my own personal biases, but in my experience, hand grinders offer far better value for money in this space (but how much you value convenience may differ).

This was happening to me until I repatched and reinstalled the app. I didn’t change anything between installs so I’m not sure what happened.

There’s been a lot of suggestions for an Aeropress, and I don’t want to retread any ground, but that’s a good suggestion. Since you said you didn’t want to rule out pour over though, I might recommend the Hario Switch, so that you can experiment with both immersion and percolation brews in just one brewer. It functions similarly to the Clever Dripper that someone else recommended, but since it’s the same shape as a V60 it has the added benefit of being able to leave the switch open and brew a standard V60.

On cold brew: I don’t recommend making it and reheating it, but some people do. At best, I would make a super concentrated cold brew (maybe 1:4 or more if I could really push it), and add hot water up to the final volume to get a hot beverage. Reheating coffee leads to it losing a lot of its volatile organic compounds that contribute to the interesting tastes and smells that you get from coffee. Cold brew is suitable for “meal prepping” your coffee though if you don’t want to make time in the morning. If you’re at all interested cold brew, I would even more strongly recommend either the Clever Dripper or Hario Switch. You can use them to filter your cold brew after it’s done steeping, which would be much more tedious in an Aeropress.

Honestly, unless you know you’re going to stick to a single brew method, I’ll vouch for the J series. It’s their oldest lineup, so I would think that it will continue to be supported with replacement burrs for the foreseeable future (though mine hasn’t needed any replacement parts at all over the course of 7 years of moderately heavy usage). I used a Jx for pour over and espresso for 5 years before changing it up, and I still think it was the most dramatic change I’ve ever made with regards to cup quality. It’s now mostly my travel coffee grinder, but I’ll still pull it out from time to time since I enjoy the ritual of hand grinding.

I can’t speak to their other grinders, but I know that Lance Hedrick has reviewed all of the more expensive (and more singularly focused) 1zpresso grinders as well across various videos on his channel.

Chiming in to provide another anecdotal experience. At a drip grind size on my 1zpresso JX, I take no longer than half a minute to grind an 18g dose of beans and it requires nearly no effort at all. If you’re trying to keep the budget under or around $200USD, the brews you get from a nice manual grinder are significantly better than what you can get from an electric grinder at a similar price point, but you are trading convenience. If you’re entertaining or brewing for more than a few people regularly though, it might be worth the tradeoff. For me, the flexibility and portability of a manual grinder were definitely a priority, since it allowed me to take a very compact brew setup while traveling so that I wouldn’t be stuck with bad coffee while backpacking/in hotels.

Why would the clause be unenforceable? It doesn’t violate any of the general principles of contract law. If you intentionally contract around these terms that don’t violate any existing body of law and don’t run counter to public interest, a court would have no problem enforcing the terms of a contract. They probably wouldn’t sue you or me in our individual capacity if we circumvented. There’s a much greater chance of recovery if they go after a company which is pretty clearly using their service in a bad faith. If ByteDance wanted to use their LLM to train their own, they could’ve negotiated such a license.

Sorry for the late reply, but this doesn’t really seem like it’d come close to invoking any of the US’s neutered antitrust enforcement. Open AI doesn’t have a monopoly position to abuse, since there are other large firms offering LLMs that see reasonable amounts of usage. This clause amounts more to an effort to stop reverse engineering than stifle anyone trying to build an LLM.

I can’t speak for every jurisdiction, but I’d be hard pressed to see why it wouldn’t be legal in the US, especially in these circumstances. ByteDance is a massive legally sophisticated corporation, so they should’ve been expected to fully read and understand the terms and conditions before accepting them. They probably won’t bring a legal challenge, because they know they don’t have a particularly strong legal argument or a sympathetic angle to use.

They did fully not exclude it from legislation yet. Apple simply contested their iMessage’s as a gatekeeper under the definition used in the act, and the Commission is in the process of determining whether or not that is true. If iMessage is determined to be a gatekeeper, Apple will only have bought themselves a few more months before they have to comply with the DMA.

Yeah I wouldn’t worry about your brew time too much as long as it’s tasty to you. I think most online resources (at least in English) tend to completely ignore single shot doses, since third wave espresso and milk drinks are centered around a 16-22g shot. I’d be really curious to hear what you thought the sweet spot was for single shot timing.

I always dial my espresso by taste, not time. Doing this will give you a lot more flexibility. That being said, I think the range where most of my coffees feel dialed is about 25-40 seconds.

