If you have no issues with sourcing from taobao, then your alternatives become bigger.. Am not familiar with manual machines but i can point you to something for your worthwhile consideration..

Sub RM500.. look for brand like Eupa, Petrus, Gustino. Mind you, they have chinese-equivalent names, know it and your search results expand. At this category, nothing much in terms of pragmatic parameters; asthetics maybe.

Sub RM1k.. look for brand like Petrus(there's a particular good model i've seen), Milesto, Welhome WPM KD130. The weakest of these is the Petrus. The best? Perhaps the WPM.. because of the materials they apply onto their machines.. For this category, you may see that the weight of the machine goes up exponentially..

Do take note that brands mentioned here are not exhaustive, do explore and find one to your liking and/or within your intended budget.. Same goes for a grinder; manual or electric.. Do find a burr type grinder.

Within the context of "ground coffee".. re-working them will definitely be messy.. And i gathered you're using a pressurized machine? Have you tried applying "manual pre-infusion" to your extraction? May try a 5-sec(tops) pre-infusion.

On the topic of a grinder, i seldom avocate this, but in your case.. maybe you can seriously consider a manual hand grinder.. Can find one online(e.g) Shopee for sub RM30. Of if you can source from forumers here who just upgraded their hand grinders for their former tool(s).. Else you're wasting coffee with that blade grinder (we been there, we know)

Very curious on the bolded part.. share pls

Can share how your setup evolve to current? Dome of us are sure curious on how commercial sifu like your goodself went thru..

Yeah... Double "Woah" on that.. those are triple shot volume liao

Yes, very well know where you're coming from.. Cos we have used those machine before..
the boiler is too small to exert good enough steam pressure to the wand tip but well enough to transfer heat to bring the milk to a boil..
You may try to deep freeze your milk pitcher first before using it. This will add perhaps 30-50sec of extra time(or delay, whichever you want to call it) to your frothing process..

The underdeveloped espresso for the setup you're currently using, I'd like to think it's influenced by that both factors. Some machine will loose pressure(boiler) and temperature(boiler) halfway into an extraction. And it's very difficult to adjust grind-size from a blade grinder, so for the time being, perhaps you can bear with the current deficiencies? Just don't give up the interest, ya..

Very nice cuppa there, bro.. Haven't tried PNG beans before..
By the way, not all thermoblocks are designed the same.. the size of the block tells alot in performance difference. WPM even placed 3 thermoblocks of considerable size into their machine, turn on the steam, you'd easily mistaken it's a commercial machine(steam wise).

Bro, it's somewhat difficult to explain unless you've personally used a similiar class/type of machine he is currently using. The vibe pump(although mentioned as ULKA), isn't exactly powerful enough to be stable. Moreover, most of the materials are thin stainless steel; quick heat transfer but poor heat retention.. those sourish taste is like underextract and i suspect, suffered from heat due to the blade grinder as well..

Yeah.. 3. Haven't figure out why the need for 3. Mine has 2 thermoblocks.. extraction and steam

Yes, in fact a few other users here are using WPM too.
Mind to intro about your setup and your so-called difficulties?
Also do share about yourself on your experience/journey into coffee making.. then we may have an idea where you're coming from.

Am more interested at how on earth you ended up with that kd-310 and baratza 270?
Are these your 1st machines/grinders? Where and how did you find them?
... cos, very unlikely a newbie would just tap a 310 just like that(hope it's not a vp)

at this point, am just trying to ascertain where you're coming from..

Macau?!? You're not local(M'sian) i suppose?

Firstly, there're just too many assumptions you're basing on and because of your assumptions, people may give you improper advice which may lead to further assumptions later on..

Secondly, "don't compare with your friend's Rocket"... You ought to go back to basics. There are proper way to make a single shot espresso.. Grind, Dose(gram), distribute/tamp, and measure your time for yield.. If your targeted yield is off, adjust the grind or dosing or tamping.

You don't sound like you know your machine very well.. Have this machine been used by another person prior to you? If yes, kindly do a full factory reset and start from there.. Please don't rely on the programs on the machine first; unless you calibrate them properly..

forget about comparing the supermarket beans with your friend, because, aside from brand, there're different batches to consider too (can you ascertain that both you and your friend have the same production batch of the same brand to begin with)? merely the same brand won't mean much if comparison is not concise..

take out a stopwatch and a proper weighing machine.. go back to BASICS..
Practice your Single Shot Recipe, or if you prefer, Double Shot Recipe.
there're of course variation with different beans.. even stale beans, you can still grind fine enough to chock the machine, provided you have a good grinder and know how to use it..

If you get you basics right.. then we talk about filter basket.. at this point, 25g on a double sounds.... unbelievable AF.

Don't incline to think this way, but i have a feeling your equipment(WPM & Baratza) is used/secondhand?

lt's likely is your Baratza grinder is the culprit.. As most decent/good grinder can grind so fine until it can jam/choke an espresso machine.. Unless the burr blade is beyond dull, or it has hit "point zero" before.. or misaligned?

We use a cheap WPM ZD-12 grinder with shim modding and can easily jam/choke my WPM espresso machine if I dailed the grinder wrongly.

225ml in 30sec?!?!
Something is seriously wrong..

Sorry guys, I missed this perspective at benchmarking an espresso machine.. I now see it as a comprehensive way at covering all bases in a troubleshoot.

Yes, double walled are mostly pressurized. The creama from a pressurized basket are sort of "forced" or fake. There are lots of micro bubbles within the creama, hence the fakeness..
Thus "better" is still subjective for you until you've seen actual and good creama..

7 days old roasted bean, with it's creama

The coffee bean doesn't look too bad, for I've seen or used far worst than yours.. If your machine flowrate is within normal, then, very likely is your grinder.. Am not trained to view the dry puck from your pic, but as reference.. mine looks like this (taken from my previous post)

Yes, if you can't grind fine enough.. adding shim(s) will help tremendously.. WPM ZD-12 can't grind fine enough for espresso straight out from the factory. With the shim, it works wonder..

Bro, interested with your Jamaica Blue Mountain. Where did you source it and how much for that 100g?