Design flaw causes the milk to be tainted with a rubber flavour - do not buy this
Positive Product Points
Good aesthetic design, excellent build quality.
Negative Product Points
Steamer picks up rubber flavour from the seal and transfers it to the milk.
Detailed Commentary
It has one flaw but it is a major product flaw. The rubber seal in the lid (similar to the round ring rubber seal you would find in the lid of a glass jar) sits over the hole that the steam exists from. To allow the steam to get exit the steamer, holes have been made in the rubber seal. This method meets all the design engineers requirements. The seal keeps the lid secure so no steam is lost and the holes allow the free unhinderd excape of the steam when a budding home barista depresses the extremely ergonomic steam release lever.
HOWEVER, if someone had actually tasted a steamed milk rather than just checked the froth consistency and temperature, they would have realized that the extremely hot steam forced through under pressure through the hole in the rubber seal, actually leaches an unappetizing bitter rubber flavour and infuses the milk with it, ultimately rendering your beverage undrinkable.
Buying Experience
Overall very disappointing. I thought I had a great replacement for my old stove top steamer which had started to leak steam. However after trying this one and being disappointed about the rubber flavour, i tried numerous times to see if i could 'wash out' or 'burn out' the rubber flavour by using the steamer however ultimately i threw it in the back of the kitchen cupboard and am still using my old model.