I want to preface this by saying that I rarely change my shot from my standard 20g, so everything I’m going to say is conjecture, but I would guess that a single shot that takes 30 seconds to pull would be wildly overextracted. The reason why a double shot will take so much more time is because the puck of coffee that the water has to force its way through is much taller. Creating channels through a larger puck (or a puck made from much finer grinds) takes more energy from the water, so it should take longer. Once channels are made, the puck will quickly deteriorate, which is why the flow rate is so much faster at the end of a shot. That being said, you will definitely want to adjust your grind size for a single shot. Grinding finer than you would in a double shot will allow for a more even extraction in a single shot without overextracting the coffee, but it still shouldn’t take as long as your double shot.

Internet Shaquille is something that hasn’t been mentioned yet that I think really resonates with what you’re looking for. All of his videos are short, focused, and aimed at helping regular people in the kitchen (with the exception of his April Fools videos, which satirize clickbait videos). There is some humor, but the information density of his videos reflects his ethos of not wanting to waste your time. To this end, sponsor reads appear at the end of the video (if they’re sponsored at all), so you can completely skip them.

Absolutely! Always happy to help someone get into the hobby :) feel free to reach out anytime

Many grinders can go from extremely coarse to extremely fine, but the important mark of an espresso capable grinder is the ability to make miniscule adjustments to the grind size. The difference in grind size between a perfectly extracted shot and a passable one is pretty marginal. This is not the case for filter and french press coffee, where there’s not as much need for fine adjustments. You might also find that what you prefer in a grind profile for an espresso is different from what you’d like in a filter coffee. People who prefer traditional espresso with a silky texture and stronger mouthfeel to it will probably like burrs that produce more fines, which give the shot more body. In filter coffee though, this will just lead to a muddy, overextracted brew. This difference is so stark that some people buy aftermarket burrs to swap out for their preferred brew method. A company called Niche recently released a grinder called the Niche Duo that has an almost hotswapping system for the grinder to make this process easier. You probably won’t find an electric grinder capable of doing both espresso and filter for under a thousand without some work on your part.

The alternative though is to use hand grinders. There are multiple premium hand grinders that produce amazing coffee for much cheaper than their electric counterparts. Relatively upstart brands like 1zpresso have multiple different hand grinders targeted at specific brew methods, but the 1zpresso JX Pro is really capable of doing both brew methods to a surprisingly good degree. There’s also established titans like the Comandante, which is featured in many barista competitions. Hand grinding for espresso isn’t too hard, but it will definitely work out your forearms, and I wouldn’t really recommend it for people who have arm/wrist issues. I can grind enough for my morning shot in about 30 seconds.

If you really wanted to get a grinder, I would focus on just getting one for now, and potentially picking up another to supplement the original grinder later. I went with a hand grinder to start with, but now I use both a hand grinder and an electric grinder. I hand grind for espresso, since I pull fewer espresso shots and have an espresso-focused hand grinder, and I use my electric grinder for filter brews. It was just a bit of a pain to swap back between grind settings for espresso and filter, especially when espresso requires such careful adjustments to it. This was really just a quick rundown on grinders, and was by no means exhaustive. If you’re interested in going down the rabbit hole, Lance Hedrick on YouTube has numerous videos on the topic of hand grinders, and is far more knowledgeable about the topic than I could ever be. His full reviews are lengthy and nerdy deep dives, but it’s useful to have this repository before spending money.

I think the Bambino fits a lot into a pretty compact machine, making it great if you have limited space. As far as preground vs. fresh beans, I really think that you’ll be alright with just preground as long as you drink it fast enough. Especially if space is a concern, since an electric grinder takes up a pretty large amount of space. I’d say that if you’re comfortable going through the bag of beans in about a week, getting them preground at the shop is a totally fine option until you decide you want/need a grinder. This will vary based on your preferred roast level (darker roasts will offgas more quickly, which means their flavor will peak sooner, but also stale more quickly), but as long as you store it in an airtight container I’m sure this won’t have too much of an impact.

There is one excellent case for preground that might actually make the experience better: the quality of the grinder at the coffee shop. Even a basic shop should have a Mazzer Super Jolly, and a nice third-wave shop in the area will have a grinder that costs thousands. If you go through the coffee fast enough, these grinders will outperform any entry level grinder when it comes to espresso. You would only be missing out on the experience of dialing in a coffee, but I don’t think that’s necessarily worth the money it’d cost to buy a grinder. I’d explore the free option first, but once again I’d be more than happy to make some grinder recommendations if you’d like.

Congratulations on graduating! I’d be happy to make some suggestions, and I’ll try to provide a little bit of the reasoning behind them so you can see if they match your/your girlfriend’s use case. I’m also going to make mostly entry level recommendations, but feel free to let me know if you’re looking for something more involved.

