Saeco Vienna Digital SuperAutomatic Espresso Coffee and Cappuccino Machine : Reviews, Cheap, Discount Kitchenware, Kitchen Saeco Vienna Digital SuperAutomatic Espresso Coffee and Cappuccino Machine

Average Rating: 3.82 out of 5 stars

Rating:

- I miss my machine!
I have just returned to the US from living in Switzerland for the past 3 years. My husband treated me to the above machine when we first moved. He, not being a coffee drinker, was shocked by the price but figured it was cheaper than the 7.00 swiss franc Starbucks coffee. The machine paid for itself in spades! Everyone who came to visit from the US left saying they had to find this machine at home. The coffee is great.

Now I am back in the US and my machine with it's 220 volts is back in Switzerland. I am dying for a good cup of coffee....the Krups auto drip I replaced my dream machine with just isn't cutting it. So, I will be ordering yet another mint priced coffee machine, but will be so happy the day it arrives and I can have a real cup of European coffee again.

If in doubt, buy this machine. It's worth the investment.

Rating:

- Update on my previous review
I have owned the Vienna Deluxe for over a year now. I have not had any problems with it. I liked it so much that I bought one for my girlfriend for her birthday.

It appears from some of the postings, that if the machine breaks down, the customer service is not so good. Since I have not dealt with customer service I have not had any experience with them. I do know however that when I called them to ask a question their office was closed on the weekend.

All in all if you take care of this machine it should work just fine.

Make sure before you use the machine, that the water reservoir has water, grounds are emptied and you have enough beans in the hopper.

Rating:

- Cappuccino's so good you will be spoiled
Having owned regular Espresso machines from Solis, I was skeptical about the so called SuperAutomatics. But I hated the mess the regular espresso machines made (grinding the coffee, dumping the grounds etc). I was also skeptical whether you could tune the superautomatics to the point where you could get a good shot of espresso since thats the most important part of a good drink.

I got the Saeco Superautomatic and I was very pleased with it, there are 18 grind settings so you can get the right grind. A good shot of espresso should take between 12-14 seconds. If it comes too fast its weak or too slow its bitter. With the Saeco you can adjust it, you can also adjust the amount of coffee that comes out.

The Steaming wand has this plastic sleeve called the Panerello, it really helps in getting the thick velvety foam thats so important to making a good Cappuccino. As any true Cappuccino lover knows you don't pour milk and scoop foam over it like all the dummies at Starbucks do (they do need lots of training, all they do is push buttons and act yuppy), you actually scoop the foam and the milk combined to make a creamy cappuccino.

There are some minor annoyances, you will find that the water reservoir tends to be a bit small and you have to check to make sure you have not run out of water. It also makes a fairly loud noise when its making the espresso (the tamping and the dumping etc).

Check the following each time you make an espresso:

1) Check the container holding the used coffee grounds to see if its time to dump it, it can get full pretty quickly depending on how much you are using the machine.
2) Check the water level
3) Check the coffee beans to make sure there are enough.

I liked it so much I bought one for my sister, she likes it a lot as well. We use coffee from a private roaster, anything other than Charbucks coffee would work fine. Peet's is a good alternative.

Please buy Fair Trade coffee, that way the poor farmers are getting a decent price. Did you know that coffee farmers get 10-12 cents for every dollar, and the chains like Starbucks who also roast and sell the coffee make 80-85 cents per dollar.