Elektra is a company that has made espresso machines for a very long time. In fact, the Elektra Micro Casa a Leva is a machine that they've been making since the company was founded in 1947. Later on in their history, they started making machines like the Micro Casa Semi Automatica, and others for the home market.

The Elektra Nivola is the newest home machine from Elektra, and is a bit of a departure for the company from their past efforts. This is Elektra's first attempt at an ESE (Easy Serving Espresso) pod machine for the North American market. This machine was also designed first as a striking work of art, a metal sculpture, if you will, that just so happens to contain an espresso machine inside of it.

The machine is currently (July, 2005) $895 online.

CoffeeGeek was supplied with a grounds-capable version of the Nivola, along with the pod adapter conversion kit. This machine is sold as either a pod capable or grounds capable machine, though the pod conversion can be purchased from vendors.

Review Section by Section

In this detailed review, we'll be looking at several key factors, discussing each one at length:

• Product Overview, including our initial impressions, methodology behind the product's design and function, specifications and some notes about the company's literature for the Nivola.
  
  
• Operation and Maintenance, which cover both pod and non pod usage. We put the machine through all the normal workload it would get in the home, and point out things we liked and didn't like with regards to how it operates, and how easy it is to maintain.
  
  
• Machine Performance is where we get down to the serious issues of how the machine performs as compared to other espresso machines, and for the typical expectations of the target market for the Nivola.
  
  
• Comparisons will have head to head looks at the Nivola and some competing machines.
  
  
• Conclusion is where we provide our final say on this product, and our recommendations and ratings.
  
  

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