15-Bar Pump Espresso Machine with Milk Frother & Temperature Control - Compact Home Barista Coffee Maker for Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino & Iced Coffee, Easy to Clean Design

**** UPDATE AFTER 4 YEARS OF USE**** Well it's May 2020 now, and I purchased this machine back in 2016. It has now been through 2 apartment moves, and STILL works like a dream... but recently it developed an inconsistent leak. I've woken up twice now to it having leaked on the countertop overnight. Not too much, and it hasn't done it every night. But still enough to be worried I'll someday have to replace it. For $100 or so dollars though, and especially after being used almost every single day for 4 years, this machine has STILL been one of the best and most reliable things I have ever purchased in my life. I still have to get my coffee beans ground at 1 notch more corse than espresso, however I've had a trusty coffee/spice grinder that gets a perfect grind every time (and its also cheap and over 8 years old). I'm pretty sure my last move (across 3 states) was the reason it has now started to leak, and I'm sad that I will one day have to part with it... but I'm writing this review because I truly just can't recommend this product enough. I have not been paid or given anything to write this or any reviews, I just want the amazon world to know it's a great machine for the price. Happy coffee making, espresso drinkers out there! ______________________________________________________________ I never write reviews for anything I purchase on Amazon (yet I read reviews for everything I purchase), and I'm so glad I chose this machine when looking for a new espresso maker. Personally, I am really hands on with my coffee in the mornings. I am not a "push a button and go" kinda girl, so if you are looking for that, maybe look elsewhere? This machine can be a bit finicky at times. It's so easy to use, and relatively mess free. It is a bit loud, but that doesn't bother me. It works like a breeze, and produces consistently great pours with beautiful crema markings. The milk frother works wonderfully with any type of milk (I only use almond or coconut milk). Being a barista years back I learned some milks are really hard to get a nice velvety foam, and this machine does just that with almond milk! It's not latte art quality, but juuuuust close enough that it could be. Here's my advice after owning this machine for a few months now... 1. Start off with some Illy ground espresso in the can (like a previous reviewer had mentioned) so that you can have good tasting espresso while you get used to how your machine works. Tamp your espresso lightly!! Don't cram it in there or it will ruin the flow! 2. Once you get used to how the Illy grounds work with your machine, then you can move on to local coffee shop beans. The reason being that the coffee grounds have more oils in them and are ground a bit more fine so it doesn't come out in a flow, but more of a drip. I typically put my cup right where the drip comes out, and it flows evenly for a perfect crema. Ask your barista for their particular choice in espresso beans when you go to your local roaster. I prefer Peet's Coffee or Philz Coffee's Aromatic Arabic, but make sure you ask them to grind 1 step more coarse then the typical espresso grind to make it a little easier on yourself.. 3. Always wipe your machine after use. I know I can be busy at times and forget to take out the tamp and empty the used espresso out, but try to always wipe the milk frother after use, and wipe down your machine. It comes apart easily so you can really get in there. At least 3 days I do a full rinse of the machine. I know I should do it after every single use, but I have had no problems thus far. 4. Last but not least, make sure you get a ***small*** milk pitcher and tamp (I bought mine from the seller New Star Foodservice since it was priced right and well made). I know you get a 2 in 1 scoop and tamp with this machine, but look for something slightly heavy and stainless steel.

The first one I received looked beautiful out of the box. I used it for a while, not realizing something was wrong, and it worked well for a while, however, locking the portafilter in the grouphead with almost any amount of ground coffee (7-18 grams) was hard. It's my first espresso machine, so I had no idea this was wrong, and it sprayed water around the grouphead when extracting. I went to a friends house who had a different espresso machine, tried my method on theirs and realized that it shouldn't be difficult to turn the portafilter, and what I did on their machine didn't spray water in the surrounding area. I started a return, and got a replacement and it's perfect. The sheer compactness of the machine is amazing, the coffee that is yielded is great, and has a large capacity water tank to show off my skills to all of my pals.

