Back in March, on the very first day I was going to start working from home, my Breville Oracle espresso machine decided to break down. I thought about repairing it myself which I’ve previously done since there is no local dealer, but I hated working on it the last time since the machine was not easy to self-service. I didn’t know what I was going to do at first, do I buy a new machine? Do I wait until things reopen and find a guy to fix it? Do I take it with me to the Dubai dealer when airports eventually reopen? I was actually close to reordering the same machine from Amazon UK but then I asked myself, why do I want to get the exact same machine I had which will eventually breakdown again?
I decided to go down the classic car route direction, I wanted a new coffee machine that was mostly mechanical, very little to no technology, and easy to fix in case something went wrong. After doing a lot of research and watching hundreds and hundreds of coffee-related videos on YouTube, I decided to go for the Rocket Appartamento.
Rocket is an Italian company that are known for making great quality prosumer machines that are also beautiful looking. They have 7 different machines they make and the Appartamento was their entry-level machine that would fulfill my requirements. All I really needed was a machine that looked good, had very little that could go wrong with it, if something did go wrong I could easily fix, and finally, a machine that would allow me to steam my latte milk while pulling an espresso shot at the same time.
The Rocket Appartamento fit all my requirements and was fairly reasonably priced compared to its larger siblings. I looked for the machine locally first and even though I found a couple of small businesses that sold Rocket machines, they were all out of stock. In the end, I decided to order my machine online from Espresso Coffee Shop who are based in Italy and ship to Kuwait. Their prices were great since they remove the VAT when exporting and with the price of shipping to Kuwait the machine was turning out to be around 50KD cheaper than the price of the machine when it was available locally. It seemed too good to be true but I checked online reviews and they seemed legit. But, Espresso Coffee Shop were also out of stock on machines since the Rocket factory in Italy had shut down due to the pandemic. But I called them up and they told me that the factory had reopened and I’d be in line to get one in their next shipment which was in around 2 weeks time. That was fine with me so I ended up ordering a few things from them:
Rocket Appartamento (White)
Rocket Faustino Grinder (Black)
Acaia Lunar Scale
Rocket Tamping Mat
Rocket Bottomless Portafilter
Rocket Knock Box
Rocket Milk Jug
Motta Leveling Tool
The guys at Espresso Coffee Shop were pretty helpful and patient even though I’m sure they were swamped with orders. I actually amended my order four different times while waiting on my machine to be back in stock by adding and changing different items. The Acaia scale alone I had changed three times mostly because of my willingness to pay so much money for a scale. Through all my indecisiveness, Espresso Coffee Shop were very accomodating and patient with me. I did all my communication over the phone and never had to wait longer than a minute or two to talk to someone on their team. Once my machine was finally in stock they shipped everything to Kuwait for KD110 via UPS. It took only a few days to get to Kuwait from Italy but it arrived mid May during our lockdown and UPS wasn’t delivering so I had to wait until last week to finally get it delivered to me. I was worried they’d send me the wrong items because of how many times I amended my order but thankfully the most expensive and important items which were the coffee machine, grinder, and scale arrived correctly. The only item that didn’t arrive was my milk jug which they forgot to pack. So I called Espresso Coffee Shop and they were very apologetic and refunded me the amount on the spot.
I’ve now been using the machine a few times daily since I got it and it’s been great, I love it. So if you’re looking to buy an espresso machine I’d really recommend checking out Espresso Coffee Shop. Here is the link to their website.
35 replies on “Ordering an Espresso Machine Online”
is there a typo in the price you paid ? because the machine is listed for 1065 Euro = 368KD
No because I didn’t mention the price of the machine in my post.
Doesn’t matter, the machine will pay for itself because you can make your drinks in home so you aren’t paying upcharge at some Café to make you expresso(s) everyday! That machine looks like it will last forever. You could also side hustle and open a pop up Rocket Expresso haha!!
Yeah exactly, I think I previously calculated that it costs me around 350fils to make a latte at home using lacto free milk and even less if I use regular milk. So machine pays itself back in like 6-9 months.
So 110 KD you mentioned in your post is just the delivery charge?
Yes not just for the coffee machine but for everything else I ordered with it so the grinder and accessories. I think total weight was 35kg
Don’t you think it would be safer to buy from a local reseller in case something goes wrong? I am thinking of buying it myself.
