Stunning Looks Ease of Use Large Reservoir Pressure gauge Sturdy Construction
Negative Product Points
Non Standard Portafilter size Long re-heating cycle Distance between cup and portafilter a bit too small
Detailed Commentary
I got this machine about two weeks ago after much deliberation. It was meant to be a birthday gift but because I was having trouble deciding which one to go for it got delayed.
The machine arrived well packaged and quickly from " Another coffee" in the UK. As reported elsewhere, the manual is short and not very detailed but it serves its purpose. The machine actually is a lot sturdier than it appears in the pictures. It is solid and heavy without taking up a whole lot of space in the kitchen.
I found the machine easy to operate in itself, as long as you stick to the routine of heating it up and running some hot water prior to pulling . It is also important that you pull shortly after the green light is off because that's when the boiler is at its hottest.
It takes a while to achieve a good espresso as you have to play with the grind, tamper and coffee ammount. As I don't have a proper grinder I twek the ammount and tamping only. The machine has an inbuilt tamper that has been much maligned but not knowing any better I can say that it seems to work reasonably well as I manage to get decent espresso.
All in all it is a wonderfull machine with some limitations that migh hamper a Barrista but don't affect me as much because I am not (yet) obsessed with it.