I have been meaning to write a review on this machine for a long time. I consider myself not just a heavy coffee drinker, but someone who appreciates the many forms you can make it. After a while drinking espresso drinks, like Americanos and lattes, I decided to invest in something for my home because I was spending too much money at coffee shops. Like most normal people, I don't have $500 plus to spend on one but I also was not interested in buying something completely cheap and wasteful for $35 like you will see some of these machines. When I purchased this machine it was about $200, and it looks like the price has dropped since then, but I will say that for someone on a budget, this was a really great purchase that gets you very close to what you would produce from a high-end machine if you learn to use it to practice. It took me a little bit of time to figure out exactly how to get my espresso the way I enjoyed it, but when I finally did I used it every single day for probably more than six months. It does not take very long to prepare when you turn on the machine so the water is hot and ready to go within a minute or two. It does come with a plastic tab and I do recommend getting some accessories to go with it so you get as close to high-quality espresso as possible. Through trial and error you will find how hard to pack the coffee, because if it is too compact you will not be able to run the steam through it as the pressure is not strong enough. It will come out dripping instead of flowing and when it comes out that slow it tends to be extremely bitter and usually ended up down the drain. Eventually you will find the Best way to pack the coffee, how much time to run the machine, and how to properly clean it. If at first you are not enjoying the product you were making I highly recommend continuing to practice until you find what suits your needs. When you turn on the machine after preheating, you flip the switch to make the espresso. It does not have an automatic off switch, meaning you can pull the coffee as long as you want depending on your preference. I discovered that the best way for me to make what I want was by using a particular size cop and when I reached the top of the cup that typically was the strength of espresso I wanted. It is a little difficult to clean, but it does have a function to run water through it to clean it and flush out remaining espresso grounds. I use this every single morning for probably at least six months. I made everything from quad shot Americanos to hot and iced mochas and lattes. The machine comes with two different kinds of cups to insert into the portafilter. I believe one is a 2 cup deep and the other is one cup. I always used the deeper cup so I could make strong espresso. One fun little tidbit about this machine is when you open the lid where the water reservoir is, there is a place to store the cup that you are not using. Removing the water reservoir and feeling it is completely simple. Occasionally if you do not press it into the machine well enough it will not seal and you will not be able to pull the water through, just make note of that when putting the water reservoir back in. One of the biggest pitfalls of this machine is the steam wand. It is very short, you can adjust length of wand to be made either for hot milk or cappuccinos. My big complaint about this is that it is a very small one. I had to buy the tiniest stainless steel frothing pitcher, because the steaming wand was so short you could not even reach the bottom otherwise. This resulted in your steamed milk exploding all over. In addition, there is a rubber seal inside the steaming wand and at some point mine just started to completely shoot off because the steam coming out was stronger than the seal so essentially, the steamy one was useless to me. Additionally, the steaming wand seemed to have trouble producing steam versus shooting out scalding hot water. It seems like you had to run it for quite a while before you would get steam only. This was the only part of the machine that I found to be too cheap to use. It was by no means a dealbreaker for me because I found that heating and frothing milk with a separate appliance was actually better quality milk anyway. If I could purchase a machine just like this and skip the steaming wanted to save money I would much prefer that. Next, is the temp that comes with the product. It is cheap plastic, and serves virtually no purpose. It is very cheap to just buy one here on Amazon. In the six months or so that I can use my machine every single day I never had to do a deep cleaning. However, I packed it up and moved across the country with it and when I attempted to use it one day it came out terrible. I'm hoping that although it was not used for quite a few months that it still has the ability to work by breaking it in again. If it doesn't, I still feel as though I got my moneys worth because of how much I did use it when it was working fine before I moved. