Buy Cheap Coffee Maker Machine

Worked better than expected
Bought this for my wife for Christmas. didn't know it, but I have had to make her the chocolate Mocha thing she liked so much at Starbucks. Evidentially she likes it better at home then bought from Starbucks now. We just buy the Starbucks espresso blend and have them grind it for the Espresso machine. Get a free cup of coffee with each bag. The bag lasts forever. Saving money out the wazzu on this machine. I am an efficiency machine, so start to finish it takes about 10 minutes to get everything out make it and clean it up. Clean up is not horrible, but I would recommend that it be done immediately, not 5 or 10 minutes later. the grinds will get stuck in the strainer cup and the frothed milk with evaporate from the steamer arm. Then you got to scrub it rather than wipe it.

We had one problem once, and it wasn't the machine, but the grinds. We bought some other brand espresso beans and ground them in the Kroger store grinder on the espresso setting. It was so fine the machine couldn't get water through the grinds. It was giving a drop every 5 seconds. I had to mix the grinds with another bag and that helped a bit. Just make sure you don't get grinds to fine. You should have a shot of espresso in about 20 sec. If too fast or slow you did something wrong.

You get what you pay for
I used to be a barista at a coffee shop, so coming from that, this machine has a lot of problems. I'll list them here:
- Grabbing the top is the only sensible way to get enough force to either tamp the grounds using the built-in top or lock the cup in place, but the top is ridiculously hot, so I occasionally get minor burns trying to avoid it and get the right amount of pressure
- The steam wand leaves a lot to be desired. I have to put two cappuccinos-worth of milk in my regular-sized frothing pitcher so that the wand reaches the top of the milk
- Steam wand is hard to clean. Getting anything up inside the black cover on the tip is difficult. Once, it even clogged and the next time I turned on the wand, nothing came out, then, all of a sudden, there was an explosion of steam. Dangerous!
- Not a lot of pressure through the ground. It takes forever to get a double-shot.

All that being said, I'm quite happy with my purchase. I bought, as recommended by other reviews,RSVP Terry's Tamper so I don't have to use the built-in. I don't use the machine as often as I thought due to how time-consuming it can be, but it's still a nice treat on weekends. Knowing everything I dislike about this machine, I still would have bought it because you can't beat the price.

Tiny size, big flavor, nice dry puck
After spending 2 weeks in Italy, espresso is now a mainstay for my morning routine. I tried the stovetop Bialetti version only to be let down. After a recommendation by a family member I took the plunge and bought this unit and have not looked back.

Pros:
Easy to use and clean
Good size reservoir for water
Great crema
Fast priming time

Cons:
Could have a cup warmer (nothing some hot tap water can't fix)

First off, buying Terry's Tamper is a must as the one on the unit is worthless. That being said, a good tamper is the key to a great dry puck. Here's what you do for a perfect doppio:

- Fill handle with 1.75-2 scoops of grinds with the provided spoon
- Tamp down with Terry's Tamper using about 30# of pressure (a strong push down with a lot of body weight on a counter)
- Attach to unit
- Turn knob to priming condition, wait 15-30 minutes
- Turn on to dispense espresso until you have poured enough
- Once done turn unit back to priming setting and place a small drip catcher under dispenser
- Wait 5 minutes, turn unit off and clean.

Perfect espresso, easy cleanup, nice dry puck. Wipe down with damp towel repeat the process. Hope you enjoy this unit as much as I have. I cannot recommend it more highly.

Perfect starter espresso machine
Wow, what a fantastic deal!

This is my first espresso machine and I found it easy to use, clean, and most importantly make delish coffee.

So far, we've made lattes and americanos - both have turned out to be near-coffee shop quality.

I love that it comes with a steam wand and it gets the milk hot! I usually steam it between 140 - 160 degrees.

It is a fairly small machine so it doesn't take up much room, which is great.

The steam wand does sit pretty low to the counter so I recommend getting a small pitcher. I got the Rattleware 12-Ounce Latte Art Milk Frothing Pitcher and it works well with the machine.

DeLonghi Espresson Machine
The DeLonghi Espresso maker. I really love this little machine. I researched several but kept coming back to this one. The reviews were favorable and I just liked the way it looked. It was a little more than I wanted to pay but I wanted a good one. I asked a friend of mine who knows espresso makers what she would recommend and this is the one she chose. So I ordered it. Its quick, doesn't take up much space, easy to clean and it makes the BEST espresso ever. I highly recommend it.