Yes, but, the local Rocket dealer seems to be inactive/shutdown and the other places selling coffee machines are just ordering them and reselling them locally. So not sure how the after service will be. And, they don’t have anything in stock anyway with no sign on when they’re gonna get the next shipment.
On the other hand, the Rockets and other machines similar are very easy to fix. Around 4-6 screws to open the unit up and then everything is in front of you. They also have a website for all the parts so should be easy to do it yourself.
does it support 240v ?
yup, they have units in 110v and 220v since they ship worldwide, so you choose which you want when placing an order.
That’s quite a setup you have there. Do you get your beans from Arabica? Seems like they’re one of the few places that know what they’re doing (besides the micro-roast places)
Yeah, I get their Arabica Blend beans but there are other good places that roast beans like 48 East https://www.instagram.com/48e.co/ I just go with Arabica because its what I got used to
It looks awesome! You are a coffee nut!
*bean
Exactly, You are funny, good catch!
My Oracle grinder failed. If only I knew back then not to buy it! Apparently a lot of people are having problems with their Breville grinders. Enjoy your Rocket, I am thinking of getting one or a similar E61 group head machine. Have you looked into E61 flow control valve?
hey, no didn’t look into flow control since i don’t have a need for it. I wanted a simple and reliable machine that would allow me to pull a shot and steam my milk at the same time which being consistent. So the basic Appartamento suited my needs.
After reading your article I decided to order a Rocket espresso machine as well. I was very fortunate to find a vendor who had a R58 dual boiler for sale and can’t wait for my shipment to arrive. Enjoy your Rocket, I think they are great machines!
I don’t drink espressos but that’s a beautiful machine. Would add a nice touch to any kitchen/table.
The also have great discount codes available via their live chat discounting €100-150 overall
I hate espresso, 10 years ago they installed an espresso machine outside my office, I started drinking it thinking maybe I’ll get used to it.
The problem after each shot like 5 min later there hundreds of small fireflies in front of my face.
I knew then and there that it’s not getting along with my system.
Manual home espresso makers are a thing. No issues whatsoever with machinary breakdowns. Check out Flair or Cafelat. With a proper espresso grinder they make pretty good espresso.
oh you’re a 248am reader I see
I was featured on here once upon a time lol. Besides if good coffee is mentioned I’m here.
Riiiight right right right! I remember now. Cheers man
I just recently started having interest in this coffee thing to emphasize my Douchebagginess 😝
Congratulation Mark. This is my dream E61 machine. Currently using a Rancilio Silvia (which is an awesome machine) for over 4 years and thinking of changing it in the near future because it’s very slow especially that i switched to milk drink instead of just espresso. So, how fast is your boiler switching from espresso to steam and more importantly how good is grinder does have any static? and was it hard to dial in grinds to get a good shots?. ENJOY YOUR NEW TOY
My machine has a heat exchange boiler so I don’t have to switch between espresso and steaming, I can do both at the same time.
Grinder doesn’t have any static, usually get static with fast grinders but mine takes time so around 12 seconds for 18g. Getting the shot dialed in wasn’t hard but cost me around half a kg of coffee lol
“My machine has a heat exchange boiler” I’M ORDERING NEW MACHINE RIGHT NOW… 😀
Lol, u can also get a machine with a dual boiler but they’re more expensive.
all machines with heat exchangers take about one hour for the group head to get to the right temperature.it will go on steam earlier that that but still it takes one hour to transfer the heat to the group head. breville in Southafrica doesnt have any spares once something breaks you must throw it away if is out of warranty
that’s actually not true, it doesn’t take 1 hour. it takes around 10mins for the boiler to heat up and another 10-20mins for the group head to get to the right temp. the process can also be sped up if you also run the hot water through it.
which carrier did Espresso Coffee Shop use to ship to kuwait? And how much did you buy for customs?
Mark you always impress me, i mean, over the last 10+ years a lot of times i search for a product and write “kuwait” after it you pop up on top of the search ranking, although this is personal blog yet the effort and all the reviews and details you brought for the readers is priceless, keep doing what you do Mark
Thanks for referring to that website i’m ordering mine from there but waiting for good discount as the one offered to a guy replied here (100 to 150euro)
Thanks!