Espressione 3-in-1 Espresso machine + programmable drip coffee maker
I saw this machine at Home Good and was curious about it that I bought it. The box said it uses pods so I mistakenly thought it took k cups but it doesn't. It takes the ESE espresso pods that are flat like a disk. I'm not sure why there isn't a machine that does everything, but this is close enough. I'm not a big coffee drinker so I didn't want too many coffee tools, but I wouldn't recommend this one. The drip coffee works fine and the espresso maker works ok. The milk steamer is poorly made as its performance greatly deteriorates the more I used it. Without the steam working properly to do its jobs it just makes the espresso maker part kind of useless.
I think I paid about $120 for this machine. There was some assembly to put this together. The machine doesn't look bad and using it wasn't too terribly difficult to understand. I do like the design of it and it didn't take too much space either. There's quite a bit of items to clean, but they are rather easy to clean. Cleaning the dried milk off the steamer is the only part that takes a bit of effort.
Not going to talk about the drip coffee maker as its works the same as any drip coffee maker. It does include a mesh coffee filter as well which is nice. I use the drip coffee the most and it has yet to fail me. You can keep the coffee warm for up to 5 hours which is nice.
The espresso maker I feel is good enough to make lattes. Its not going to make great espresso, but if quality is not a concern this does the job. Using ground coffee hasn't produced a strong enough coffee taste to mimic the coffee shop lattes. Anyways it comes with 3 different sizes that you can put into the handle to make a single, double, or an ESE pod. The box also included a plastic spoon measure with a flat disk at the end that you can pack the grounds down with. Inserting the handle is like a regular espresso machine, but this isn't designed the best. I actually hurt myself the first time I tried to make an espresso with this machine. I tried to get the handle all the way to the left where the locked icon was indicated. But the handle couldn't go all the way because it was really tight to get it through. So when I tried to unlock the handle I ended up smacking my hand on the machine since its quite cramped. I ended up tearing a bit of skin off. So now I only just locked it enough to not move.
The steamer can swing and its quick short. This machine doesn't include anything to put milk in so you may need to buy that separately. Since its short you can't get anything big. The steamer includes a rubber black nozzle thing that froths the milk. Without it it won't froth the milk. I tried using this steamer many times and it is not an enjoyable thing to use. Since its short and the machine itself is not tall, I don't get a lot of room to handle to pitcher I use to hold the milk. I have to tilt it to get the steam nozzle in and most of the time I end up spilling some milk on the table. The nozzle only goes side to side and does not tilt up or down at all. As you steam the milk it doesn't steam fast enough before the machine has to recharge it. It doesn't heat the milk as hot as I'd like either. And over time it loses it strength so it hasn't been a year yet and I've given up on the steamer. I've cleaned it and all, but it hasn't improved.
Overall this machine isn't great, but its not useless enough for me to get rid of it. So i wouldn't recommend this coffee machine.
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