Filter Coffee As far as just the black filter coffee for you, I don’t think you’re going to get a better result from a machine than you would from a very basic pour over setup. You do not need a gooseneck kettle for these brewers, but they will really improve the experience. My personal favorite is the Hario V60, but it does have a bit of a learning curve as opposed to flat-bottom brewers like the Kalita Wave, Fellow Stagg [X] Dripper, or Blue Bottle Dripper. I would pick a conical (V60 or otherwise) if you wanted more clarity and complexity from your brews (greater separation of flavors in the coffee) and a flat-bottom brewer if you want a more rounded flavor and more consistency. These distinctions will only really matter if you start to get deeper into the rabbit hole, but it’s worth mentioning now. If you’re looking to splurge for a more aesthetic brewer, the Chemex is gorgeous, but also takes up a lot more space than the other brewers, which I like for their more compact size and ability to store them in a drawer. A slightly cheaper option that has a similar profile to the Chemex but a bit cheaper would be the Hario V60 Drip Coffee Decanter.

You could also consider getting something like the Hario Switch or Clever Dripper if you’re looking for something a bit easier. The big benefit of this route is that they’re extremely compatible with the standard kettles found in most homes. They’re like an in between of a pour over and a french press, and you could actually just use them as pour over brewers if you leave their draining mechanism open. It being an immersion brew makes it much more forgiving for good results, and also won’t be as dependent on a grinder. The Hario Switch uses V60 filters, which are relatively easy to find at coffee shops. The Clever Dripper uses the even more common Melitta #4 style filters, which you should be able to find in practically any grocery store. You really can’t go wrong with either one in my opinion, but I’m biased towards the V60 since I enjoy conical brewers so much.

Of course, you could always go for a for a french press, if you enjoy the thicker mouthfeel that this style of brew provides by virtue of not filtering quite so much out. However, I think the lack of a filter makes it a bit more troublesome to clean up, especially since coffee isn’t really ideal for the drain. I like being able to scoop out a filter and dump it into the compost for the garden.

Espresso Machines Sage/Breville Bambino Plus - $500/£400/530€ at time of commenting This is probably the most easy recommendation that I could make for someone who is looking to just dip their toes into espresso. Sage/Breville did a lot right with this machine, and it’s actually the machine I got for my mother. It comes with both single and double walled baskets, so you can use them with pre-ground coffee if you do not have a grinder suitable for espresso. It’s got a decent amount of space between the drip tray and the group head, so you can fit even taller mugs down there. The steam wand is remarkable at the price point that it’s at, and the automatic milk steaming does a pretty decent job if you decide that you don’t want to learn to steam milk. You can control the temperature level and the amount of air introduced to the milk, so your gf can pick between cappuccinos, lattes, and flat whites depending on her mood. The boiler does some magic when it comes to warming up, which is great for mornings where you’re in a rush.

If I had to identify some shortcomings of the Bambino Plus, it’s gotta be the drip tray. It’s a really small drip tray, so you’ll be cleaning it out often. Further, the 53mm portafilter can feel a bit restrictive, even if it’s a great space saving measure for the countertop, it means you will not be able to fit as much into the basket. The manual shot mode does feel a bit tacked on, but it’s understandable for a beginner machine, and I don’t think you’d use it too much. I also would not recommend this machine if you plan on making a lot of drinks back to back. A shortcoming of the extremely quick boiler is that you’re probably putting a decent amount of strain on the part if you’re consistently making 5-6 drinks before giving it a bit of a break. I haven’t had the chance to open up my mother’s and take a look inside, so I also can’t speak to its repairability. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue though, as Sage/Breville is pretty good about out of warranty repairs in my own experience, so long as you’re willing to pay. Further, my mom has had it going on two years without any issues whatsoever.

This is unequivocally the choice that I would make for a total beginner to espresso who wants to feel a bit like a barista as well as have some room for growth as they improve. You can opt for the cheaper Bambino without sacrificing much at all, mostly just the automatic steaming capabilities, but I think that learning to texture milk does take a bit of work. However, if your gf is fine with dedicating some time to learning to steam milk, opting for the regular Bambino as opposed to the Bambino Plus is a good way to save some money as well.

