Tea & Coffee Makers
Buy and sell tea and coffee makers in Costa Rica.
A kettle for tea and a pump espresso machine with its own grinder sit at opposite ends of the counter, and between them come drip coffee makers, Nespresso and Dolce Gusto capsule brewers and stovetop moka pots. In many Costa Rican homes the kettle still does the main coffee work, heating water for a wooden stand and cloth filter. Each of these turns up new in the box and second-hand. With a used one, where it was run matters as much as its age, because the hard water of Guanacaste scales a boiler far faster than the softer supply of the Central Valley.
A drip coffee maker against a kettle and cloth filter:
the drip machine does the pouring itself, into a glass jug on a hot plate or a thermal carafe that keeps the coffee hot without stewing it, while a kettle leaves the pouring to you, over the wooden stand and cloth filter that still makes the morning coffee in plenty of homes, the kind carved and painted in Sarchí. Drip machines often come in breakfast sets; split one and the blender belongs in blenders and juicers, the toaster in toasters and toaster ovens.
What separates an espresso machine from a cappuccino maker:
a pump. The cheapest “espresso and cappuccino” makers push water through the coffee with steam from a sealed boiler, which gives a strong, short coffee with hardly any foam on top, but not espresso. A pump machine, from De’Longhi or Oster up to Breville and Ninja models with a grinder built in, forces water through a packed portafilter at far higher pressure, and that is what the extra money buys. Capsule machines trade choice for convenience and tie you to one system: Nespresso Original, Nespresso Vertuo and Dolce Gusto capsules do not fit each other’s machines, so check which one a used machine takes before counting on the capsules in your cupboard. A household that drinks a full jug every morning is better served by a thermal-carafe drip machine, or a kettle and cloth filter, than by espresso made a cup at a time. A moka pot on the stove makes a strong cup with nothing electrical to fail. Milk drinks are the reason to step up, and they need a steam wand or a capsule machine with a frother. A kettle with temperature settings earns its price only if you drink green or white tea.
Espresso machines keep their resale value, kettles lose theirs:
a plain drip coffee maker or an electric kettle costs about ₡15,000 to ₡25,000 new, and at that price a new box with a fresh heating element beats most used ones unless the used one is nearly free. Pump espresso machines change the sums. One with a built-in grinder runs from about ₡200,000 to ₡300,000 new, and the parts that do the work, the pump, the boiler and the burrs, outlast the cheap rubber seals around them. A descaled machine a few years old keeps much of its value; one that needs a new pump, or has a boiler choked with scale, keeps very little.
Limescale and the water a machine was fed:
groundwater across much of Guanacaste, the Nicoya peninsula and the Caribbean side around Limón is hard, while most of the Central Valley’s supply is soft, so ask where a machine was used and how often it was descaled. A drip machine that brews slowly, sputters or pours lukewarm coffee is scaled up inside. With an espresso machine, pull a shot with the seller. The pump should hum evenly and water should come only through the coffee, not around the rim of the portafilter; a leak there is usually a hardened group gasket, cheap to replace but worth pricing in. On a capsule machine, look for water around the capsule holder and a descale light that will not go out. On a moka pot, check the rubber seal and look for pitting inside the aluminium base.
A secondhand espresso machine, and the shot the buyer will want to pull:
photograph the group head, the inside of the water tank, the steam wand and the rating plate, and say when it was last descaled and which part of the country it was used in. List the portafilter, baskets, tamper and milk jug, because without its double basket an espresso machine is close to useless until a matching one turns up. Plenty come up when a household goes back to the cloth filter after a few years of capsules, and a buyer who knows espresso will arrive with a bag of their own coffee, so have the tank full and the machine warm before they get there.