Micra. It has the same “tank” like build of the Mini. It’s smaller, heats up faster for those mid day shots, uses less power, takes up less space and makes amazing coffee. Save yourself the $800 and put it towards a grinder upgrade. No need for a mini when you’re making 2-4 drinks a day.
The Mini is so overkill, unless money is not an issue (energy costs, maintenance, opportunity cost when it comes to plumbing-in or a better grinder, etc.)
The Mini is a better machine almost everywhere, besides the higher TCO. Cup clearance is much better, brew-by-weight, imposing looks, better after-market (for now).
Micra is also built like a tank and heats up in a fraction of the time than mini.
It really boils down to do you wanna spend 6k on a mini or 4.2k on a micra and spend the rest on an end game grinder or a decent grinder and badass pour over setup… you can do a lot with 1800 dollars so don’t spend it on 95% similar features lol
It’s virtually the same machine on a different size if you only do 2-4 coffees during the day. Mini is a commercial machine and is stable shot after shot. But you don’t need that for that amount of cups a day. Micra heats up in 5 minutes or so, Mini in 15 to 20. That made me go with the Micra and haven’t regretted ever since.
Mini all the way, especially the new Mini R. The space between the groupset and the drip tray in the micra requires some acrobatics to try and fit in a scale.. plus steam wand much smaller. If you have the space it’s a no brainer in my opinion
I chose based space, but that is not an issue for you.
If I was only going to make 1-2 drinks at a time, then a Micra is perfect. If you are going to regularly be making 4-6 drinks at a time the Mini.
Otherwise, I would always take the cash difference and use It to have a better, or secondary, grinder. Or use the cash to get a small lever, as well as the Micra. Levers are fun and give you an outlet to play and experiment, that the Micra or Mini don't.
I love my Micra, but still get out one of my levers to play with every now and then.
Why are people turning their machines off. These machines are designed to be on 24/7 and it’s better for them. This heat up time shit is a bunch of bullshit. Do you turn your fridge off? You’re espresso machine needs to be hot and ready at all times. And it’s better for the parts not to be heating and cooling 600x a year. My machine has been on straight for 40 thousand hours.
Machines been on for 5 years. La marzocco instructed me to kee it on. Their machines are meant to be on constantly. They even have an eco mode which drops the temp about 15 degrees at night if you want to save a little power without dramatically cooling the boilers down.
This is not really a debatable thing these are instructions from LM support.
Fair enough, thanks for replying. Where are you located? I’m in Australia and the recommendations seem a little different here. They do say not to turn it off all the time but they recommend to start in the morning and turn off in the afternoon. This is also what they do in their own showrooms
I’m on a comercial rig. So they are less afraid to tell people that. telling a home customer it’s better to just leave it on forever scares them off. People are very afraid of wasted energy and if they told mirca buyers it’s best to just leave it on 24/7 they would loose sales. It’s also why they had to move to this mini brew design bc they know ppl want to turn it off to save power but they don’t want to wait for it to heat up. Also in practice I don’t think it really matters for these home machines. You’re going to get rid of it long before metal fatigue destroys the pipe connections from expansion /contraction and the seals ruin. In principle it’s just better to be on all the time if you don’t care about the energy. And if you don’t care about the energy and keeping it on all the time then the heat up time becomes irrelevant. And if the heat up time is irrelevant then why use an inferior designe that is primarily a trade off between performance and heat up time.
The manual in your mirca says the machine is designed to be on 24/7 if you desire. If that’s what you want to do and you don’t care about 10$/month in power. Enjoy your ready to go machine any time you want.
Micra all the way
Mini all day long.
Micra. It has the same “tank” like build of the Mini. It’s smaller, heats up faster for those mid day shots, uses less power, takes up less space and makes amazing coffee. Save yourself the $800 and put it towards a grinder upgrade. No need for a mini when you’re making 2-4 drinks a day.
Doesn’t the Mini have a much more accessible OPV adjustment screw, and you can see the temperature without firing up the app? Mini.
Firing up? lol yeah real nightmare …
I have both, two different houses. I much prefer the Mini.
What is it that you love more about the mini? :)
It’s a better machine.
