Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsRead This Before You Buy
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2024
This machine cannot make a warm cup of espresso. The proper serving temperature of an espresso in the cup is between 160° F and 165°F (70–74°C). This is virtually impossible to reach with this machine. Instead, this machine produces a cold, poor tasting cup of espresso with a weak crema that goes away in a few seconds. If you start making coffee by placing an espresso cup in the warming tray at the top of the machine, and proceed to make the coffee according to directions, the temperature of the coffee in the cup is about 122 F (50 C). By the time you sit down, the coffee is likely closer to 113 F (45 C), or less. This is unacceptable. It is virtually impossible to make a warm cup of espresso. Even if you use the hot water dispenser to pre-heat the cup, the final temperature of the espresso does not approach 160 °F, the minimum serving temperature for espresso. The same conclusion applies if you run water through the filter holder (called the "metal funnel") to preheat the cup before making espresso.
This machine has other shortcomings:
1) Unlike other machines, the filter holder does not warm up when the machine is turned on. As a result, the filter holder is cold when you make the first cup of espresso. Hence, the water used to make the first cup is cooled even further by the filter. This is probably a main reason why the cup comes out at a temperature of 122 F, way too cold.
2) The machine vibrates so much when brewing that the cup moves around on the drip tray, and the coffee misses the cup.
3) The holes in the filter holder are too far apart for a standard espresso cup. So the coffee misses the cup when making a double cup,
4) The included tamping tool is very flimsy. It won't last long if you subject it to 33 to 40 lbs of tamping pressure that is recommended in the included manual.
5) The tamping tool is too large for the double-cup brewing filter, making it impossible to apply the "2 step dose & tamp method" that is recommended in the included manual. The narrowing shape of the double-cup filter makes it impossible for the tamping tool to reach the bottom of the filter, so it is not possible to tamp the first dose.
6) The tray at the top of the machine is designed to warm your espresso cup, but that doesn't work. Even after half an hour on the tray, the cup has barely warmed.
These are all shortcomings that other machines in the same price range have overcome.