I will give this five stars. Not the same five stars I would give something along the lines of a Gaggia Carezza mind you. This five stars should be taken as a rating relative to its price. If this were the same cost of the Gaggia I would probably have to give it a 3.5
I should note I prefer americanos, cappuccinos, lattes, etc over straight espresso. I bought this for a second house. If I were to be drinking a lot of straight espresso I would have bought the Gaggia.
One important detail which is not in the description is this unit will use ESE pods. The portafilter has inserts for single and double shot amounts, as do most machines. The single shot has a small ledge around it which is designed so it may be used for both single shots and ESE pods, with a pod fitting perfectly into the area created by the little ledge. This is a big advantage for those days when you are in a rush.
Construction. This thing is solid. When I ordered it I thought it would not really be steel, just chromed plastic. Well it is stainless steel. And the finish is beautiful. This has to be the most impressive looking espresso machine this side of $300. One plus of being so heavy is you don''t have to hold it down when tightening the portafilter. Something I never liked about the lighter units.
Despite the description noting a rather weak looking 950-watt heater, I was pleasantly surprised by the speed at which it warms up. This had worried me at first, but now that I have it I have discovered no reason to be disappointed. While using the steam feature to froth it has enough power to be ready to pull a shot immediately with no need to wait. And after pulling a double shot it seems like it is ready in seconds for the next shot, well before I have time to remove the portafilter and get it cleaned and reloaded.
Another impressive feature here is the warming plate on the top of the unit. Once again, as with the 950-watt rating, I was expecting a rather weak showing on the warming front. Wow, another shocker. It works! I turn the unit on in the morning and prepare my first drink. Then I leave it on. Make sure at this point you clean the portafilter and place it on the unit empty. By the time you roll around to getting your second cup, the cups on top are nicely heated and the portafilter is warmed up as well.
The drip cup and water reservoirs are quite generous. The drip cup underneath the bottom plate even has an ingenious little pop up float near the back which raises with the water level. Instead of constantly pulling up the plate, you can tell if it is getting full by simply looking to see if the float is starting to pop up. What a nifty little feature!
There is one drawback. The portafilter is what Ariete calls their "Thermocream" design. The problem with this design is it is created to produce a "crema like" crema on the top of every cup. This somewhat hides whether or not you are doing your job right and the crema is a product of a good grind, good tamp, and good pull. I prefer the crema production to be a function of how well I doing my job, not a function of some little device that makes stuff that looks like crema even if it is not.
I would like to add that the Group Head (the thing the portafilter attaches to when you put it on) is not solid metal. Parts of it are plastic. But given the price I am not willing to deduct a star for this (or the Thermocream feature) as I would if I were comparing to the $200 machines.
This is an amazing espresso machine for the money. I wanted to run it through its paces for a few months before reviewing it. After almost 3 months and over 100 double shots, I am ready. I am a straight shot drinker; I never knew how smooth and intense espresso could be until I got this machine. Crema is good. I subsequently tried a few offerings from espresso bars and found them completely disappointing; I doubt I will visit another espresso shop any time soon.
If you have problems with the machine, call Lello Appliance: 201-939-2555. The one year warranty is meaningless if you don''t know whom to call. Amazon could not provide this info. Lello is very responsive in my experience.
Steaming is adequate. My wife and guests like cappuccinos and lattes. I use a 20 oz Krups pitcher, and it works all right. It is shorter and wider than some of the others. I think a smaller pitcher might work better. I use a thermometer to keep from scorching the milk. I like to mix a drink that I found online called a "flat white". After you steam the milk, stir the froth into the hot milk in the pitcher to make a uniformly velvety thick mixture and pour this into the cup. I always like to make milk drinks in a clear glass cup. The appearance of the layering of foam, milk and coffee is impressive. I steam the milk, make the espresso in the clear cup, and then pour the foam over it. That way, the crema from the espresso, with a lot of the flavor, stays in the cup instead of sticking to the wall of the shot glass.
Experiment with how much coffee you put in the filter. Do not overfill the filter, but I find that experimenting with the amount of coffee I use has improved the quality of my espresso. The amount used can vary according to the type of coffee, roast, and grind. I use less of a darker roast, for example, to avoid a bitter flavor.
The keys to quality are 1) The coffee and roast, 2) the grind, and 3) the time spent brewing.
THE COFFEE:
I used to drink dark roasted coffees like Starbuck''s. I found that purchased dark roasted coffees taste burnt and bitter when made into espresso. A lighter roast is called for. I decided to start roasting my own green coffee. I use my long-disused hot air popcorn popper for the task. I found good instructions for roasting and a good selection of green coffees at Sweet Maria''s on-line. Their espresso blends or Timor Maubesse (Indonesian) beans roasted to Vienna roast, a shade lighter than French roast, made fine espresso with good crema. It is very easy to control how dark your roast is. You do need good ventilation.