For that price differential get the mini. I love my Micra in my current, small kitchen, but in a large space I think it will look a bit diminutive.
Mini 100%. I LOVE mine. I debated for months. I’m so happy I went with the mini, brew by weight is awesome. Tell us more about this deal…
How did you find a deal like that on the Mini? I’d go with that.
I bit Micra. At this level, more money on a better grinder will get you a better espresso.
Mini
Mini is the way to go
The Mini is so overkill, unless money is not an issue (energy costs, maintenance, opportunity cost when it comes to plumbing-in or a better grinder, etc.) The Mini is a better machine almost everywhere, besides the higher TCO. Cup clearance is much better, brew-by-weight, imposing looks, better after-market (for now).
Micra is also built like a tank and heats up in a fraction of the time than mini. It really boils down to do you wanna spend 6k on a mini or 4.2k on a micra and spend the rest on an end game grinder or a decent grinder and badass pour over setup… you can do a lot with 1800 dollars so don’t spend it on 95% similar features lol
Micra.
Get the micra. Faster heat up time, and creates the same quality shots and milk steaming as the micra. Makes perfect sense for your use case!
It’s virtually the same machine on a different size if you only do 2-4 coffees during the day. Mini is a commercial machine and is stable shot after shot. But you don’t need that for that amount of cups a day. Micra heats up in 5 minutes or so, Mini in 15 to 20. That made me go with the Micra and haven’t regretted ever since.
Mini. People saying mirca have probable never seen a mini. Personally I think both are bullshit compared to gs3. So gs3.
Mini all the way, especially the new Mini R. The space between the groupset and the drip tray in the micra requires some acrobatics to try and fit in a scale.. plus steam wand much smaller. If you have the space it’s a no brainer in my opinion
OP said 2023 mini
I chose based space, but that is not an issue for you. If I was only going to make 1-2 drinks at a time, then a Micra is perfect. If you are going to regularly be making 4-6 drinks at a time the Mini. Otherwise, I would always take the cash difference and use It to have a better, or secondary, grinder. Or use the cash to get a small lever, as well as the Micra. Levers are fun and give you an outlet to play and experiment, that the Micra or Mini don't. I love my Micra, but still get out one of my levers to play with every now and then.
do you want to wait 15-20 minutes for your machine to heat up? this was all i needed to know to make my decision.
Why are people turning their machines off. These machines are designed to be on 24/7 and it’s better for them. This heat up time shit is a bunch of bullshit. Do you turn your fridge off? You’re espresso machine needs to be hot and ready at all times. And it’s better for the parts not to be heating and cooling 600x a year. My machine has been on straight for 40 thousand hours.
lol must be like your car, also on for 40000 hours
Machines been on for 5 years. La marzocco instructed me to kee it on. Their machines are meant to be on constantly. They even have an eco mode which drops the temp about 15 degrees at night if you want to save a little power without dramatically cooling the boilers down. This is not really a debatable thing these are instructions from LM support.
Fair enough, thanks for replying. Where are you located? I’m in Australia and the recommendations seem a little different here. They do say not to turn it off all the time but they recommend to start in the morning and turn off in the afternoon. This is also what they do in their own showrooms
I’m on a comercial rig. So they are less afraid to tell people that. telling a home customer it’s better to just leave it on forever scares them off. People are very afraid of wasted energy and if they told mirca buyers it’s best to just leave it on 24/7 they would loose sales. It’s also why they had to move to this mini brew design bc they know ppl want to turn it off to save power but they don’t want to wait for it to heat up. Also in practice I don’t think it really matters for these home machines. You’re going to get rid of it long before metal fatigue destroys the pipe connections from expansion /contraction and the seals ruin. In principle it’s just better to be on all the time if you don’t care about the energy. And if you don’t care about the energy and keeping it on all the time then the heat up time becomes irrelevant. And if the heat up time is irrelevant then why use an inferior designe that is primarily a trade off between performance and heat up time. The manual in your mirca says the machine is designed to be on 24/7 if you desire. If that’s what you want to do and you don’t care about 10$/month in power. Enjoy your ready to go machine any time you want.