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this machine, keeping in mind that it is on the lower end of price but it produces relatively high quality espresso for being $200. To summarize: -Trial and error at the beginning is the best way to find your preference in strength and taste of espresso. -Part Of trial and error is figuring out how much coffee to put in and how hard to Tamp it. -If you remove the water reservoir to refill, make sure you press it back in very hard or it may not seal and you will not be able to suck up the water. -When pulling a shot, it does not turn off automatically. You need to watch it, and a few seconds before you decide the quantity of espresso is enough, you then turn it off, because it will drip for a few seconds longer. -For consistent espresso I recommend using a cup that you can use as a measuring tool so you know when to turn it off. -In my opinion, the steaming wand is useless, and you are better off getting a separate appliance if you are going to make cappuccinos, lattes, etc. -I did not do regular maintenance on cleaning and things turned out OK, but that could be why it does not work very well now that I have not used it in a few months. I'm eventually going to figure out if the espresso machine is completely useless after being retired or if there is a way to break it back in. -It can stand up to every day use, for how long I'm not sure, but for me it was 6+ months. -When you attach the Portafilter, take note that it has gone in correctly or it wilL not thread appropriately and it will make a huge mess, dripping out the sides. -When you thread the Portafilter on to the machine, eventually the handle can become loose from all the tightening and loosening. If the handle were to break I'm sure there are replacements that are easy to get. -It is relatively compact and I was very impressed with how little space it did take up on the counter. -If you want to do this "right" you will probably want to purchase other appliances to have the best experience possible. -If after months without use it no longer is functional, I will probably replace it with a second one similar or identical to this, because as far as I am concerned, I used it very heavily for a long time, which is worth $200. As many people will say, it does not make sense to buy a machine like this without investing in the accessories that really allow you to enjoy your espresso the way you should be able to. I'll put the recommended accessories below here: -Metal tamp (cheap on Amazon) -Small cup for your espresso. I like using one that is about the size of a small tea cup that you would use with sake or jasmine tea because it is the perfect size to gauge when I am finished making my shot. -Burr Grinder (I have Baratza Virtuoso for $229). This is obviously not necessary, but there is a reason why it is so expensive. It makes incredible ground coffee to your liking that you can adjust from extremely fine for espresso to extremely course for a French press. It was a big investment. -Automatic electric milk frother and warmer ( can run you about $30-$40 on Amazon) -Somethung to use to make boiling water. I prefer an electric kettle with various temperature settings because if you can't tell, I'm a pretty big enthusiast. But you can just boil water on the stove. I don't recommend running water through the espresso machine because I think it will come out tasting like old coffee grounds after you make your shot. I have a Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp appliance that was $85 but if he eats various temperatures for different kinds of tea and French press, and addition to boiling. It also has a keep warm function. I love it. -Espresso knock box for getting rid of used coffee grounds, but that is by no means necessary, you can also just use the trashcan but you might lose the little cup inside if you hit too hard (they are not very expensive, maybe $15, it may not be worth the space it takes up) -Torani syrups if you prefer flavored lattes. I buy the vanilla syrup because I use it not just in lattes but in making my own homemade whipped cream. It is especially delicious when making iced lattes. - when I made hot mochas I would use Penzey's Hot Chocolate Powder. I found it to be much more delicious than any kind of liquid syrup for chocolate, and really made incredible mochas, if not just hot chocolate alone -I decided to buy something to make homemade whipped cream, and an aluminum 1 pint whipped cream dispenser ran me about $40, but mind you, you need to purchase nitrous inserts. It seems like a lot, but when you love homemade whipped cream enough it truly is worth it. Sidenote, good organic heavy whipping cream with a splash of the vanilla syrup mentioned above is an excellent way to get thick delicious whipped cream. However, for whatever reason, you need to use all of that whip cream within a few days or it does turn sour fast. If you can't use it fast then I recommend getting a half pint dispenser. -Nitrous inserts are pretty cheap, inserts are pretty cheap, about $8 for a 10 pack. Each dispenser is good for 1 pint of whip cream. -Although I was really bad with maintenance, you will probably want to get a cleaning kit to remove hard water buildup etc. over time. Yes, that is a lot. Yes, the coffee grinder cost more than the espresso machine, yes those are a lot of accessories if you want to go espresso crazy. However, if you can maintain it you can have incredibly delicious drinks and stay out of coffee shops for a very long time. if you use it every single day like I did and pull anywhere from 2 to 6 shots a day that would have amounted to probably $4-$8 a day, if not more, and the best part is that I can always refill the whipped cream after I drink it off the top. This is a really great way to invest in being an at-home barista who not only takes interest in the art of making these drinks but also is looking to avoid expensive coffee shops. I hope this helps!

