If consistency is King, then the Brewtus just took the Throne.
Positive Product Points
Great consistency & speed
Negative Product Points
Have to remove cup warmer tray to fill water Steep learning curve for good microfoam
Detailed Commentary
Before buying this machine, I owned a Rancilio Silvia for 3 years. I changed to the Brewtus as I felt I'd gone as far as I could with the Silvia but still wanted more. When I say more, I really wanted better consistency - Silvia would give me consistently good, often great and occasionally exceptional shots, but I wanted to increase the ratio of exceptional : good shots and felt I'd done all I could with the Silvias limited temperature stability.
After a few dud shots dialling in my grind, the Brewtus really impressed me. Shot to shot variation was minimal, letting me fine tune and dial in my shots far quicker than I could with the Silvia. This meant less wasted coffee, less wasted time and more great & exceptional shots in my cup!
Milk, on the other hand was an entirely different beast.
I could achieve great micro-foam and latte art with the Silvia. It was just a pain waiting for the steam.
With the Brewtus, the wait had gone but I REALLY struggled with getting microfoam. Scouring the net I found many people with the same story and many evangelical threads about changing the steam tip. I also found a few threads from respected members of the coffee community saying that the standard tip is great, but needs practice. I went back to the drawing board and practised, practised, practised. Many gallons of milk and soapy water (google soapy water latte art) later, I'm totally converted. The standard tip is great. It's really quick, and that's the issue. There is a fine line between super fast beautiful microfoam and super-hot watery white liquid. Now I've got my head around it, I love it, but be prepared to spend time learning if you want the best out of the machine.
In a nut-shell, I love it. I'll probably plumb it in one day because I can, but for now I can't imagine considering any other upgrade any time soon!
Buying Experience
Great Australian vendor - happy to spend time talking through and demonstrating equipment. Would shop there again in a heartbeat.
Three Month Followup
-
One Year Followup
I'm still in love with this machine. I upgraded my grinder to a Mazzer Mini E and my results got better again. I can consistently pour great shots, and make great microfoam. It'll be a long time before I feel the need to upgrade again.
Positives: - Awesome consistency - Easy to change temperature if you want to - Auto cut-out has saved the boiler a few times - Reliable - it's never skipped a beat
Very minor negatives: - It's not the world's easiest machine to polish due to all the dials etc - Cup warmer is great for cups on the RHS, but not on the LHS - No real easy way to clean inside the water container