If you do not roast your own, the beans you buy should not be the darkest roast available. The finest coffees available are arabica beans grown at high altitudes. The robusta coffees are bitterer and have much more caffeine; they make up large part of the canned coffee blends on the market. While the arabica beans are much better tasting when brewed into coffee, by themselves they do not produce as good espresso as a blend of quality arabicas with 10-15% good quality robusta added for its taste and crema producing qualities. The green espresso blends that I buy have a small percentage of robusta added. For the reviewer I read who thought that the espresso she made did not have enough of a jolt, a blend containing some robusta might take care of that problem.
THE GRIND:
A friend of mine who has made espresso for decades has never bought a fancy grinder; he uses a blade grinder and grinds very fine. I do not recommend this for this machine with its pressurized portafilter. Fine particles of an uneven or very fine grind can plug the filter; it can sometimes be hard to unplug the filter.
I bought a Capresso Infinity grinder from Amazon. For under $100, it produces a fairly consistent grind. You do not need to tamp the coffee hard in the portafilter. The quality of the brew is determined by the fineness of the grind. I experimented a bit with grind. I found a grind that occasionally plugged the filter. Set one notch coarser it produced a consistently good espresso without plugging the filter. So I think that the finest grind you can get without plugging the filter is probably best.
When experimenting with grind, be careful. One detractor who gave a poor review to this machine says that there is danger of the machine exploding. If you do not see coffee coming out of the portafilter within a few seconds of turning the dial to the right, shut off the machine and clean out the filter. Then use a slightly coarser grind.
If the machine does not deliver coffee and the pump is left on, a messy explosion seems likely. This seems like common sense to me. The fact that the detractor experienced an explosion is a testament to the amount of pressure the pump delivers.
AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT BREWING
If you do enough research on line about espresso, you will find a reference to the "Golden Rule". This rule states, as I understand it, that drawing a double shot should take 20-25 seconds. If it takes less time to draw a 2-2 1/2 ounce shot, it will be weak; if it takes longer, it will be "over-extracted" and bitter.
If you have an expensive machine with a commercial non-pressurized portafilter, the proper combination of tamp pressure and grind to get this brewing time will produce good espresso. With a pressurized portafilter on this machine, tamp is fairly unimportant. The extraction time is therefore controlled by the fineness of the grind. I have found that if I adjust the grind as explained above, it does take 20-25 second to get the shot.
Never leave the cup under the spout after shutting the pump off. After you shut off the pump, the coffee that flows from the machine is not extracted under pressure and will taste like bilge. Let the coffee extract under pressure for the full 20-25 seconds, move the cup from under the spout as you shut off the pump. The last few drips should go into the tray.
PROBLEMS
I gave it four stars only because there were enough very soluble glitches to make learning how to use the machine a bit trying. I destroyed a gasket before I realized that tightening the group head more did not prevent the first shot from being a total bust. Unless you warm up the machine for at least 10 minutes, run a blank shot through the machine, because all you will get is steam and espresso that tastes like dishwater. After destroying the gasket, I found the service number for Lello Appliance: 201-939-2555. They acknowledged that the original gaskets were not very good and sent me 2 new ones via priority mail; I got these in two days.
Another minor glitch is that not all of the water draining from the machine goes into the drip tray. Some water ends up leaking under the drip tray; but as long as the drip tray is emptied timely there will not be enough overflow to leak onto the counter.
The cup warmer is a joke. Have some hot water going near your machine to preheat cups. This is especially important when making milk drinks, which is a longer process.
It is now 4/14/2009 two years and change since I bought the machine. I use it every day for an average of 3-4 double shots per day. It still makes the best espresso I have had. Except for the leaking drip tray, it gives me no problems. Part of the quality has to do with the gourmet green coffee beans I buy from and roast at home in a hot-air popcorn popper. The rest has to do with the machine. My cousin has a Rancilio Silvio, a highly rated and expensive machine. My machine is easier to use and pulls a tastier shot.
1/23/2011 it is now four years since I bought the machine. Still working as new! I never liked the pressurized portafilter that came with the machine It is always getting plugged and is hard to clean once plugged. I discovered via a forum on coffeegeek.com that you can get a non-pressurized filter basket, La Pavoni 2 cup MP-68 Millenium Edition Europiccola/Professional non-pressurized basket, a 51mm basket that fits the portafilter fairly precisely. Remove the black "pressurizer" by removing the screw at the bottom of the filter. You have to flatten the rounded rim on the new basket. I did this by inverting the basket and carefully flattening the rounded edge using a large pin punch--a small bolt or steel rod would work--and tapping it with a hammer. You need to get a better tamper and use a finer grind. The end result is the best cup yet with real crema. You need to adjust the grind and tamp pressure to get the espresso shot to draw in 20-25 seconds. The only drawback is that the seal was not as good as with the old basket. I fixed that by smoothing the imperfections resulting from the way I flattened the rim by rubbing the inverted basket on a knife sharpening stone until it was evenly smoothed.
