This was a great read, thank you for the post. I recently purchased a La Pavoni, I am not pushing any particular brand, but these types of machines, the manual

This was a great read, thank you for the post. I recently purchased a La Pavoni, I am not pushing any particular brand, but these types of machines, the manual type, honestly make the best Espresso, which in my view is the best way to enjoy coffee. I have tried every contraption out there over the years, by far a manual pump machine is the best.