** I have to clarify that this does not happen often, in fact this is the second time in my years at Amazon that this has happened to me.** ** The facts: The machine is used, it arrived without the protective plastic on the steel surfaces, the group head was dirty, had coffee residue, and had scratches on the steel surfaces, cup base, and plastic parts. The cup warmer does not work. ** My opinion (ignoring the situation): The machine has a nice, neat and clean appearance, they take very good care of the finishes, I think the materials used are of good quality. Personally, I think the silver version is the nicest of the 3 available. The base where the cup is placed is removable to allow the use of a larger cup or a medium sized glass. It should be noted that the space of the cup seems to be designed for the sizes of commercially used coffee cups and glasses, that is, if you want to use any cup, you will find that the space is insufficient, it is even difficult to place a scale under the cup, this is because the space is designed for a commercial cup, and the cups that are sold for coffee usually respect a certain standard in their size and capacity. 3 filters are included, for 1 and 2 cups, and for pods, the filters are pressurized, so it is advisable to carefully select the coffee to be used, as well as the ground coffee, to obtain good results. On this point, my personal recommendation would be to change the filter holder for a non-pressurized one, this will force us to change the filters as well, but the results will be better. I leave you an example, but there are many brands, choose the one that best suits your preferences: https://www.amazon.com/portafilter-Delonghi-bottomless-Stainless-Replacement/dp/B09W5QY63R It comes with a plastic spoon that is also a tamper, we can say that it fulfills its function, but the ideal is to acquire a tamper that is a little more professional, in fact there are very complete kits, but that is another story. I leave you an example, but there are many brands, choose the one that best suits your preferences: https://www.amazon.com/Espresso-Tamping-Station-Distributor-Cleaning/dp/B0CCCY8MVQ The steam nozzle seemed a little short to me, but it could be because I am used to big machines, I saw on YouTube that it can be replaced with a longer one, perhaps this could be an improvement for those who make intensive use of the steam nozzle. Cleaning the machine can be complicated, and this is true for all espresso machines, whether home or professional. For home use, it is essential to clean the machine after each brewing cycle to avoid damaging the machine and to prevent coffee residues from accumulating in the group head or milk in the steam nozzle. To make the cleaning a little easier, the ideal is to attach a filter to prevent the group head from filling with coffee residues. I leave you one as an example: https://www.amazon.com/Normcore-Screen-Espresso-Portafilter-Contact/dp/B09DD7Z8M9/ ** General recommendations: Be very patient, when I started, the coffee was terrible, it takes some time and practice to get to know the machine, discover the little tricks and achieve good coffee. Be very clean and tidy, cleaning the machine can be tedious, but it is necessary, this will prolong the life of the machine and prevent the accumulation of coffee and milk, contamination and proliferation of bacteria. Having an adjustable coffee grinder, the grinding level must be adjusted according to each type of preparation, and also to the espresso machine, this guarantees that we can enjoy a good coffee, with body, aroma and flavor. Taking a barista course, not necessarily a very advanced one, in fact the basic one is a good starting point, it is important to understand the nature of the machine, the coffee, the milk and other additives that are used in this niche. Take it easy, this is a niche market and there are a thousand and one accessories that you can buy and it is easy to feel overwhelmed, start with the basics, familiarize yourself with the machine and then purchase the accessories that you think are appropriate according to your needs.

3 years and still rolling. I use the ESE pods almost exclusively and settle on the Lavazza with this. I drink 1-3 espressos a day and it has never let me down. Easy to clean and maintain, just a little vinegar a time or two a year and it is a happy camper. 1-00% recommend.

