My ongoing coffee machine destruction derby continues: this time the casualty is my Dualit Expressivo [http://www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com/archives/4883], which managed to live for a comparatively lengthy 17 months before refusing to make anything other than faintly coffee-flavoured water while trying to flood the kitchen. That’s twice as long as lesser firms’ products ever managed.

That means it’s time to go shopping again. I suspect that cheap espresso machines are a false economy, but I’m hardly in a position to spend stacks either. I’ve heard good things about the Gaggia Classic. Any passing coffee geeks know whether that’s worth selling one of the children for?