This machine enables you to prepare espresso with a medium, strong, or very strong taste, using either ground coffee or pods. You can prepare either one or two espressos at a time. It also enables you to prepare cappuccinos (by frothing the milk) or lattes (by steaming it). Oddly, the recipes in the manual do not mention how to prepare a café mocha. My own method is to squirt some Hershey''s sugar-free chocolate syrup into a latte, add two packets of artificial sweetener, and stir vigorously. The manual does include helpful tips on ingredients. For example, the lower fat milk is the more froth it will produce. I''m sure you''ll think of your own favorite flavorings to add to beverages--cinnamon, brandy, whipped cream on top, or whatever.
I found the machine fairly easy to use, although it''s a bit fiddly. You need to go through several steps just to pre-warm the components and the cups. And there''s filling the water container, inserting the filter, steaming the milk, cleaning the machine after use . . . on the other hand, at the local coffee shop I just wait around while someone else does all this stuff.
This machine comes with a limited one-year warranty and an order form for parts when they need replacing, which parts are actually quite reasonably priced. Oh, and a separate copy of the manual entirely in French, should you need it.Great deep crema!
Super easy machine for making capuccino: I make the froth in a cup and then dispense the espresso directly into the same cup. This might be blasphemy, but at 5:30am, who cares.
Cleanup: 20 seconds: I wipe off the nozzle, tap out the hockey puck into the garbage, and rinse it.
Large clear water container, easy to see how much water is left.
Cleaning the machine: I ran diluted vinegar through once so far in 6 months. Working fine. I had to clean out the brew head once, which required a screwdriver and took a couple of minutes and a paper towel.
Note on espresso strength: With my unit, the coffee seemed like it was on the weak side at first, then after about a lb., seemed more like regular strength.
Other things to like about this machine:
A snap to clean up. If you''ve used other machines you know there are usually little sprays of coffee, coffee grounds, milk, froth, etc., and grind slop to clean up after.
Water container holds enough to make many cups in a row before refilling.
The foot print is much smaller than some other similar machines, so it fits into my counter corner easily.
The manual is very thorough. When I had to figure out how to clean out the brew head, the info was right there.
The price is nice! We inherited a Barista and later purchased a Cafe Roma which are also great, but I like this system for its ease of use, crema, and tidy footprint. Also thinking this would be a nice gift, as it''ll turn out a nice cup right away. Had the unit 6 months so far, so hope it keeps up the good work.
Buy Capresso EC100 Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Machine Now
So I had bought this machine going by a review by an unbiased espresso machine store, and they tested on a video. They sold all types of machines. So I gave this a try. After reading the reviews on amazon I was little hesitant.When I tried the machine it worked wonderfully, and later some of the shots I pulled were weak... Similar to what others had mentioned as a con.
Unlike the latter I knew that it did well initially so the error must''ve fallen on myself, but how? I wondered. So I went online a did a bit of research and found the error lay on how I was grinding the beans. Online it said that certain machine work well with certain grinds. This particular one must be extremely finely ground, and a burr grinder would work more efficiently.
As for the complaints about the bitterness, you get a bit more bitter taste with grinding it finely, but honestly esperesso is not meant to be extremely bitter, that is the result of burnt grounds scorched under pressure, and that''s the result of a poor machine.
Do the research there''s plenty of information on the Internet and YouTube ... It is a great machine! Very easy to use at a great price.
Read Best Reviews of Capresso EC100 Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Machine Here
I have owned the ''Capresso EC100'' for a couple months now. This is one of the better inexpensive "Thermo-Block" machines and isthe perfect ''entry'' level product for somebody making their own espresso the first time. Do not spend $hundreds$ on a ''wonder machine'' if you don''t know what you are doing (you will make bad coffee regardless of the product being used). It is also a perfect machine for those whose pallets aren''t ''perfect''. I have noticed that many of the negative reviews over this machine seem to be more "user error" based frustration, than an actual failure of the machine. Some espresso drinkers here may not properly know the difference between ''burnt'' & ''strong''. This is a $150 or less machine,
lets get real folks, machines that cost $2000+ do so for a reason. If you take your time and read the directions for
the Capresso EC100 and follow them accordingly, you will not be sad. For $150 there is more work involved and more
preparation, but the end result is very good. If you want automated and do not want to think, this is not the machine for you.
Pros:
*Very good espresso
Large water reservoir
Short warm up period
Easy to clean
Cons:
Steamer wand is short. Can be a pain with some ''frothing pitchers''.
Steamer is ''weak'' in my opinion. The pressure is ''meh''.
Vibration of the machine is a bit much and can ''rattle'' two cups side by side if pouring a double.
Side info:
You will need to spend a little time getting everything ''warmed'' up. Leftover grinds after steaming are "sloppy" and not the ''dry puck''. This doesn''t really seem to be an issue except for a few extra clean up steps. I put a towel under mine for cleanup purposes, this seems to also lower some of the vibration.
Want Capresso EC100 Pump Espresso and Cappuccino Machine Discount?
Cliff NotesMakes a great Espresso/Latte/Cappuccino.. once you have figured the following:
1. Make sure you do NOT tamp the coffee too hard.
I have found that if you do tamp too hard the machine will not dispense coffee.
(For reference I use Community Coffee Dark roast, ground in store at Espresso settings)
2. Always pre-warm the machine/cups/filter.
The result is great tasting, hot coffee.
This review would have been 5 stars but I found some quality issues:
Screw at bottom of porta filter came loose!
It almost ended up in the garbage. Fixed with a dab of superglue/threadlocking compound to secure the screw in its threads.
The over pressure release at the end of a cycle causes quick filling of the drip tray.
Overall, great compact machine (small counter-space footprint), would recommend to others.
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