To get more into espresso i finally got a used gaggia classic and upgraded it with a replacement controller running the open source gaggiuino project.
Fully with loadcell scales, pressure sensor, pid temperature control and a hand soldered all in one pcb.
You can also use standard arduino style modules for most components but the pcb makes it much more compact and reliable.
In this case the modifications are fully reversible in case a future owner wants to revert it back to stock.
Works great and automates a lot of steps to be more consistent. Now i just need to practice the manual parts of making espresso ;)
Note: this is not my project, i just documented the build process on my machine.
Maybe it helps someone to get an overview what goes into such a conversion and inspires more users to attempt it.
The community is already pretty big and many also adapted the project for other machines.
*Seems like the post was synchronized only after editing multiple times
Oh that's good to know. I haven't experimented much with decaf, but I should give it a shot.