Replaced a broken MR Coffee espresso. This was only a little more $$, and it was a big step up. Easy to use, makes great coffee, and steams milk perfectly. (I often add chocolate :) )

Change out your portafilter to a bottomless, remove the extra pieces of the steam wand and you have a budget friendly espresso machine that can make very very good espresso with practice.

After making espresso triple shots for my morning brew exclusively for the last few decades or so, I’ve seen these basic machines go through their life-cycles, working great to start, pushing back the inevitable with descaling, then eventually the pump fails toncut the mustard and no amount of cajoling can make it caffeinate your AM any longer. I had a basic Krups that lasted about 5 years and thought that was a real pity. My next machine was a Braun that required a different manual of arms to operate, but brought superheated steam into the kitchen. It advertised a pump that pressurized the the pre-espresso a life-changing amount. That one failed to keep it up after a couple of years, but we partially restored it with various attempts to descale. After 8 years about, itwas dissected for fun and a nervous looking DeLonghi took its place on the trials counter. It lasted a gear, the pump began to make a shattering sort of sound and the output tasted of dying machine. It was replaced, of course, with another DeLonghi. This was the EC155. It worked very wellfor a solid two years, December 2016 gift until stopped making sufficient pressure to form espresso, just sort of dribbling hot liquid from the pressure cup in a sad parody of its younger self. It had been a mighty contender, frampling well tamped filter basquets of very fine grounds and producing awesome amounts of crema. Enter the EC3420. It promises a host (one or two?) of new, fantastical featurs I’m not sure how we have thus far lived without. But now that it’s on the counter of espresso machine deat, how well does it perform compared to the last, $35 less expensive, but very adequate machine? I don’t really cotten to the three categories suggested anove, “Blending Power”? Not sure what that means. I compare its vagueity to “Streaming Experience.” Ill defined, and not wholly applicable. Instead, let’s look at what was promised and also what is expected of such machine: ⚫︎ heating the water to make espresso it takes a very long time, minutes. Ok, Ill wait for the first cup, but even then it doesn’t heat enough water for a double, much less a triple. The first double winds up less than optimally hot! The manual says it won’t probably be right until at least thesecondcup. What? I’m supposed to waste water and time and electricty getting this thing ready to make one good shot? The cheaper machine was ready to do its best when the ready light came on, this one is not ready.... ⚫︎Water jug: the reservoir is nice and large; I’m guessing that you could get 3 or 4 triples out before needing to replenish. It lifts right out for filling or cleaning or just to admire it, but it’s so tall you can’t lift it underneath the inevitable over counter cabinet, you’ll bave to move the machine, usually not too big of a deal ⚫︎Cup-warmer: oh, wow, a new feature. Not good, not good at all! It could warm the average ‘cup’ in about 6 hours. It reached an astonishing 88°F in my 68°F kitchen. As for heat transfer, the warming surface is sheet steel, not a heavy gauge, so it doesn’t have much mass to gain energy to transfer, so heating even small, tiny little cups in a cool room isnot effective. I believe it is transferring heat from the water charge heater, wasting it in an ineffective feature that instead robs needed heat energy from the main purpose of the machine, making a decently warm espresso! ⚫︎CREMA: the EC155, the cheaper cousin, uses a different basket and strainer that has fewer and less fine holes in the strainer. It produces two or three times the amount of CREMA or cream and brown colored coffee foam. I like the foam, I think it adds to the end product, along with sufficient heat and extraction (and properly fresh ground good quality beans) I would count it as one of the legs of a great espresso. So far this machine, the EC3420, is barely producing good CREMA. ⚫︎Hot water delivery through a nozzle for tea and such. That seems to work ok though once again, especially with the volume of an entire mug as tea or hot chocolate are typically served, this is not a sufficient hot water producing machine. It is labeled to consume 1100 Watts, but I have seen water heaters operate at 1100 Watts that produce water that is suitably hot for the task, and this machine does not. I have to rate it ★★ two stars out of five ★★★★★ for poor performance of its basic function, to make a decent, warm, CREMA covered espresso.