Sales Rank: 3778


Features:

Measures 15 by 16 by 12 inches; 1-year limited warranty

Brews from 1-1/2 to 12 ounces of espresso or regular coffee in seconds

No-mess, no-fuss: automatically tamps coffee and discards used grounds

Removable 53-ounce water tank; double brewing spout fills 2 cups at once

Steaming wand froths milk for cappuccinos and caffe lattes

Average Rating:
Rating: - Great coffeemaker!
I've had this espresso machine for about a month now, and I've used it daily to make 2 cups of crema coffee or two shots of espresso for lattes. So far, I'm loving it. I use it with Illy Scuro pre-ground espresso which seems to be the perfect grind for this machine, and I fill the water tank with filtered water from my Brita pitcher. The espresso has great flavor, the crema is rich and golden, and the easy cleanup means I have no excuse to buy coffee rather than making my own. Once a week, usually on the weekend, I empty the used grounds bin and clean all the removable parts, but between times there is basically no maintenance. Additionally, I live alone, and so the ability to make a single cup of coffee at a time is a big plus--it's what deterred me from daily use of my regular drip coffeepot, not to mention the cleanup factor. The machine is a little pricey, but when I consider how over the past month I have not been into Starbucks once, I've already made up a substantial percentage of the price. Overall, I am extremely happy with this purchase.

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Rating: - I could not be happier with this machine
I am an engineer, and fairly demanding when it comes to product design. I could not be happier with this product for the money. It's fast: you turn it on and by the time you have scooped the coffee in, it's heated up and ready to go. It is amazingly easy to use: you turn a lever and scoop coffee in, turn the lever again and turn it on. It's about as simple to use as a Mr. Coffee machine once you use it once or twice, but it looks complicated at first and my somewhat lazy coworkers still go to the coffee shop rather than plan ahead and buy coffee and milk. It usually froths milk wonderfully. The coffee, cappucino, and espressos I've made taste as good as anything I've gotten from a coffee shop. As others have said, grind the coffee halfway between an espresso grind and a drip cofee grind and you'll be fine.

If you are buying this for an office like I did, it is noisier than a Mr. Cofee machine, it's probably on par with the noise from a dishwasher: it's fine for a lunchroom or a file room where a door can be closed, but I wouldn't recommend it in an open area in which people work. For home use, it should be OK.

Where this product really shines is the cleanup. It really takes very little time to keep this unit clean, which was my biggest fear when buying one. I wipe the frother (the spout where the steam comes out) with a sponge after each use (takes all of 5 seconds). After 5-6 uses, a light comes on telling you to pour out the used coffee grinds, which takes all of 10 seconds. After about 10 uses, I remove the top, rinse it in the sink, wipe down the exposed inside, and then rerinse the removed top. During this time, I soak the frother and then reinstall everything back into place. It sounds complicated, but it isn't, and it takes about a minute or two per week. You'll save more than that even if you work next door to a coffee shop.

This is my first cappucino machine, and I've had it for over a year and use it twice each workday. I'm really happy with it and would recommend it to anyone interested in a cappuccino machine at this price point. It's a consumer product, not a $700 industrial-grade machine you can expect to smash around, but it's priced accordingly and the ease of use and quality of coffees it produces makes it a real value. It allows me to use water-process decaffinated coffee that no coffee shop will use because it doesn't taste as good as standard decaf, but doesn't have the chemicals that I don't want. And, it's much faster than going to the coffee shop, which in my case, is only 3 doors from my office building. And when it is raining out, who wants to walk even 3 doors away to a coffee shop?

I had some complaints, but they really had more to do with my inexperience. Now that I have had the thing for a year I upped my rating to 5 stars from 4. 2 double-size cappuccinos per day x 200 work days x $3 = $1200. The $300 it costs, plus $150 in coffee I've spent (Peets most expensive blend) + $50 in milk means I've saved $700 in the first year, and a whole lot of time. After a year of use, it still works perfectly, but if it broke tomorrow, I'd buy another one.

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Rating: - love it
This machine makes *great* espresso and crema and is very easy to operate (after taking 5-10 minutes to review the directions). It is wonderful when making several cups at a time as the used grounds are automatically dumped into a hidden reservoir which reduces time and clean-up between brews.

I have only noticed problems with coffee temperature if I use the steamer first, then switch to coffee mode. Otherwise, coffee temps are perfect. I have not found a grind that is too fine for this machine, and it seems the finer the grind, the better the flavor.

My only real beef is that condensation collects in the coffee chute, so some of the grounds get stuck on the way to the brew chamber.