Espresso at Home

[Fumes]

Originally Posted by Mister Moo

12. I do not qualify as an expert on this subject. I'm merely a post whore with a laptop and a coffee jones, that's all.

You may not think you qualify, but for the purpose of answering this question I appoint you Resident Expert:

How much better are high-end espresso makers than budget/econo machines? For example, I recently jumped into the shark tank and acquired a DeLonghi EC155 -- a pump machine that can be had for well under $100. It has some really serious design flaws, but ignoring those it seems to make pretty good coffee. Pretty good, I say, because I was expecting better. I'm still new at this so there's a lot of room for operator error, but I'm working on my technique, and I am not afraid to fail. (Lately I've been failing with a nice blend of Brazil Pedra Grande and El Salvador COE. Not too shabby for failure.)

Yet I wonder -- am I setting my sights too high? Is this the best I can expect from a budget machine? And what is "fake" crema? (as critics of this machine have espressed.) What's fake and what's real and how do I tell the difference?