First coffees I made once I turned it on were really good - froth, texture and amount were similar to what I get when I go to a bar in Naples, Italy.
Negative Product Points
The next day I tired to make an espresso and it came up without any froth and just some dark liquid dripping into the coffee cup. Same grinder/settings, same coffee as the night before.
Detailed Commentary
I bought the machine on eBay for $129. It was to replace my Simonelli Oscar machine that had a leaking cylinder. The simonelli costs around 4x the price of the Krupp and is more of a semi-professional machine. However, for the amount of espresso that I drink, the Krupp should be enough. I have a good grinder that I bought several years ago and used it to grind up some of the dark roast espresso beans from Starbucks. The first couple of coffees came out perfect in both taste and texture/froth. We had about 6 cups and then I turned off the machine for the night. The next day I made the same coffee with the grinder set as it was the night before along with the same beans. The coffee did not come out as it did the night before and tended to splatter a bit and drip out as if the grinds were too fine. Then steam started to rise from around the handle. The coffee was bitter with no froth. I tried it several other times, adjusting the grind on the coffee to make it less fine and still it would not come through properly. It may be because of the previous nights coffee grinds are blocking the filter, but that would be sad after only a couple of espressos.
Buying Experience
Good price.
Three Month Followup
The problem seems to be that once the machine heats up, it stops working (the pump). If you shut it off and then turn it on, followed by the power on, it will make an espresso. Once 1 espresso is done, you need ot shut off the power between making another one as the heat will shut down the pump.
