I have had this machine since last Christmas. It is my first espresso machine and overall I love it. Two of the lessons I've learned this year are: don't plan to buy a grinder later, build it into the budget from the start, and don't settle for supermarket beans, find a local roaster, it makes a big difference.
Some people have problems with the pannarello wand blowing off. You start frothing and 2 seconds later, BAM, milk is everywhere and the wand is in the jug. I had this problem. I found I could minimise it by putting the wand on carefully, not pushing it on too hard, but I couldn't stop it happening entirely. About 10% of the time the wand would blow off.
Some people have described this wand as 'useless'. I found it pretty useless. I had to work hard to eke froth out of the milk. I didn't know how hard I was working, because I'd never done it before, but I did know that when people wrote about creating a 'whirlpool' in the frothing jug I would think wow, I never get anything like that.
I discovered that both these problems were because the wand was put together incorrectly. It consists of 5 pieces. The main part has an insert that fits inside it, and pokes slightly out the tip. Generally, you don't take this piece out when you pull the wand apart to rinse it, it stays inside the main part of the wand.
This piece must be lined up correctly. The tip of the wand is oval shaped, so it has a long edge and a short edge. The inner piece must be lined up with the LONG edge. My machine came with no instruction telling me this. When you line up the inner piece the right way, and push it in, it 'clicks' into place, so you know you've done it correctly.
Putting the insert in correctly increased my steam power by 200%. Suddenly, when I put the wand in against one side of the jug, the other side roils and swirls about. I'd never seen that before. And the milk froths up effortlessly. Before, I was jiggling the jug about, up and down, eking out the froth. Now I barely do anything. The steam does all the work. Also, since making this change, the wand has not blown off once.
Thinking about the people who have problems keeping the wand on, and the people who dismiss the wand as 'useless', I feel sure some of these people have it pushed together wrongly. I hope, if you're one of those people, that this has been helpful. |