Gaggia Classic Pro - $500/£430-500/€479 New (Prices will vary if you can find a used one) This is the machine that I would recommend if you either don’t mind or think that you would like tinkering around with an espresso machine. One big perk of these machines is that they really are completely user serviceable, so you can find a fixer upper on secondhand sites or thrift stores and completely restore it. You can pretty consistently find these machines in working condition for 100-200 $/£/€ online. There’s a dedicated Gaggia community with plenty of guides for every repair that you could possibly make. The interior of the Gaggia even has room for upgrades if you feel up to it, and the community is constantly developing mods to improve the capability of this entry level device. The Gaggia was my first espresso machine, and I was the third owner of a decade old machine when I got my hands on it. I had it for two years before upgrading, and handed it down to my cousin who is still using it to this day. I think that if it weren’t for the Gaggia, I would not have the bravery to tinker with machines like I do now. I’m by no means trained in any sort of mechanical or electrical field, and I was able to use the guides to figure out how to rewire, repair, and modify my Gaggia. It gave me a great understanding and appreciation for the inner workings of an espresso machine, and I’m extremely grateful for the experience. Like the Bambino, it comes with single and double-walled baskets.

However, this machine is definitely not without its shortcomings, and since I’m intimately familiar with them, it might sound like I’m being a bit harsh on the Gaggia. I wouldn’t say that this machine isn’t beginner friendly, but you will not get as good a result as you would from the Bambino right out of the box (unless you’re much more of a natural than I am). It only has a manual shot mode, so you’ll have to stop the shot on your own after determining that the size is right. This isn’t an issue if you have a scale to weigh your shots or if you’re good at judging volume if that’s how you choose to do it, but the use of a scale makes another issue apparent. The drip tray is very spacious, which is lovely, but that comes at the cost of being able to fit taller diner style mugs under the group head. I know that you can buy aftermarket drip trays that give more room for mugs, and some people have designed their own, so this issue can be dealt with. If you get an older secondhand Gaggia, I would go so far as to say that the older panarello-style steam wand is unusable. It’s a mere $10 to replace it with a Rancilio Silvia v2 style steam wand, but it’s worth noting that it’s something you may end up needing to do. The steam wand is also not as powerful as the Sage/Breville Bambino’s steam wand. It is capable of steaming milk to a nice glossy texture, but it’s definitely more challenging than premium machines. The included tamp is also nearly unusable. The shape is awkward and the weight makes it even worse to use. I would recommend getting almost any other 58mm tamp for it.

If you do choose to get a Gaggia, there is a clear separation between older models and newer models (I believe “new” means anything past 2018). Gaggia released a revamped version of the Gaggia Classic Pro, with more options for color and an improved steam wand. However, this came at the cost of a change in how the OPV springs work. If you wanted to change the pressure of the newer Gaggia classics, you would have to purchase springs online to replace them. When I modified my pressure, I simply used a hex tool after opening it up. I would happily get a Gaggia again, but that’s because I really value the repairability, and I know parts are available for me to do my own repairs

Final Thoughts I’m brushing up on the character limit, so I’ll try to round off my comment cleanly, but feel free to ask any further questions or request clarification/elaboration. I personally would not buy a superautomatic machine unless I had a very large budget. Cheaper espresso machines with built in grinders that promise to do it all are generally not very capable. They do not actually reach 15 bars of pressure (which is way too much anyways) and they will not texture milk nicely or grind coffee well. If you want milk drinks on a budget (relatively speaking), look into the semiautos I recommended or others. If those are too expensive, please let me know and I can try to think of suitable alternatives :)

Absolutely! Picking a coffee machine is a lot of personal preference, and I hope I didn’t come across as an all-in-one hater. I think lots of people will be perfectly happy with an all-in-one machine, especially for the result you get with almost no effort. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve daydreamed about a more automatic setup after 45 minutes of playing barista at family gatherings.

First, congratulations on moving into a new, larger place!

I have no personal experience with these machines, but might offer a word of caution. All-in-one espresso machines tend to make sacrifices in final cup quality in pursuit of convenience. This is perfectly fine if you want an easy to use machine that makes passable coffee, but if you think you’ll ever end up wanting something more from your setup (at the cost of a more involved brew process), having a separate semi-automatic machine + grinder will make it easier to do so in the future. If you fall into the latter category, I’d be happy to make some recommendations tailored to your budget and continent. If you favor convenience, I’m sure the De’Longhi or other superautomatic machines will be very well-suited to you.

Edited to add: I’m by no means an expert on coffee machines and have no industry experience, just an enthusiast who has tinkered with a couple different espresso machines for personal enjoyment and on behalf of friends and family.

I’m glad you found a way to use it!

Since you have a blade grinder, you should be totally fine if you give it a little wipe down after you’ve gone through all the beans. Best of luck getting through the rest of that bag :)