Ask Lemmy

My Stanley thermos is as good as the day I bought it

Sage (Breville) Barista Express. Been around for 8 years. Solenoid valve has been needed to be changed twice but it’s a job I’m confident in doing now and the parts are quite cheap (£25).

I bought it broke and fixed it up. Still makes a quality cup better than anyone else’s at home machine. Mainly because other’s often opt for less complicated but more expensive Nespresso pods (which make weak cereal-heavy flavoured outputs - check the James Hoffman video on that); or cheaper Delonghi’s, which I used to own before upgrading.

However I find Delonghi machines have a particular taste which I think comes from the Easy Serving Espresso system they implement in their machines, which puts a rubber gasket in the basket which a) is used to compensate for the weaker pressure of those machines by creating pressure in the basket rather than from the resistence from the coffee (thus affecting taste from the method of extraction), and b) affects the taste from the rubber itself (as well as its collecting of old coffee grounds).

So for anyone looking for a good quality espresso machine, I’d recommend picking up one of these second hand.

Some of my BIFL:

I seem to lose Swiss Army Knives before they wear out or break. On my 3rd or 4th one now and trying to hang on to it.

I still have my Atari 2600 from when I was a kid. And many more cartridges than I had before. The CRT I played it on still works too.

Various tools like vice grips, hammers, corded drills, table saw, and circular saw.

Bare and enameled cast iron pots and pans.

Several tents. The oldest one is a Coleman Oasis canvas tent I used growing up. HUGE tent - 12' at the peak and about 12'x12'.

I don't plan to keep it for life, but I have a wallet from the Buffalo Billfold Company. Bison and very durable. I think mine is the hipster.

More frugal than buy-for-life but: good shoes. Twice the price but they last way longer. It's cheaper in the end.

Boots. Here in the Southern US, boots are very common daily footwear, even for business casual attire. I have two pairs of Lucchesse ropers, one black and one brown. A "roper" has a low, straight heel like a dress shoe rather than a tall angled heel like a more traditional "cowboy" boot. I've probably got 10 years on both pairs and no telling how many times the heels and soles have been replaced. Still look like they just came out of the box. They are also very comfortable if you spend all day on your feet unlike most dress shoes. Lucchesse's are expensive but most high quality footwear is.

My Pet Monster. Got it in 86, passed it down to my daughter and it's still holding up like new almost 40 years later.