12/26/2012 The machine finally died in late summer. It has a leak in the pump which has gotten worse. They will not send you parts; the only option is to send the machine in for refurbishing. Probably cheaper to get a refurb. I am not altering the rating; after 5 years of use, I definitely got my $100 dollars worth. This machine with the La Pavoni portafilter made the best espresso I have ever had or, frankly, that most of my friends have had. I got a "Presso" manual expresso maker locally to use while I decide what to do. At $120, I heartily recommend this machine. After 3-4 months with the Presso, I doubt I will get another semi-automatic machine soon.
Buy Lello 1375 Ariete Cafe Prestige Coffee Maker Now
Wow, a stainless steel unit for ~ $130. Seemed too good to be true but let me assure you that it''s not. Solid and well built, it is quite functional and easy to use too. I live in Seattle, the coffee capital of the universe so I''ve got fairly discriminating taste in espresso and it has more than lived up to my expectations. The 15-bar pump-driven system provides good, strong pressure and brewing consistency. The drinks have frothy foam, excellent brew, and great taste. It is a bit bulky, roughly a 10" cube, but not overly large (it is actually 9.5" x 9.5" x 12" to be exact). Unlike some models, there''s pretty good clearance between the nozzel and the drip tray so you can get a decent-sized cup underneath. Easy to take apart and clean too. I''m very happy with this purchase!
Read Best Reviews of Lello 1375 Ariete Cafe Prestige Coffee Maker Here
ours started a leak out the back of the portafilter last week after only a week of ownership and stopped brewing at all today. I am bummed cause I followed each instruction to a T to avoid the problems all those "complainers" who wrote the "exploding and shattering glass" reviews must have brought upon themselves.... Ours is a beautiful machine that I will be sending back after the holiday as much as I don''t want to. I will choose a different machine this time and not take a replacement. The feedback is real and there for a reason.
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I''ve had this for a couple of weeks and it has produced excellent espressos with a smooth, reddish-brown crema. My husband has commented that it''s the best espresso he''s had yet--that''s saying something. Believe it or not, you cannot tell a difference from my espresso or the cafe down the street. This is a bargain for the quality you''re getting. Beautiful machine. Heavy stainless steel. Quick turn-around time for your next espresso (and next and next and next and next!) Just excellent! This machine is not designed to handle e.s.e. pods. I know some have suggested it, but you''d need an adapter. Just thought I''d let you know.
A few tips:
1. Pressurized portafilters only have ONE hole and can withstand having a varying degree of grind. However, too finely a grind with a ''gorilla'' tamp may provoke an explosion. A pressurized filter is made to do the work for you. So don''t tamp hard.
2. There is no lock handle on this portafilter--that''s only for European models. It''s no defect.
3. Simply add the grounds, tamp lightly, remove excess from around the portafilter, attach to grouphead snug, turn to "coffee cup" position (all the way to the icon, please!). STOP machine after a few seconds (8 or so), or when the coffee starts to turn from dark brown to lighter brown.
4. After pulling a shot, run a blind shot through (no grounds) to clean grouphead. Next, take a damp paper towel to wipe around the seal and ''spout'' of the grouphead. (doesn''t matter which order you do this) Done!
5. When done using steam wand, simply remove rubber tip and rinse out, wipe stainless portion of steam wand with a damp cloth, and finally, turn a little steam on to eject any milk that may remain.
6. The drip tray portion needs to be rinsed/wiped out, because when making an espresso, water comes out afterward into the drip tray from below. There is a slight protruding part on the drip tray that fits onto the bottom of the machine--the water comes out from the bottom onto the drip tray. I couldn''t figure out why I had collected so much water, because I rarely spill any . . .but realized after making an espresso what the machine ''does''. No problem.
7. Frothing: This machine makes perfect froth. You can use the rubber tip first and as you get better, you can stop using it.
Some pointers:
a. Put 1/4-1/2 of COLD milk into a frothing pitcher or cup (sorry baristas!).
b. Insert frothing arm into pitcher and hold pitcher at an ANGLE.
c. Start frothing (clicking noise normal)
d. As the foam ''grows'', keep your frothing tip just below the surface of the foam and keep pitcher at an angle. Stop when your foam is ''tight'', or when it''s doubled in size. Be careful, if your foam starts producing big bubbles, you''ve boiled your milk!
This machine produces glossy foam, just like my local cafe.
This machine is completely stainless steel inside and out. The ThermoBlock is lined with stainless, too! It''s a bargain! Get into the Ho! Ho! Ho! spirit at this price!!
12/17: I know it''s not been long, but this machine is still producing great espressos and other drinks. I have already saved a bunch of money by making them at home myself. Plus, it''s super convenient.
A note on storage: If not using for an extended period (vacationing, etc.), make sure to empty the water tank and run the machine (when still cool) just until water stops coming out. Then, prime the pump again when you''re ready to keep it in use for awhile.
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