Good to see you post this back up Moo, and anyone interested, once upon a time I went against everything this guy told me and went the semi-decent budget route, and got AWFUL espresso. This was largely due to me not giving it enough tries over the course of a week, but after a week of making a mess, elevating my blood pressure, and failing miserably I JUST WANTED A SHOT OF MF'ING ESPRESSO!!! Whew..... so I delved further into my moka pot (which became a 2cupper brikka) and found true happiness with faux-espresso that tastes plenty good, even without considering how much work/effort it DOESN'T require.
The moral of the story IMO? = Either jump in all the way and commit to spending both money and time, or spend neither and go moka pot route.
